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This monograph revisits one of the most debated aspects of Dionysian scholarship: the enigma of its authorship. To establish the identity of the author remains impossible. However, the legitimacy of the attribution of the corpus to Dionysius the Areopagite should not be seen as an intended forgery but rather as a masterfully managed literary device, which better indicates the initial intention of the actual author. The affiliation with Dionysius the Areopagite has metaphorical and literary significance. Dionysius is the only character in the New Testament who is unique in his conjunction between the apostle Paul and the Platonic Athenian Academy. In this regard this attribution, to the mind of the actual author of the corpus, could be a symbolic gesture to demonstrate the essential truth of both traditions as derived essentially from the same divine source. The importance of this assumption taken in its historical context highlights the culmination of the formation of the civilized Roman-Byzantine Christian identity.
List of contents
Introduction; Chapter 1: Attempts to Justify Pseudonymous Affiliation; Chapter 2: Known and Conventionally Accepted Facets of the CD in Relation to Its Authorship; Chapter 3: How Serious Was the Author of the CD About the First-Century Environment?; Chapter 4: The Dionysian Society; Chapter 5: The Metaphorical Symbolism of the Attribution; Conclusion
About the author
Vladimir Kharlamov gained his PhD in Theological and Religious Studies at Drew University, US. His research in Pseudo-Dionysius and deification is closely connected with issues of interrelationship and dialogue between the emerging Christian Roman-Byzantine identity and the society of Late Antiquity at large.
Summary
This monograph revisits one of the most debated aspects of Dionysian scholarship: the enigma of its authorship. The legitimacy of the attribution of the corpus to Dionysius the Areopagite should be seen as a masterfully managed literary device, which better indicates the initial intention of the actual author.
