Divus Dionysius: Jean Gerson, Nicholas of Cusa, and the Interpretation of Pseudo-Dionysius’s Mystical Theology

Jean Gerson and Nicholas of Cusa equally venerate Pseudo-Dionysius, the presumed disciple of St. Paul, but differ greatly with regard to the intellectual context in which they situate him. For Gerson Pseudo-Dionysius is the exemplary proponent of the (Augustinian) tradition that emphasizes man’s inability to work for his salvation. Gerson presents Dionysian theology as a model that stands diametrically opposed to Platonism, which he condemns as a theory that supposes that it is in man’s own power to rise up to God. Nicholas of Cusa on the other hand, being aware of the affinities of Dionysian mysticism with Platonic philosophy, praises Pseudo-Dionysius as both the greatest of the Christian theologians and of the Platonic philosophers. He arrives at a theology in which mystical union is situated beyond the dichotomy of nature and grace.