[stripes1776]

True, as well as exaggerating one facet of the nature of God at the expense of all others.

Have you ever read the Divine Names by +Dionysius the Areopagite? This master of apophatic theology lists many names by which people have described their experience of God's revelation of himself. But none, taken singly or all together, exhausts the nature of God.

[HarleyD]

Have you ever read the Divine Names by +Dionysius the Areopagite?

Up until this point I have not. However, I have spent part of today reading this work (about 3/4 of it actually) per your recommendation. I find the work to be very vague and Platonic. He dwells on the good, love, beauty of God but fails to balance this with God's other attributes of justice, jealousy, and wrath.

According to this work, there is no evil-not even among demons (please see Section XXIII) where he states:

"But, neither are the demons evil by nature; for, if they are evil by nature, neither are they from the Good, nor amongst things existing; nor, in fact, did they change from good, being by nature, and always, evil."

Dionysius tries to make the point, if I read him correctly, that God is good and therefore all things coming from God contains goodness. This is contrary to what I find in scripture:

"...for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good..." Matt 5:45

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children..." Matt 7:11

"...and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil." Matt 12:34

"...for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light.” Jn 3:19

“I do not ask You to take them out of the wold, but to keep them from the evil one.” Jn 17:15 (Notice the direct contradiction to Dionysius' assertion that the demons are not evil to our Lord Jesus' statement.)

With all due respects for +Dionysius, I would have to strongly disagree with his statement:

But does some one say that souls are evil? If it be that they meet with evil things providentially, and with a view to their preservation, this is not an evil, but a good, and from the Good, Who makes even the evil good. But, if we say that souls become evil, in what respect do they become evil, except in the failure of their good habits and energies; and, by reason of their own lack of strength, missing their aim and tripping?

Dionysius fails to recognized that man corrupted himself and is now considered, by God, to be evil. To me Dionysius argument in the Divine Names is a derivation of Plato’s “Form of the Good” argument. Both were wrong.

If any would like to read this material it can be found here -> Dionysius and Form of the Good