Abstract
After having studied philosophy at the University of Cologne “in the way of Thomas” (in via Thomae), Denys de Leeuwis (b. 1402; d. 1471) entered the Charterhouse at Roermond, where he spent, almost uninterruptedly, the rest of his life. To him we owe a massive literary output, which he organized according to a three-tiered hierarchical scheme of wisdom: philosophy is the lowest level of a hierarchy which, through scholastic theology, culminates in mystical theology. The three orders of wisdom are analogical and isomorphic; that is, philosophy prepares for and somehow foreshadows the superior modes of supernatural knowledge. This explains Denys’ keen interest in philosophical matters. Unlike the majority of fifteenth-century Carthusians, Denys conceived of mystical theology not as an affective act only, but as a cognitive act complemented by love. Influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Albert the Great, Henry of Ghent, and fifteenth-century Albertists, Denys came to challenge, during his life, some major doctrines of his early “patronus” Thomas Aquinas.
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Bibliography
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Journal Articles
Calma, M. (2007). Témoignage sur le beau comme propriété de l’être: Jean Gerson et Denys le Chartreux. Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosphie and Theologic, 54, 464–482.
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Forthcoming
Emery, K., Jr. (forthcoming). What Does it Mean to be a Thomist? Denys the Carthusian and Thomas Aquinas. In M. J. F. M. Hoenen, M. Meliadò, & S. Negri (Eds.), Thomas Problematicus: Contradictions in the Works of Thomas Aquinas. The Medieval Perspective (Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters). Leiden/Cologne/Boston: Brill.
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Palazzo, A. (2019). Denys the Carthusian. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_142-2
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Denys the Carthusian- Published:
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_142-3
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Denys the Carthusian- Published:
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_142-2