Eckhart's ApophaticTheology

Vladimir Lossky (1903-58) was an influential Eastern Orthodox theologian. Born in Germany, he grew up in St Petersburg, Russia, but spent most of his adult life in exile in Paris, where he taught dogmatic theology at the St Dionysus Institute in Paris and the Orthodox Institute of St Irene. Among his best-known works is The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, also published by James Clarke & Co.

• A Note from the Society TranslatorsForeword to the English Translation, by Rowan WilliamsForeword to the First Edition, by Maurice de GandillacPreface to the First Edition, by Étienne Gilson1 Nomen InnominabileThe Search for the IneffableThe Source of the 'Nomen Innominabile'Namelessness and PolynymyEsse Innominable Eckhart and St ThomasThe Intimate PresencesThe Wine of CanaMystic or Dialectician?Ignorance of God and of Self2 Nomen OmninominabileNomen Super Omne NomenCollatio EsseUpper and Lower WatersThe Word without WordsSemel Locotus Est Deus, Duo haec AudiviThe One - 'The Name above All Names' The First Determination of Being Puritas et Plenitudo EssendiUnum et OmniaOppositio Nihil Mediationne EntisThe Unity of the UniverseThe Way of Unified Eminence3.Ego Sum Qui SumRevelation of the Unique BeingQuidditas et AnitasDivine Sufficiency and created IndigenceReduplicatio'I Live Because I Live'The Object of MetaphysicsThe Knowledge of QuidditiesQuiddity and 'Esse Secundum' The Level of SubstantialityEssentia et EsseTwo Levels of EssentialityIntelligere et Esse4.Regio Dissimilitudinis InfinitaeCreated Dissimilitude, the Intellect and GraceGrace, Glory and Divine DissimilitudeAscensio IntellectusThe Apophasis of OppositionThe Opposition between 'Intelligere' and 'Esse''Cognitivum Ens' and 'Ens Reale'Intelligible Species and Exemplary Causes Seminal Reasons and the Divine WordIntellectual 'Nihilism' and the 'Uncreatability' of Intellection5.Splendor in MedioFrom Assimilation to Unity Opposition and Non-opposition Indistinctio-Distinctio Dissimiltude-SimiltudoRota in Medio RotaeAnalogical CausalityGod Esse Omnium and the Principle of AnalogyAnalogical Predication and the Doctrine of Being The Analogy of Attribution'Qui Edunt Me Adhuc Esuriant'A Deo et in Deo6.Imago in SpeculoThe Divinity-Form and Divine 'Quo Est'Formal Causality and Divine ExemplarityBeing, Life, IntelligenceThe Theology of the Image and Deifying TransformationAnalogy in the 'Transformation into the Same Image' Index

1. "Theologians have always insisted that God is ineffable. But what does it mean to say this? One of the premier explorations of this paradox is Vladimir Lossky's Eckhart's Apophatic Theology. Written more than sixty years ago, and now made available in this accurate and elegant English translation, this classic work will inspire renewed attention to the German Dominican and to the problem of unsaying God." - Bernard McGinn, Neomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor emeritus Divinity School, University of Chicago2. "This first, fine and accurate English translation of Lossky's very important study of Eckhart's Theology is a milestone in the recovery of this medieval Dominican reliance on the Greek Christian and Islamic philosophical tradition. What had been a textbook in its German version is finally available to the English speaking readers who will thoroughly enjoy to discover a side of Eckhart that has only recently been rediscovered." - Markus Vinzent, King's College London (ret.) and Director of the Eckhart-Research-Centre, Max-Weber-Centre, University of Erfurt.3. "While refusing to simplify Eckhart's theology to a system or single motif, Lossky explores in detail the various ramifications of Eckhart's insistence on the ineffability of God. Is God to be regarded as "being", or the "One" or "Intellect"? Does God's pure expression of each of these preclude the others? Presenting Eckhart's approach to this dilemma and guided by careful engagement with a multitude of sources, this erudite work is both meticulous and exhaustive.Indeed, during a time period flooded with flaky self-help books and pop psychology, it is reassuring to know that there is still the demand for serious and thoughtful literature expounding the very essence of life. Beautifully produced by James Clarke & Co., with a foreword by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, academics and scholars will welcome this eagerly anticipated rendition." - Paula Marvelly In The Culturium, March, 2024, Online. 4. "The excellent English translation, by Monk Sophrony and Dr Jonathan Sutton, reflects Lossky's sometimes complex French while being eminently readable. He had himself translated quotations from Eckhart's German writings into French, while leaving untranslated the extensive quotations from Latin writers, from Augustine to Aquinas. The translators have followed his example, and left the Latin quotations untranslated. While this is not a book for the general reader, it is an important contribution to scholarly Eckhart studies." - Canon Hugh Wybrew, Formerly Vicar of St Mary Magdalen's, Oxford In Church Times, May 2024.5. "We need to remind ourselves that this is an important book for Eckhart studies that now, sixty-odd years after its first publication, still represents an unusual approach to Eckhart, taking seriously his 'professional' Latin works - in some ways atypical in comparison with his Western contemporaries - and using them as the primary source for understanding the lineaments of his theology. The two dimensions to reading this rich and demanding book are complementary: it is the most detailed and extended work by one of the great Orthodox theologians of the last century, but also a landmark study of le maître thuringien." Andrew Louth in Sobornost, 46:2, pp. 76-85, 2025.