The Paradox of Otherness
Divine Transcendence and Immanence in Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/1983-3636.2026.62819Keywords:
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, divine alterity, transcendence and immanence, ousía, enérgeiaAbstract
This paper investigates the concept of
divine alterity in Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite,
addressing the central paradox of how a God who is
radically transcendent and supraessential can simultaneously be the immanent cause, sustainer and end of all reality. The investigation demonstrates
that the Dionysian solution to this tension, which
places him between Neoplatonism and Christianity,
does not lie in defining the divine essence (judged unknowable), but in analyzing Its relationship with the cosmos. The study explores the distinction, central to the Eastern tradition, between God’s unknowable ousía (essence) and His manifest enérgeiai (energies), which are His providential actions. It is argued that the procession (próodos) is not a necessary emanation, but a voluntary act of ecstatic love, which allows God to create and be known in all things without, however, losing His absolute transcendence.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Juliano Eugenio da Silva (Autor)

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