“If you wish to contemplate God”: Pseudo-Dionysius on will and love

Without even alluding to the Pelagian dispute, it seems that Dionysius the Areopagite credits desire with an important role in the process of the soul’s return to God, i.e. in theôsis. This is evident in the counsel he offers to his friend Timothy, who wanted to be initiated in the mysteries of faith. The Syrian instructs: “If you wish to contemplate God through a mystical experience, my dear Timothy, I advise you to be aware and prepare yourself.” In this fragment, the human will informed by love for God is presented as the originator of the ascetic effort. A similar idea is found in Gregory of Nyssa’s De anima et resurrection, and the Syrian might have been inspired by this writing in his Mystical Theology. There are a few scriptural references on which Dionysius could have also relied in his trust that the pair love-will is instrumental in salvation (he mentions Paul’s letters). Bonaventure, in the thirteen century, believed that he understood how essential the will is in the Dionysiac Corpus. We shall built on the material available to see if a strong case can be made that the Areopagite avocates a durable connection between the human will and love, and what is its place in the process of uplifting and return