On What Cannot Be Said: Apophatic Discourses in Philosophy, Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Volume 1: Classic Formulations Book

Hymn to the Transcendence of God     x
Preface: Apophasis as a Genre of Discourse     1
Introduction: Historical Lineaments of Apophasis     9
The Ineffable One
Plato, Parmenides 137b-144e     37
Plotinus, The Enneads V.v.6; VI.ix.3-5,7,10; V.iii.13,14     49
Porphyry?, Commentary on Plato's Parmenides, Fragments I-VI     62
Proclus, Commentary on the Parmenides, Book VII, 53K-76K     75
Damascius, Doubts and Solutions Concerning First Principles, Part I, chaps. 2-8     91
The Nameless God
Bible: 1 Kings 19:9-12 (Elijah on Mount Horeb); 2 Corinthians 12:2-6 (Paul rapt to the third heaven)     111
Philo, On Cain's Posterity 15-21; On Change of Names 11-15; On the Law of Allegory III, 206-208; On Dreams I, 64-67, 229-230     115
Corpus Hermeticum V.1, 9-11; Asclepius 20     123
Tripartite Tractate I,51-57 (Gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi Library)     128
Clement of Alexandria, Stromate V, chap. XII, 78.1-82.4     135
Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, Book II, 162-166     140
On Virginity 46.360C-364A
Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Sermon 7, 44.724D-732D
Augustine, Confessions, Book IX.x.xxiii-xxv (The Vision at Ostia)     152
Dionysius the Aeropagite, Divine Names, chaps. I and VII, 3; Mystical Theology     158
Johannes Scotus Eriugena,The Division of Nature I, 457d-462d     181
Moses Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed I, chaps. 50,54, 56-61     191
Kabbalah: Azriel of Gerona, "Ein Sof," "The Annihilation of Thought," and "Being and Nothingness"     210
Zohar III, 26b
"Beyond Knowing"
from Embellishments on the Zohar
"The Name of Nothingness"
"Ayin"
"The Wisdom of Nothingness" and "Ripples"
Ibn al-'Arabi, from "The Wisdom of Exaltation in the Word of Noah" and "The Exaltation of Light in the Word of Joseph" in The Bezels of Wisdom     223
Rumi, "The Reed Flute's Song"; "The World Which Is Made of Our Love for Emptiness"; "Quietness"     235
Albert the Great, Commentary on Dionysius' Mystical Theology, chap. 5     241
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae Ia, q. 13, arts. 1-6, 8-10 ("De nominibus Dei")     249
In-finite, In-fant Spirit
Marguerite Porete, from The Mirror of Simple Souls, chaps. 7,122     277
Meister Eckhart, German Sermons 53 and 83; Commentary on Exodus, sections 146-184; Granum sinapis, stanzas VII and VIII     285
Dante, Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, 46-145     313
Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts, I.iii, chaps. 4,5,17-23     318
The Cloud of Unknowing, chaps. 3,5,6     333
Nicholas of Cusa, Dialogue on the Hiddenness of God; On Learned Ignorance, Book I, chaps. 24-26     338
Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Sixth Mansions, from chaps. 5 and 6     356
John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, Prologue, sections 1 and 2; The Dark Night, Book II, chap. XVII, 1-8; Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book I, chap. XIII, 11; "The Dark Night" (poem); "Stanzas Concerning an Ecstasy Experienced in High Contemplation"     363
Jakob Bohme, On the Election of Divine Grace, chap. 1     378
Silesius Angelus, selections from The Wandering Cherub     388
Permissions and Acknowledgments     398