Luther’s Antidote to Apophatic Theology

Luther’s theological development brought him through a significant period of mysticism, namely, Pseudo-Dionysius’ negative theology. While previous theologians accused Dionysius of lacking Christ, the negation itself convinced Luther that Dionysius had achieved a significant insight into Christ’s cross. In Tauler and the Frankfurt mystics Luther found the fulfillment of Dionysius’ path, that God negated everything finite. Luther preferred the wise silence (apophaticism) of negative mystical theologians to the babbling of the scholastics.