THE «REAL» SYMBOL IN NEOPLATONISM AND IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION (INTHECORPUS AREOPAGITICUMANDIN KARL RAHNER)

Abstract

The article treats three examples of specifi с approach to the concept of symbol in theology when the higher being (that which is symbolized) is understood to be truly present in its symbol. The fi rst section discusses the doctrine of the symbol in the theurgic Neoplatonism of Iamblichus and Julian. The theory of the symbol evolved by the later Neoplatonists is shown to have been inherited by pseudo-Dionysios. A triple function of the symbol in the works of the Neoplatonists and in the Corpus Areopagiticumis then examined: the safeguarding, the anagosis, and the manifestation. In the second section, the theology of the symbol in Karl Rahner and its later development by Herbert Vorgrimler are discussed. It is concluded that in certain essential points their theory of the revealing or real symbol is close in type to that found in the Later Neoplatonism as well as in the Corpus Areopagiticum.

Keywords

• Iamblichus
• Julianus
• Corpus Areopagiticum
• Neoplatonism
• symbol
• Karl Rahner
• Herbert Vorgrimler