Weigel, Valentin: Sämtliche Schriften. Neue Edition / Band 2: De vita beata. De luce et caligine divina. Vom seligen Leben

The Latin treatise ›De vita beata‹, which originated around 1570 and was printed in 1609 as the first of Weigel‹s writings, deals with Neoplatonic ideas and concepts, in particular those in ›De consolatione philosophiae‹ by Boethius. All human beings strive for happiness in equal measure, and happiness cannot be sought and found in evanescent objects outside of us but in the highest good, God or Christ, within ourselves. ›De luce et caligine divina‹, based on ›De vita beata‹ and also written in Latin, and the German translation of the ›Vita beata‹, entitled ›Vom seligen Leben‹, (On the Blessed Life),written in Weigel‹s direct surroundings in 1575 and included in the appendix, complete the volume.
»The texts edited here shed a fascinating light on an strand of late-sixteenth-century thinking that saw the interweaving of theology, natural philosophy, and astrology as the only possible way in which to make sense of the place of human beings in the world.« Charlotte Methuen, Renaissance Quarterly »There is no doubt that Pfefferl follows the highest scholarly standards and will thus make it possible that Weigel will become much better known than before as a truly deeply influential and significant theological voice of his time.« Albrecht Classen, Sixteenth Century Journal