Vladimir Lossky and Eckhart's theology

This article is the preface that Étienne Gilson wrote for Vladimir Lossky's posthumous work, *Théologie négative et Connaissance de Dieu chez Maître Eckhart* (Vrin, 1960), reproduced here as a tribute to the Russian Orthodox theologian. Gilson offers both a personal testimony about Lossky and an analytical presentation of his method. The central idea is that Lossky refuses to reduce Eckhart's thought to a single system: he shows that the Thuringian doctor successively explores several theological paths — Being, the One, the Intellect — in order to better affirm divine ineffability through an accumulation of negations. The contribution of this article is twofold: it situates Eckhartian negative theology in relation to Thomism and Dionysianism, and it highlights the originality of Lossky as an Orthodox theologian capable of rigorously and sympathetically interrogating a great representative of medieval Western spirituality.