This book contains a careful, thorough, and where necessary skeptical as regards doubtful evidence (especially in the case of Plato and the Old Academy) of the beginnings in European thought of the negative or apophatic way of thinking and its relations to more positive or kataphatic ways of thinking about God. One of its greatest strengths, perhaps the greatest, is that the author makes clear that none of the persons concerned, Hellenic, Jewish or Christian, was engaged in the pursuit of a philosophical abstraction, or the heaping of rhetorical superlatives on God. They were rather concerned to present the origin of the universe as an intimately present living reality which infinitely transcends our thought and speech. This, combined with careful attention to the varieties of negative theology and its relations with positive, and the particular difficulties experienced by the members of the various traditions involved, makes the book the best introduction to the negative theology available." -A. H. Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of Greek, University of Liverpool, England. Emeritus Professor of Classics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Senior Fellow of the British Academy.
John Scottus Eriugena, the ninth-century Irish philosopher and theologian, is known as the interpreter of Greek thought to the Latin West. He was perhaps the most important philosophical thinker to appear in Latin Christendom between Augustine in the fifth century and Anselm in the eleventh. In this volume, Deirdre Carabine provides a clear and accessible introduction--the only one available in the English language--to the thought of this important figure. In part I, Carabine describes the intellectual revival of the ninth century and situates Eriugena's role within that movement. She looks closely at Eriugena's life and intellectual achievements, including his contribution to the theological controversy on predestination and his roles as teacher and translator of Greek thought. She also examines the Periphyson, undoubtedly Eriugena's most original and important work. In part II, Carabine discusses Eriugena's metaphysics, the structure of reality, the theocentric character of creation, and the role of the trinity and the primordial causes. In particular, she explores Eriugena's employment of negative theology and his understanding of human nature. In conclusion, part III looks at Eriugena's interpretation of the return of all things to their source, including his belief that all people, saints and sinners alike, will return to paradise to the "vision" of a transcendent God. Revealing the unique and compelling nature of Eriugena's thought, and showing why his work continues to appeal to a modern audience, this volume is required reading for students and scholars of medieval philosophy and theology.
John Scottus Eriugena, the ninth-century Irish philosopher and theologian, is known as the interpreter of Greek thought to the Latin West. He was perhaps the most important philosophical thinker to appear in Latin Christendom between Augustine in the fifth century and Anselm in the eleventh. In this volume, Deirdre Carabine provides a clear and accessible introduction--the only one available in the English language--to the thought of this important figure. In part I, Carabine describes the intellectual revival of the ninth century and situates Eriugena's role within that movement. She looks closely at Eriugena's life and intellectual achievements, including his contribution to the theological controversy on predestination and his roles as teacher and translator of Greek thought. She also examines the Periphyson, undoubtedly Eriugena's most original and important work. In part II, Carabine discusses Eriugena's metaphysics, the structure of reality, the theocentric character of creation, and the role of the trinity and the primordial causes. In particular, she explores Eriugena's employment of negative theology and his understanding of human nature. In conclusion, part III looks at Eriugena's interpretation of the return of all things to their source, including his belief that all people, saints and sinners alike, will return to paradise to the "vision" of a transcendent God. Revealing the unique and compelling nature of Eriugena's thought, and showing why his work continues to appeal to a modern audience, this volume is required reading for students and scholars of medieval philosophy and theology.
John Scottus Eriugena, the ninth-century Irish philosopher and theologian, is known as the interpreter of Greek thought to the Latin West. He was perhaps the most important philosophical thinker to appear in Latin Christendom between Augustine in the fifth century and Anselm in the eleventh. In this volume, Deirdre Carabine provides a clear and accessible introduction--the only one available in the English language--to the thought of this important figure. In part I, Carabine describes the intellectual revival of the ninth century and situates Eriugena's role within that movement. She looks closely at Eriugena's life and intellectual achievements, including his contribution to the theological controversy on predestination and his roles as teacher and translator of Greek thought. She also examines the Periphyson, undoubtedly Eriugena's most original and important work. In part II, Carabine discusses Eriugena's metaphysics, the structure of reality, the theocentric character of creation, and the role of the trinity and the primordial causes. In particular, she explores Eriugena's employment of negative theology and his understanding of human nature. In conclusion, part III looks at Eriugena's interpretation of the return of all things to their source, including his belief that all people, saints and sinners alike, will return to paradise to the "vision" of a transcendent God. Revealing the unique and compelling nature of Eriugena's thought, and showing why his work continues to appeal to a modern audience, this volume is required reading for students and scholars of medieval philosophy and theology.
This book contains a careful, thorough, and where necessary skeptical as regards doubtful evidence (especially in the case of Plato and the Old Academy) of the beginnings in European thought of the negative or apophatic way of thinking and its relations to more positive or kataphatic ways of thinking about God. One of its greatest strengths, perhaps the greatest, is that the author makes clear that none of the persons concerned, Hellenic, Jewish or Christian, was engaged in the pursuit of a philosophical abstraction, or the heaping of rhetorical superlatives on God. They were rather concerned to present the origin of the universe as an intimately present living reality which infinitely transcends our thought and speech. This, combined with careful attention to the varieties of negative theology and its relations with positive, and the particular difficulties experienced by the members of the various traditions involved, makes the book the best introduction to the negative theology available."" -A. H. Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of Greek, University of Liverpool, England. Emeritus Professor of Classics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Senior Fellow of the British Academy. Irish academic Deirdre Carabine has lived and taught in Uganda for more than twenty years. She has recently been founder Vice-Chancellor at the Virtual University of Uganda (VUU), the first fully online university in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that she set up International Health Sciences University in Kampala. She has taught at Queen's Belfast, University College Dublin, and Uganda Martyrs University. Currently, she is Director of Programmes at VUU. She attended the Queen's University of Belfast where she graduated with a PhD in philosophy, and University College Dublin where, as one of the first Newman Scholars, she gained a second PhD in Classics. She is also author of John Scottus Eriugena in the Great Medieval Thinkers Series (2000).
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