Knowra John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena was a ninth-century Irish philosopher, theologian, and translator who brought Greek Neoplatonic ideas into dialogue with Christian theology.
Neoplatonism : A philosophical tradition derived from Plato that describes reality as flowing from a supreme first principle and returning toward it. Its account of procession and return supplied the metaphysical structure Eriugena adapted for Christian theology.
Periphyseon : Eriugena's dialogue on nature, creation, and the relation between God and all things. This five-book work gives the fullest account of his metaphysical system.
Irish monasticism : The Christian monastic tradition that developed in Ireland and produced influential centers of learning and manuscript culture. Eriugena came from an Irish scholarly tradition whose learning connected insular and continental Christianity.
Gottschalk of Orbais : A ninth-century monk whose teaching on predestination provoked a major controversy in the Carolingian church. Eriugena entered the controversy by arguing against Gottschalk's account of predestination.
De divina praedestinatione : Eriugena's treatise arguing that predestination concerns salvation alone and that evil has no positive substance. It records his direct response to Gottschalk and the ninth-century predestination dispute.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite : The pseudonymous Christian author of influential Greek works on divine names, hierarchy, and mystical theology. Eriugena translated his writings, making their Christian Neoplatonism available to Latin readers.
Division of Nature : Eriugena's fourfold classification of nature as creating and uncreated, created and creating, created and uncreating, or neither. Its four categories organize his account of God, causes, creatures, and the final return.
Charles the Bald : King of West Francia from 843 to 877 and a patron of Carolingian learning. Eriugena worked at Charles's court, where royal patronage supported his translations and theological writing.
Predestination controversy : A ninth-century dispute over whether God predestines some people to salvation and others to damnation. Eriugena's De divina praedestinatione addressed this dispute and drew ecclesiastical opposition.
Translation of Pseudo-Dionysius : Eriugena's Latin translation of the works attributed to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This translation made a central source of his Neoplatonic theology accessible in the Latin West.
Show all 26