Medieval Philosophy

by Peter S. Adamson

It would not be a stretch to see Eriugena as understanding the whole process of creation through the lens of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. According to that doctrine, the Son is eternally begotten by the Father, and then becomes present in the created world by being incarnated as Jesus Christ. Eriugena understands all of creation to follow this sort of two-step procedure. First, things are created within God Himself by being grasped in his Wisdom or Word, the second person of the Trinity. Then they manifest in, or as Eriugena also puts it, “descend” into, the created world itself (678d). Eriugena is even willing to say that God is in a sense creating Himself within or as the world. Here he is, as so often, taking inspiration from the Pseudo-Dionysius, who had spoken of “theophany,” literally, “God’s showing Himself” or “appearing” to us in the things He has created (446d).