first type is what creates, but is not created; pretty obviously this is God. The third, opposite type is also easy. That which does not create but is created will be the familiar non-divine things in the world around us. The student is immediately able to provide the less obvious identification of the second type, that which is created but also creates. This applies to what Eriugena calls “primordial causes,” which play roughly the role of the Forms in the Platonic tradition, or divine ideas in ancient authors from Philo of Alexandria to Augustine (whom Eriugena cites as an authority, 446a).
