A Celtic Christology [Hardcover]

John Scottus Eriugena, the brilliant and controversial Irishman in the court of Charles the Bald (823-877), the grandson of Charlemagne, drew upon both the Latin and Greek patristic traditions in order to present a bold and original Christian vision. A philosopher, theologian, translator, poet, and mystic, he may be considered the ideal Carolingian Renaissance man. This volume examines his understanding of the Incarnation, the enfleshment of the Word. On the one hand, Eriugena's Christology creatively appropriates traditional categories in order to explain God's philanthropia in creating, sustaining, and restoring the cosmos. On the other hand, it also provides a guide for the believer's mystical participation in the life of Jesus and return to divine union. This brilliant intellectual from the so-called Dark Ages offers much to inspire, and perhaps even to startle, contemporary theologians, philosophers, and believers who ponder the mystery of the God-made-flesh. Having illuminated the Dark Ages, the Irish genius can still stimulate Thomist, post-Kantian, and postmodern theologians to contemplate anew the mystery of Christ in whom are united time and eternity, finite and infinite, man and God, and by whom original and personal sins are conquered. --John McDermott, Professor of Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Michigan A scholarly gem that conveys the treasures of Eriugena's complex ninth-century Irish mind with competence and flair. Gavin's scholarship is thorough, his writing is a model of lucidity, and the manner in which he plans and executes this work serves his project of presenting Eriugena's theology of the incarnation perfectly. I highly recommend A Celtic Christology. --James Corkery, Professor of Theology, Milltown Institute, Ireland Too often treated merely as a transitional figure between patristic and medieval thought, or as interesting solely for his philosophical cosmology, John Gavin does an immense service in this fine monograph, not onlyl³x