78ERIUGENA, JOHN SCOTTUS
Testament (1516), a series on the Church
Fathers, including Jerome, Cyprian,
Pseudo-Arnobius, Hilarius, Irenaeus,
Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, Basil,
and Origen (1516–1536), Diatribe on Free
Will (1524), and The Epicurean (1533).
ERIUGENA, JOHN SCOTTUS (a.k.a.
Erigena) (c. 810–c. 877). An Irish Neo-
platonist philosopher and theologian,
Eriugena taught grammar and dialectics
in France under Charles the Bald at the
Palatine School near Laon. A master of
classical Greek, he translated and inter-
preted the works of Dionysius the
Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and
Gregory of Nyssa.
His chief work, Periphyseon (also
known as On the Division of Nature),
sought to integrate Neoplatonism and
Christianity. In this five-volume work,
he divided nature into four categories:
(1) that which is not created but creates
(God as source), (2) that which is created
and creates (the primordial causes, i.e.,
divine ideas), (3) that which is created
and does not create (the creation), and
(4) that which is not created and does not
create (God as end). Eriugena, moved
by the Neoplatonic vision of progression
and regression, saw creation as emanat-
ing from and returning to God. Although
he saw God and creation “as one and
the same thing” because of God’s super-
essentialiality, he also maintained that
God was above being and distinct from
creation, thereby avoiding pantheism.
Eriugena was the first major influence
of Neoplatonism in the West since
Boethius (480–524/5), and his early fol-
lowers included Remigius and Heiric of
Auxerre and Pope Sylvester II. His work
also influenced Christian mystics such
as Meister Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa,
and Giordano Bruno. Councils at Vercelli
(1050), Rome (1059), and Paris (1210 and
1225), in addition to a bull by Honorius
III (1225), however, condemned his work
as pantheistic.ESCHATOLOGY. From the Greek
eschatos, meaning “last.” Accordingly, it
designates the branch of Christian theo-
logy that deals with the last things.
Traditionally, it has focused on four top-
ics: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.
Personal eschatology focuses on the
ultimate fate of individuals after their
personal death and judgment, which is
why heaven and hell receive so much
attention in the field. Cosmic eschatology
broadens the horizon to consider the final
resolution and outcome of the entire cre-
ated order. Eschatology is thus concerned
with the “end” of the world in the teleo-
logical sense as well as the temporal. It
seeks to discern the purposes for which
God created the world and how God will
accomplish them.
Although eschatology has sometimes
been treated as a mere appendage to sys-
tematic theology, the reality is that it is
integral to the Christian message, and
any sound version of theology must be