the Divine image.^1434 Nature is divided into four species: (1) that which creates and is not created,
(2) that which is created and creates, (3) that which is created and does not create, (4) that which
neither creates nor is created. The first three divisions are a Neo-Platonic and Christian modification
of the three-fold ontological division of Aristotle:^1435 the unmoved and the moving, the moved and
moving, and the moved and not moving. The fourth form was suggested by the Pseudo-Dionysian
doctrine of the return of all things to God.
One of the fundamental ideas of his theology is the identity of true philosophy and true
religion. Both have the same divine source.^1436 "True religion" and authority, i.e. the Church doctrine,
are however not with him exactly identical, and in a conflict between them he sides with the former.
In his use of Scripture he follows the allegorical method. He puts the Fathers almost upon a level
with the Sacred Writers and claims that their wisdom in interpreting Scripture must not be questioned.
At the same time he holds that it is permissible, especially when the Fathers differ among themselves,
to select that interpretation of Scripture which most recommends itself to reason as accordant with
Scripture.^1437 It is, he says, the province of reason to bring out the hidden meaning of the text, which
is manifold, inexhaustible, and striking like a peacock’s feathers.^1438 It is interesting to note in this
connection that John Scotus read the New Testament in the original Greek, and the Old Testament
in Jerome’s version, not in the Septuagint.^1439 And it is still more interesting to know that he prayed
most earnestly for daily guidance in the study of the Scriptures.^1440
The doctrinal teaching of Scotus Erigena can be reduced, as he himself states, to three heads.
(1) God, the simple and at the same time the multiform cause of all things; (2) Procession from
God, the divine goodness showing itself in all that is, from general to particular; (3) Return to God,
the manifold going back into the one.
First Head. God, or Nature, which creates but is not created. a. The Being of God in itself
considered. God is the essence of all things, alone truly is,^1441 and is the beginning, middle and end
of all things.^1442 He is incomprehensible.^1443 While the predicates of essence, truth, goodness,
wisdom, &c., can be, according to the "affirmative" theology, applied to God, it can only be done
metaphorically, because each such predicate has an opposite, while in God there is no opposition.
Hence the "negative" theology correctly maintains they can not be.^1444 Neither can self-consciousness
be predicated of God.^1445 Although not even the angels can see the essence of God, yet his being
(i.e. the Father) can be seen in the being of things; his wisdom (i.e. the Son) in their orderly
(^1434) I. 3-7. Cf Ueberweg, l.c., p. 361.
(^1435) Metaph. XII. 7; cf. Augustin, who mentions the first three forms, De civ. Dei, V 9, and Ueberweg, l.c. I. 363.
(^1436) "Ambo siquidem ex uno fonte, divina videlicet sapientia, manare dubium non est."De div. Nat. I. 66, Migne, ed. col.
511, l. 28.
(^1437) Ibid. II. 16, col 548. IV. 16. col. 816, cf. col. 829.
(^1438) Ibid. IV. 5, col. 749.
(^14392)
"Septuaginta prae manibus non habemus." Migne col. 243.
(^1440) Neander, III. p. 462.
(^1441) "Ipse namque omnium essentia est, qui solus vere est." Migne, Ibid. I.3 (col. 443).
(^1442) "Est igitur principium, medium et finis." I. 11(col. 451).
(^1443) "Dem per seipsum incomprehensibilis est!’ I. 10 (col. 451).
(^1444) I. 14 (col. 459).
(^1445) II. 28 (col. 593). For a discussion of this point see Christlieb, J. 8 B., pp. 168-176.