Scotus Erigena was considered a heretic or a madman while he lived, and this fact joined
to the other that his views were far in advance of his age, caused his influence to be at first much
less than might have been expected. He passed into almost complete obscurity before he died, as
the conflicting reports of his later years show. Yet he did wield a posthumous influence. His idea
of the unity of philosophy and theology comes up in Anselm and Thomas Aquinas; his speculation
concerning primordial causes in Alexander of Hales and Albertus Magnus. From him Amalrich of
Bena, and David of Dinanto drew their pantheism; and various mystical sects of the Middle Ages
were inspired by him. The Church, ever watchful for orthodoxy, perceived that his book, De
Divisione Naturae, was doing mischief. Young persons, even in convents read it eagerly. Everywhere
it attracted notice. Accordingly a council, at Sens, formally condemned it, and then the Pope
(Honorius III.) ordered, by a bull of Jan. 23, 1225, the destruction of all copies that could be found,
styling it "a book teeming with the worms of heretical depravity."^1472 This order probably had the
desired effect. The book passed out of notice. But in 1681 Thomas Gale issued it in Oxford. Again
the Roman Church was alarmed, and Gregory XIII., by bull of April 3, 1685, put it on the Index.
Scotus Erigena was a man of rare originality and mental vigor. His writings are full of ideas
and bold arguments. His strongly syllogistic mode of developing his theme was all his own, and
the emphasis he put upon logic proves his superiority to his age. Unlike the scholastics, who meekly
bowed to tradition, he treated it with manly independence. To his "disciple" he said: "Let no authority
terrify thee.^1473 Hence it is erroneous to call him "the Father of Scholasticism;" rather is he the
founder of Speculative Philosophy.^1474 The scholastics drew from him, but he was not a scholastic.
The mystics drew from him, but he was not a mystic. As a pathfinder it was not given to him to
thoroughly explore the rich country he traversed. But others eagerly pressed in along the way he
opened. He is one of the most interesting figures among the mediaeval writers. He demands study
and he rewards it. De Divsione Naturae is a master-piece, and, as Baur well says, "an organized
system which comprehends the highest speculative ideas."^1475
Note on the country of birth and death of Scotus Erigena.
The statement that John was born in Ireland rests upon the interpretation of his name. Scotus
is indefinite, since it was used of both Ireland and Scotland, the former country being called Scotia
Major. But Erigena is most probably a corruption of JIerou’ [sc. nhvsou] gena, Hierugena, which
John, with his fondness for using Greek words on all occasions, added to his original name to
indicate his birth in the "holy isle," or "isle of saints," a common designation of Ireland. The
derivation is the more probable since he himself calls Maximus Confessor Graiga-gena, to indicate
the latter’s birth in Greece. By his contemporaries and in the oldest codices he is called Joannes
Scotus or Scottus,^1476 but in the oldest MSS. of his translation of Dionysius Joanna Ierugena.^1477
In course of time, owing to his scribes’ ignorance of Greek, the epithet was written Eriugena,
Erygena, and finally Erigena. Another derivation of the epithet, which has less to commend it, is
(^1472) The full text of the bull is given by Floss, Migne, CXXII. col. 439.
(^1473) De div. Nat. I. 66 (col. 511).
(^1474) In the line of Spinoza, Schelling, and especially Hegel. On the other band be sums up the ancient philosophy in its
Christianized shape.
(^1475) "Ein organisch gegliedertes, die höchsten speculativen Ideen umfassendes System."L.c. II. 274.
(^1476) So Pope Nicolas I. (Epist. cxv. in Migne, Patrol. Lat. CX [X. col. 11 19); Prudentius (De Praedestinatione contra J.
Scotum, in Migne, CXV. col. 1011), and the council of Langres (859).
(^1477) Christlieb in Herzog 2 vol. xiii. p. 789.