The third chapter looks at the Western reception of Dionysius the Areopagite in the early Middle Ages and the channelling of thinking on theosis through Dionysius into the Western mystical tradition. This tradition is examined from Bernard and Bonaventure to the Rhineland mystics and Nicholas of Cusa, revealing a constant concern to integrate the intellectual ascent to the vision of God with experiential participation in the Word by faith.

Eriugena’s concept of love seems to be twofold. On the one hand, he adopts the Platonic concept of love (ἔρως). It is well known that the Platonic eros stands ‘between’ the lover and the loved. Of course, its function is anagogic but, therefore, eros, as a mediator, cannot be conceived of as God himself. On the other hand, Eriugena states that the Absolute loves itself. To be sure, God’s self-referential love is not egoistic but caritative, soteriological and eschatological. It is the outcome, in short, of divine providence (ἀγάπη). Eriugena follows Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, his most important intellectual precursor, and combines both concepts of love. But how, we must ask, can he combine both concepts? How can these two different concepts become one? Or is their difference only an apparent one? We shall answer these crucial questions by considering the two most important concepts of Eriugena’s metaphysics: the transcendence and immanence of the Absolute, or God. Thinkers tend to put these terms in diametrical opposition, but this view, besides leading to confusion, is fundamentally mistaken.

This chapter discusses the exciting thought of 9th-century philosopher and theologian John Eriugena Scottus, with particular attention to his views on faith and reason and an in-depth discussion of his masterpiece The Division of Nature (Periphyseon).

This chapter considers the often overlooked historical contributions and contemporary importance of traditions of Christian Platonism within the development of the natural sciences. After introducing key conceptual elements, it considers the salience of Christian Platonic approaches for a variety of scientific fields including mathematics, biology, psychology, and ecology.”