LFU:online

To be able to creatively use resources of the past and rediscover the philosophical and spiritual significance of great masters of Christian wisdom for our present time.

Enable students to critically evaluate the myths of our present world in light of classical examples of holistic thinking.

His writings were prohibited. But every medieval undergraduate student knew him: John Scotus Eriugena (800-877). His main philosophical work Periphysion (De divisione natura), which built on Augustine and the mystical theology of the Greek church fathers, was provocative and - in the best sense of the word - radical: it went to the roots (radix) of Christian faith. Yet it was unjustly suspected of heresy.

Against this background it is remarkable that fundamental leitmotifs of Eriugena’s thought recur in modern times: namely in J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973). Whether Tolkien read Eriugena or not, the cosmic-mystagogical theology of the Celtic mystic's was remarkably close to the creation mythology of the professor of Celtic languages - the secret source of his three-volume magnum opus "The Lord of the Rings." 

Starting from Tolkien's reception of the biblical-platonic tradition and Celtic mythology of nature, the seminar will pave an approach to Eriugena's philosophy of nature. In doing so, Michael Halshall's recent monograph on Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision will serve us as a base of operations. How far we will venture into the thicket of Periphyseon will depend on student engagement. The span of the text is enormous: it ranges from the scientific theory and ontology of plants, animals, gendered- and not-gendered humans, numbers, and rational (fairies, elves, etc.) as well as intellectual (angels) spirits, to the allegorical world tree, the hyper-being of God and the deification of man.  Yet, the 'overlay lanscapes' of Tolkien and Eriugena are today more relevant than ever before: In the war between 'metaverse' (Facebook) and 'dynamicland' apologists, Periphysion provides rigorous arguments for the 'mixed' and 'augmented realities' of the second camp.

Lecture, presentations and discussion.

Active participation in the class and seminar paper.

Johannes Scottus Eriugena, Johannis Scotti Eriugenae Periphyseon (De divisione naturae). Ed. by Édouard A. Jeauneau; translated into English by John J. O'Meara and I.P. Sheldon-Williams 2021).

Michael Halsall; Alison Grant Milbank, Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision. A Study in the Influence of Neoplatonism in J. R. R. Tolkien's Philosophy of Life as "Being and Gift" (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick 2020).

Dermot Moran, The Philosophy of John Scottus Eriugena. A Study of Idealism in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 2004).

None.