Publisher's Synopsis
In the month of June, 1995, the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies held its ninth International Colloquium at Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve. The Colloquium was devoted to Eriugena's hermeneutics and his interpretation of the Bible.
The feature of Biblical hermeneutics is of main interest for a thinker like Eriugena. For him the source and the end of all truth is the understanding of Sacred Scripture. To unravel this inconcussa auctoritas diuinae Scripturae all hermeneutical skills have to be brought into play, in order to give rise to a true spiritual understanding of the Bible.
This volume contains the contributions presented at the Colloquium, which shed light on numerous aspects of Eriugena's hermeneutics of Scripture. Without imposing too rigid a classification, the contributions to this book can be listed under four headings. The first two studies present large-scale tableaux, establishing the context within which Eriugena undertook his biblical studies. In a second group of articles, attention is paid more directly to the specifically Eriugenian method of understanding Sacred Scripture. The theoretical aspects of Eriugena's exegesis, as established in the second part, are adapted in the third, in which Eriugena's interpretation of particular Biblical texts is investigated. The fourth and last heading, then, would contain studies in the range and method of Eriugena's exegesis, with particular attention to manuscript sources, and to new texts to be included into the opera of John Scottus.
A bibliographical survey is added to the volume. It is intended to complement the work of M. BRENNAN, A Guide to Eriugenian Studies. A Survey of Publications 1930-1987 / Guide des études érigéniennes. Bibliographie commentée des publications 1930-1987 (Vestigia, 5), Fribourg (Éditions Universitaires)/Paris (Éditions du Cerf), 1989. Given the ever-increasing interest in the study of Eriugena and the corresponding growth in the number of publications dedicated to Eriugena's life, work, and influence, the editors believed it would be beneficial to provide a bibliographical survey for the period from 1987 onwards. The large number of references from this relatively brief period can be considered as amply justifying this enterprise.
