The Eriugenian Influence in the Summa Halensis: A Synthetic Tradition

: This paper will consider the question as to whether the thought of Eriugena is a source for the Eastern Christian ideas found in the Summa Halensis. I shall first give a general historical overview of the fate of Eriugenian texts and ideas in this pe-riod. Following that, I shall examine the Eriugenian element in an important section of the Parisian Corpus Dionysiacum (Mystical Theology V), and the anonymous Liber de causis primis et secundis , which gives us something of a key to the 13 th reading of Eriugena, and helps explain the harshness of later reaction to him. Finally, I shall examine a key example from the Summa in which this debate from the previous five centuries emerges, and conclude. For the purposes of this comparison, I shall focus on one problem, that is, the problem of Eriugena ’ s presentation of the Primordial Causes. concealed in the darkness of their excellence, do not cease to appear by being brought forth into the light, as it were, of knowledge in their effects.³