Book Review: Going to Church in Medieval England

The final section of the volume explores the legacy of Eriugena, an often neglected aspect of Eriugena scholarship. Agnieszka Kijewska reveals the presence of his work in the schools and monasteries of the 12th century, while David Albertson looks at the Eriugena tradition in the later medieval and early Renaissance periods, with a particular study of the themes of negation, theophany, and anthropology in the thought of Nicholas of Cusa. Dermot Moran sketches Eriugena’s reception in modernity, particularly with respect to German Idealism. Stephen Lahey’s short essay includes an important summary of the Amaurician heresy (since it is relevant to the condemnation of the Periphyseon in CE 1225), but it is unclear why he follows this with a brief exposition of Idealism in Eriugena’s thought. This essay also appears misplaced (coming last) in the chronological ordering of essays in this section. Finally, the words of Pope Benedict XVI regarding Eriugena is a welcome addition in the Appendix, in which the Irish master is recommended as a source of inspiration to contemporary theologians: his endeavour to ‘express the expressible of the inexpressible God,’ the pope wrote in 2009, cultivates a ‘constant readiness to conversion.’