Published: 2019-12-30

The concept of deification in Eriugena’s philosophical system

Adam Grzegorzyca
Studia Philosophiae Christianae
Section: Papers
https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2019.55.4.02

Abstract

In the philosophical system of Eriugena, everything that exists is a nature that is composed of entities and non-beings. Entities are the part of nature that people can know. Non-beings are the part of nature which is unknowable by man. Being is the sensual part of human nature and material reality. For the human intellect, God, original causes and matter are non-beings. God created everything out of nothing in human nature. The unreasonable choice of man led to the fall of human nature and creation, which passed from perfection into existence in the material world. The Son of God became a man and brought about the salvation of humanity. In its last days, material reality will cease to exist and creation in human nature will come to a universal return to original perfection. Human intellects will make their own judgment and the chosen ones will turn to God. Then the deification of the elect will take place. There will be the unification of the creation with the Creator without confusion of natures, without removing fundamental ontological differences, and without pantheism, which in this concept is impossible. The divinities will contemplate God, which means that they will eternally know the unknowable. This happy vision of divinization, which is a continuous process of learning about God, may be attractive even for people interested in philosophical knowledge about God in the twenty-first century.

Keywords:

Eriugena, God, Creator, creation, human nature, return, deification

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Citation rules

Grzegorzyca, A. (2019). The concept of deification in Eriugena’s philosophical system. Studia Philosophiae Christianae, 55(4), 35–60. https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2019.55.4.02

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