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John Scotus Eriugena Quotes

d. 870 Ireland

Johannes Scotus (c. 815 – c. 877) was an Irish theologian and Neoplatonist philosopher who settled at the court of Charles the Bald. His tendency towards pantheism led to his work being posthumously condemned as heretical.

Ireland
Philosophers
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Also known as: Johannes Scotus Erigena, Johannes Scotus Eriugena

Random John Scotus Eriugena quote

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Yet someone may ask: how is it that all things which are, are lights?

No one enters heaven except through philosophy.

Nemo intrat in caelum nisi per philosophiam.

When we are told that God is the maker of all things, we are simply to understand that God is in all things – that He is the substantial essence of all things.

For authority proceeds from true reason, but reason certainly does not proceed from authority. For every authority which is not upheld by true reason is seen to be weak, whereas true reason is kept firm and immutable by her own powers and does not require to be confirmed by the assent of any authority.

What, then, is it to treat of philosophy, unless to lay down the rules of the true religion by which we seek rationally and adore humbly God, who is the first and sovereign cause of all things? Hence it follows that the true philosophy is the true religion, and reciprocally that the true religion is the true philosophy.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Scotus Eriugena (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.