Johannes Scotus (c. 800-c. 877), who signed himself as "Eriugena" in one manuscript, and who was referred to by his contemporaries as "the Irishman" is the most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period. He is generally recognized to be both the outstanding philosopher of the Carolingian era and of the whole period of Latin philosophy stretching from Boethius to Anselm. Since the seventeenth century, it has become usual to refer to this Irish philosopher as John Scottus (or 'Scotus') Eriugena to distinguish him from the thirteenth-century John Duns Scotus. Myra Uhlfelder (Bryn Mawr PhD 1952) taught classical and medieval Latin at Bryn Mawr.

This work is a substantial contribution to the history of philosophy. Its subject, the ninth-century philosopher John Scottus Eriugena, developed a form of idealism that owed as much to the Greek Neoplatonic tradition as to the Latin fathers and anticipated the priority of the subject in its modern, most radical statement: German idealism. Moran has written the most comprehensive study yet of Eriugena's philosophy, tracing the sources of his thinking and analyzing his most important text, the Periphyseon. This volume will be of special interest to historians of mediaeval philosophy, history, and theology.

Treatise on Divine Predestination is one of the early writings of the author of the great philosophical work Periphyseon (On the Division of Nature), Johannes Scottus (the Irishman), known as Eriugena (died c. 877 A.D.). It contributes to the age-old debate on the question of human destiny in the present world and in the afterlife. The work survives in a single manuscript of which editions were published in 1650 and 1853. It has been most recently edited in 1978. The present translation was made from that edition. Modern scholars are able to discern in this early work strong intimations of Eriugena's later major writings.

This book deals with Eriugena's view of man in the context of his thinking on universal nature. Although man is seen as possessing a sinful created state, this does not prevent him from entertaining a free and direct relationship with God and the surrounding universe. It is shown that, while man is governed by nature's unfolding, he can also exercise significant control over it.

Despite his prominent role in the formation of Christian thought, John Scottus Eriugena still remains an enigmatic figure whose background and potential arouse a great deal of scholarly interest. This is true especially today, when faith seeks to regenerate: his honesty and profundity encourage us in our search for the authentic teaching of Christ. As a theologian who strongly believes in human dignity as equal to that of the imago dei, Eriugena helps us meet Christ again and follow him towards a new horizon of being. What makes Eriugena’s theology unique is his innovative approach to theological thinking, which is to be properly understood, as argued in this book, in terms of the paradigmatic shift from metaphysics to dialectic. The way we think, while trying to adopt and follow the truth of revelation so as to get freed from the world of finite things, cannot actually dispense with a dialectical treatment of contradiction. And Eriugena is explicit about this, which allows him to win a reputation as the “Hegel of the ninth century” and to make us look at our faith anew in coherence with such pivotal ideas as the divine unity, right reason, and return to the reality of creation.