John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) was one of the most important theologians and philosophers of the Middle Ages with a considerable influence on both christian and secular thought. He was called the Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought. Despite his importance and greatness, little is known about his life, and information on his life in older literature is often not correct. In this volume, Antonie Vos presents a new biography based on the facts and on the information given in the writings of Duns himself. Information in older literature is checked and often corrected, and new information is added.

John Duns Scotus (1265–1308), beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1993, is widely recognized as one of the most original and influential philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages. Ordered by Love offers a sympathetic exploration of a wide range of Scotus’s thought. Topics covered include his understanding of the relationship between faith and reason, his doctrine of individuation by “haecceity” (thisness), his theory of the univocity of the concept of being, his emphasis on God’s freedom and its supposed consequences for moral theory, his defense of Mary’s immaculate conception, and his teaching on the primacy of Christ.

This volume was a cooperative effort of European, American and Canadian scholars which was published to commemorate the occasion of the seventh centennial of the bith of John Duns Scotus.

The famous Franciscan theologian, Bl. John Duns Scotus, even before his untimely death in 1308, was renowned for his defense of the Immaculate Conception and known as Marian Doctor par excellence. This book aims at acquainting the general public with the admirable figure of this Scottish-born friar. It does so, above all, to promote the knowledge and love of Christ Jesus and His Mother, the Virgin Mary, in the teaching and life of this holy theologian. Scotus, as a son of St. Francis of Assisi, stresses the primacy of love in theology. All else is ordered to love, and in love everything is perfected. For God is love and who abides in love abides in God and God in him (I Jn 4: 16). As taught by Scotus, the absolute primacy of Jesus and Mary — root and synthesis of all creation, heavenly as well as earthly — is the most perfect revelation of this divine love.