A Celtic Christology

John Scottus Eriugena, the brilliant and controversial Irishman in the court of Charles the Bald (823-877), the grandson of Charlemagne, drew upon both the Latin and Greek patristic traditions in order to present a bold and original Christian vision. A philosopher, theologian, translator, poet, and mystic, he may be considered the ideal Carolingian Renaissance man. This volume examines his understanding of the Incarnation, the enfleshment of the Word. On the one hand, Eriugena's Christology creatively appropriates traditional categories in order to explain God's philanthropia in creating, sustaining, and restoring the cosmos. On the other hand, it also provides a guide for the believer's mystical participation in the life of Jesus and return to divine union. This brilliant intellectual from the so-called Dark Ages offers much to inspire, and perhaps even to startle, contemporary theologians, philosophers, and believers who ponder the mystery of the God-made-flesh.

Having illuminated the Dark Ages, the Irish genius can still stimulate Thomist, post-Kantian, and postmodern theologians to contemplate anew the mystery of Christ in whom are united time and eternity, finite and infinite, man and God, and by whom original and personal sins are conquered.
--John McDermott, Professor of Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Michigan

A scholarly gem that conveys the treasures of Eriugena's complex ninth-century Irish mind with competence and flair. Gavin's scholarship is thorough, his writing is a model of lucidity, and the manner in which he plans and executes this work serves his project of presenting Eriugena's theology of the incarnation perfectly. I highly recommend A Celtic Christology.
--James Corkery, Professor of Theology, Milltown Institute, Ireland

Too often treated merely as a transitional figure between patristic and medieval thought, or as interesting solely for his philosophical cosmology, John Gavin does an immense service in this fine monograph, not only of giving Eriugena his own fair hearing, but showcasing his little-studied Christology. Gavin masterfully unfolds Eriugena's insights into the nature of Christ's embodiment, its cosmic and salvific effects, and the new mode of human being grounded in his historical incarnation.
--Paul M. Blowers, Dean E. Walker Professor of Church History, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Tennessee

In this brilliantly lucid and profoundly insightful book, John Gavin successfully demonstrates the pervasive Christocentrism of Eriugena's vision, as well as his indebtedness to the Greek patristic tradition, especially Maximus the Confessor. The result is not only a groundbreaking revisionist achievement in the scholarly assessment of Eriugena, but the retrieval of a richly creative, and hitherto underappreciated, voice in the Christian tradition.
--Khaled Anatolios, Professor of Historical Theology, Boston College, Massachusetts


John F. Gavin, SJ, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of And They Are Like the Angels in the Heavens: Angelology and Anthropology in the Thought of Maximus the Confessor (2009).