John Scottus Eriugena and the Medieval Dionysian Affective Tradition: Love, Knowledge, and Mystical Union in the Periphyseon

Abstract This essay compares how John Scottus Eriugena and thinkers associated with what has been called the ‘Medieval Dionysian Affective Tradition’ interpret the role of love in mystical union according to the works of Dionysius the Areopagite. At stake are two issues that challenge commonly held assumptions about Eriugena’s work. First, Eriugena is generally regarded as an intellectualist whose works lack emphasis on the role of love in how the human mind comes to know God. As this essay claims, scholars consistently overlook that in the Periphyseon Eriugena understands that love plays a key role in mystical union by perfecting human knowledge of God. Second, although Eriugena was the first to translate the complete Corpus Dionysiacum and interpret its ideas for a Latin audience, scholars typically do not regard him as a contributor to the Medieval Dionysian Affective Tradition. According to this essay, Eriugena anticipates this tradition of interpreting the Corpus Dionysiacum insofar as his emphasis on the role of love in mystical union draws from Dionysius and integrates his ideas with those of Latin authors, particularly Augustine. Crucially, however, unlike later interpreters of Dionysius, Eriugena does not consider love to be a higher mode of cognition than other forms of knowing, and teaches that mystical union requires transgressing both knowledge and love.