Divina scriptura mundus est intelligibilis. L’ermeneutica biblica nel pensiero di Giovanni Scoto Eriugena

The doctoral thesis of Andrea Cavallini, entitled 'Divina Scriptura mundus est intelligibilis'. Biblical hermeneutics in the thought of John Scottus Eriugena, starts from the observation that, in the now vast panorama of eriugenian bibliography, there are no monographs that examine John Scottus in his work as an interpreter of the Bible. There are only two eriugenian works what might be called ‘exegetical’ in the technical sense: an homily on the prologue of John and some fragments of an incomplete commentary on the fourth Gospel. In the economy of the thought of John Scottus, however, the role played by biblical hermeneutics is more important than the two above-mentioned writings might suggest. Firstly, because the presence of exegesis in the eriugenian corpus far exceeds the boundaries of the genre: at least three (if not four) of the five books that constitute the Periphyseon, the largest and most challenging work of John Scottus, are devoted to the explanation of the Genesis story of creation, thus constituting a true ‘Exameron’, albeit in the form of philosophical dialogue. Also, if one intends the exegetical practice broadly, as an interpretation of Scripture even outside the framework of continuous commentary on the text, it should be noted that biblical themes are also present in other eriugenian works. But, beyond the quantity, the source of interest is mainly speculative. Unlike other contemporary authors, who were limited to exercise or to declare the importance of exegesis or outline the methodology, John Scottus theorizes a precise function of biblical hermeneutics within a coherent system of thought. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first, entitled ‘Bible and exegesis of the Carolingian era and work of John Scottus’, after drawing a picture of Carolingian exegesis (c. 1), presents the exegetical works of Eriugena and discusses the assignment to John Scottus of a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (c. 2); also assess the role of biblical hermeneutics in De praedestinatione and Periphyseon (c. 3). The second part, entitled ‘Principles and examples of eriugenian exegesis’, analyzes the concept of Scripture, in its essence, origin and linguistic form (c. 4), studies the role of biblical exegesis in the search for truth (c . 5), and in theological discussion (c. 6). [edited by Author]