Trinitarian Categories and the Division of Nature in John Scottus Eriugena

Abstract Eriugena's rendering of creativity as the central ontological category must be understood in terms of his comprehension of the Trinity in terms of causa sui . Everything participates vertically in the divine self‐creation which is simultaneous with the creation of finite reality. Eriugena refigures the horizontal Aristotelian‐neoplatonic categories in terms of this vertical metaphysics. The apophatic discourse of ‘naming God’ linked to the latter unsettles the essentialism of categorisation. A re‐organising of the categories of finite being also now reflects the relationality and polar oscillation of the Trinitarian conception of the constitutive self‐creation of both God and (by participation) creatures. Conversely, the hierarchical degrees of Being are re‐thought in terms of degrees of sharing‐in and ascent to a Trinitarian horizontal levelling of effect with cause, outcome with origin, and (Christologically and eschatologically), Creation with Creator.