“…The theology of
John Duns Scotus places Christ at the centre of a universe ordered by love.
Christ is presented as the basis of all nature, grace and glory – the most
perfect model of humanity. He is at the beginning, the centre and the end of
the universe.
Lack of AppreciationIn this writer’s opinion Scotus has been greatly misjudged and misunderstood. The learned Jesuit, Father Bernard Jansen, once wrote that “rarely has the real figure of an eminent personage of the past been defaced as has that of the Franciscan John Duns Scotus.” [1] The philosopher Etienne Gilson, wrote “Of a hundred writers who have held Duns Scotus up to ridicule, not two of them have ever read him and not one of them has understood him.”[2]
Lack of AppreciationIn this writer’s opinion Scotus has been greatly misjudged and misunderstood. The learned Jesuit, Father Bernard Jansen, once wrote that “rarely has the real figure of an eminent personage of the past been defaced as has that of the Franciscan John Duns Scotus.” [1] The philosopher Etienne Gilson, wrote “Of a hundred writers who have held Duns Scotus up to ridicule, not two of them have ever read him and not one of them has understood him.”[2]
… In his theology Scotus seeks to build everything on his
Christology – a Christology that is at the same time Pauline, Johannine and
Franciscan. Pauline, because it develops the insight that Christ is the “image
of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. For in him were created
all things... through and unto him” (Col. 1: 15-17). It is Johannine since it
sees love at the root of God and of creation…Finally it is Franciscan in that
it seeks to harmonise all things in Christ according to the divine plan so that
the bond between all creatures is recognised with each being assigned its own
place in God’s loving creation…
The Immaculate Conception
During his time at Paris Scotus took his well known stand on the Immaculate Conception of Mary… the people of God, with their inspired sense of right doctrine, continued to promote the doctrine of Mary’s singular privilege. This was especially true of the Church and the faithful in England…
During his time at Paris Scotus took his well known stand on the Immaculate Conception of Mary… the people of God, with their inspired sense of right doctrine, continued to promote the doctrine of Mary’s singular privilege. This was especially true of the Church and the faithful in England…
The objection was raised that scripture did indeed oppose
this Marian privilege for in the letter to the Romans St. Paul says “Therefore,
just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin,
and so death spread to all because all have sinned.” (Rom. 5: 12). This apparently irrefutable text, Scotus argued,
proves nothing against the Marian privilege. All agree in universal redemption
in Christ, but why should this universal redemption necessarily rule out the
Immaculate Conception of Mary? In fact it follows from Christ’s universal
redemption that Mary did not have original sin. The most perfect mediator ought
to have the most perfect act of mediation in regard to the person in whose
favour he intervenes. Mary, his mother, is the person in whose favour Christ
intervenes the most as mediator of grace. This wholly perfect act of mediation
requires in the one redeemed preservation from every defect, even from the
original defect. Therefore the Blessed Virgin was exempted from every stain of
sin. Instead of belittling Christ and circumscribing his power, Scotus argues,
the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception exalts him, attributing to Jesus the
most perfect and sublime redemption. This redemption is most perfectly won for
Mary, because of her role as the Mother of God, the one through whom the
Incarnation would occur. So Mary, far from being outside the realm of
redemption, is more indebted than the rest of us to our Saviour Jesus Christ
for she has received a more radical redemption.
The Primacy of Christ
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which the Church definitively approved and declared infallible in 1854, was predicated upon the primacy of Christ…
The Primacy of Christ
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which the Church definitively approved and declared infallible in 1854, was predicated upon the primacy of Christ…
But there is another manner of looking at the Incarnation,
that is also permitted by the Church, although you will find it less
widespread. It is a Christocentric thesis, which includes creation and
Incarnation in one great theory of the love of God that underlies all
existence. This is the theory proposed by Blessed John Duns Scotus in which
everything that is is viewed through the lens of the primacy of Christ, the
freedom of God and the contingency of the world.
For each creature shines with something of God that can be expressed by no other. Each sun, star, proton, grape and grain is charged with a divine meaning – a meaning that no other can express. And each creature speaks to us of Christ who is the first among creatures.
Poetic Inspiration
The significance of this doctrine has not been lost on poets and theologians, and especially on one of the greatest of English religious poets Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins, writing in Oxford in the 19th century, considered it a privilege to be in the city in which Duns Scotus had lived six hundred years earlier.
“Yet ah! This air I gather and I release
He lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are what
He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace.
Of realty the rarest-veined unraveller; a not
Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;
Who fired France for Mary without spot.”[12]
Scotus’ theology inspired some of my favourite lines from Hopkins. In this extract from the Wreck of the Deutschland we hear Hopkins expressing the univocity of being in his poetic language of “instressed” meaning:
“I kiss my hand
To the stars, lovely-asunder
Starlight, wafting him out of it; and
Glow, glory in thunder;
Kiss my hand to the dappled-with-damson west;
Since tho’ he is under the world’s splendour and wonder,
His mystery must be instressed, stressed;
For I greet him the days I meet him, and bless whenI understand.” [13]
In “God’s Grandeur” we hear Hopkins telling of the manner in which we perceive something of God in those moments in which we are open to the reality of nature. “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like a shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil.”[14]
And from the first poem I ever loved, Hopkins delights at the majesty of a windhover in the early morning skies and perceives the fire of Christ in the beauty of the creature’s actions:
“Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!”[15]”
For each creature shines with something of God that can be expressed by no other. Each sun, star, proton, grape and grain is charged with a divine meaning – a meaning that no other can express. And each creature speaks to us of Christ who is the first among creatures.
Poetic Inspiration
The significance of this doctrine has not been lost on poets and theologians, and especially on one of the greatest of English religious poets Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins, writing in Oxford in the 19th century, considered it a privilege to be in the city in which Duns Scotus had lived six hundred years earlier.
“Yet ah! This air I gather and I release
He lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are what
He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace.
Of realty the rarest-veined unraveller; a not
Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;
Who fired France for Mary without spot.”[12]
Scotus’ theology inspired some of my favourite lines from Hopkins. In this extract from the Wreck of the Deutschland we hear Hopkins expressing the univocity of being in his poetic language of “instressed” meaning:
“I kiss my hand
To the stars, lovely-asunder
Starlight, wafting him out of it; and
Glow, glory in thunder;
Kiss my hand to the dappled-with-damson west;
Since tho’ he is under the world’s splendour and wonder,
His mystery must be instressed, stressed;
For I greet him the days I meet him, and bless whenI understand.” [13]
In “God’s Grandeur” we hear Hopkins telling of the manner in which we perceive something of God in those moments in which we are open to the reality of nature. “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like a shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil.”[14]
And from the first poem I ever loved, Hopkins delights at the majesty of a windhover in the early morning skies and perceives the fire of Christ in the beauty of the creature’s actions:
“Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!”[15]”
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