Journal of the History of Philosophy

254 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY early work on the De nuptiis of Martianus Capella, which Schrimpf would see as the crucial formative influence on Eriugena, the Irish philosopher discovered the importance of the seven liberal arts, a concern which Schrimpf ties to the educational movement of the Irish colony located at Laon. Moreover, in Martianus's work Eriugena found those logical principles which he was to employ in his controversial Liber de diuina praedestinatione. According to Schrimpf, Eriugena attempted in the Periphyseon to capture a Christian understanding of the world through his bold analysis of Sacred Scripture, particularly in his treatment of Genesis ~-3 in books four and five. Schrimpf believes that Eriugena's desire to understand the world through a kind of philosophically based Biblical exegesis is the key to understanding the Periphyseon as a whole. He points to the dialectical structure of the Periphyseon as proof of the work's Carolingian educational context. The philosophical career of Eriugena is, thus, seen in Schrimpf's work as directed towards answering a Carolingian need for a single and unified world picture. Schrimpf's book is carefully argued, thought provoking, and full of insights which cannot be adequately treated here. It will occasion much debate, for many will disagree with both its major emphases and its central conclusions. He places more emphasis, for instance, on the crucial importance of Martianus in the development of Eriugena's thought than many would, given the philosopher's early awareness of Augustine and his later debt to the Neo-Platonisms of Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor. Many, in fact, will doubt that there is a single key to a work which reflects so many different philosophical influences and many will deny that the Periphyseon is a work of systematic philosophy. An argument could be made that, by neglecting Eriugena's other works, most notably the homily Vox spiritualis and the commentary on the Gospel of John, Schrimpf's basic scheme of the progression of Eriugena's thought is not complete. Furthermore, can Eriugena be considered a true representative of the Carolingian educational reforms instituted by Charlemagne when his own early training must have taken place in Ireland? It is to the very great credit of Gangolf Schrimpf that he has dared to pose this model for understanding Eriugena in the context of his time; whether it is wholly or even partially accepted remains to be seen. PAUL EDWARD DUTTON Simon Fraser University G. R. Evans. The Mind of St. Bernard of Ctairvaux. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1983. Pp. xv + 239. $35.oo. This work is a learned but very readable short account of St. Bernard's intellectual life. Dr. Evans is already well known to students of twelfth-century thought through his books on St. Anselm; this study examines a very different sort of thinker, but is filled with pleasant and illuminating comparisons of Bernard with Anse]m. The author deals chiefly with Bernard the preacher and Bernard the theologian, basing his discussion on the splendid new critical edition of all the great saint's BOOK gEVIEWS 255 sermons and writings. Some consideration is also given to Bernard's personality and to his place in the political and religious conflicts of his period. He was the principal force behind the Second Crusade of a 146 and occupied a leading position as advisor to popes, emperors, and kings. But it is the contemplative rather than the active Bernard who is of permanent interest. Lovers of Dante will remember the apparition of Bernardo at the climax of the Paradiso (31:65) , where Bernardo represents mystical contemplation. Dr. Evans gives a careful and accurate account of how Bernard, by his allegorical method of interpreting Scripture, is able to make texts profitable for moral edification and for spiritual insight. Unlike the great theologians of the next century, Bernard is not interested in the exploration of faith by reason (141); rather, he is concerned with faith as the basis of union with God in love, where the human will becomes a perfect image of God's will. Faith is a certitude which yet involves a mystery (215), an admirably Kierkegaardian...