Thinking Nature and the Nature of Thinking: From Eriugena to Emerson

311 Pages·2020·2.264 MB·English

by  Willemien Otten

Thinking Nature and the Nature of Thinking
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Cultural Memory
in
the
Present
Hent de Vries, Editor
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THINKING NATURE AND
THE NATURE OF THINKING
From Eriugena to Emerson
Willemien Otten
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of
Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Otten, Willemien, author.
Title: Thinking nature and the nature of thinking : from Eriugena to Emerson /
Willemien Otten.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019028970 (print) | LCCN 2019028971 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781503606708 (cloth) | ISBN 9781503611672 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781503611689 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy of nature. | Nature—Religious aspects. |
Erigena, Johannes Scotus, approximately 810-approximately 877. |
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803–1882. | Natural theology.
Classification: LCC BD581 .O76 2020 (print) | LCC BD581 (ebook) |
DDC 113—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028970
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028971
Cover image: Kim Lim, from Three Small Etchings, “Untitled,” 1971.
© Estate of Kim Lim. All Rights Reserved, DACS, London /
ARS, NY 2019; Photo: © Tate, London 2019
Cover design: Rob Ehle
Typeset by Kevin Barrett Kane in 11/13.5 Adobe Garamond Pro
For Dick
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Contents
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction
Thinking Nature . . . (and the Nature of Thinking) 1
PART 1
Chapter 1
Thinking Nature in Eriugena and Emerson 13
Thinking Nature, 13 • Eriugena and Emerson, 20 • Emerson on
Thinking Nature, 23 • Preaching, 23 • The Sabbath or Jubilee of the
Whole World, 30 • Eriugena on Nature and the Self, 34 • Mystic or
Idealist, 40 • Connecting Eriugena and Emerson on Thinking Nature, 44
Chapter 2
Panchristology and the Liturgical Cosmos of Maximus the Confessor 49
Introduction, 49 • Maximus’s Cosmic Liturgy, 52 • Maximus and His
Liturgical Interpreters, 52 • The Liturgical Cosmology of Ambiguum 41,
56 • Two Cosmic Points on the Liturgical Circle, 63 • The Fatness of
the Incarnate Christ, 64 • The Balance of Nature and Scripture, 66 •
Nature as Mystagogy: Cosmic Return and the Anthropological Task, 70 •
Conclusion, 76
Chapter 3
Creation and the Hexaemeron in Augustine 79
Introduction, 79 • Scripture’s Mediation, 84 • From Platonic
Cosmology to Literal Exegesis, 89 • Creation and Conversion 1, 94 •
Time in or outside Paradise, 98 • Creation and Conversion 2, 102 •
Vision and Voice, 105