Willemien Otten

• Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, 1989
• University of Chicago

In the massive literature on the idea of the self, the Augustinian influence has often played a central role. The volume Augustine Our Contemporary, starting from the compelling first essay by David W. Tracy, addresses this influence from the Middle Ages to modernity and from a rich variety of perspectives, including theology, philosophy, history,...

The development of medieval Christian thought reveals from its inception in foundational authors like Augustine and Boethius an inherent engagement with Neoplatonism. To their influence that of Pseudo-Dionysius was soon added, as the first speculative medieval author, the Carolingian thinker Johannes Scottus Eriugena (810–877 CE), used all three se...

The tradition of natural theology could be read productively through the use of the trope of “the book of nature,” insofar as natural theology regards creation as a direct manifestation of the divine and its attributes. And yet there is a sense in which nature, once endowed with revelatory power, exhibits an inherent tendency to break out of its cr...

This volume explores the status of temporality in a selection of sources ranging from Augustine to Virginia Woolf. The point of departure for the programmatic reflections on temporality lies in a paradoxical concept of time as coined by Augustine. Augustine emphasizes that time can only mean the indivisible moment of present time. As a result, the...

Christian Mysticism and Platonism: Inherence and Inheritance Christian Mysticism and Platonism: Tensions and Suspense Mysticism and Platonism in Eriugena and Bonaventure Platonism in Medieval Mysticism: Questions, Conclusions, and a Comment about Gender References

The Language of Mystical Embrace: Desire and the Body in Johannes Scottus Eriugena and Meister Eckhart This article connects the mystical thought of Johannes Scottus Eriugena (810-877) with that of Meister Eckhart (1260-1328). Nuancing contemporary criticism of experience in medieval mysticism, it argues that a detailed semantic comparison between...

This volume takes up the challenge implied in Augustine's paradox of time: How does one account for the continuity of history and the certitude of memory, if time, in the guise of an indivisible "now," cuts off any extension of the present? The thinkers and artists the essays address include Augustine, Abelard, Eriugena and Thoreau, Calvin, Shakesp...

L’article propose une analyse comparative de la pensee mystique de Jean Scot Erigene (810-877) et de Maitre Eckhart (1260-1328). Nuancant les critiques contemporaines relatives au role joue par l’experience dans le mysticisme medieval, il defend la position selon laquelle il est preferable d’instaurer une comparaison semantique detaillee de la pens...

The issue of women in the early church received much attention in the latter half of the twentieth century and this interest continues today. This is a topic of immediate interest to contemporary ecclesial concerns. The Roman Catholic Church, through its claim of direct continuity of apostolic succession, still denies women’s ordination. For many o...

On the tension between word and image, with a focus on Augustine