Description
Book SynopsisThis study examines the motivations and doctrinal coherence of the Commentary on the Elements of Theology of Proclus written by Berthold of Moosburg, O.P. († c. 1361/1363). It provides an overview of Berthold’s biography and intellectual contexts, his manuscript remains, and a partial edition of his annotations on Macrobius and Proclus. Through a close analysis of the three prefaces to the Commentary, giving special attention to Berthold’s sources, it traces the Dominican's elaboration of Platonism as a soteriological science. The content of this science is then presented in a systematic reconstruction of Berthold’s cosmology and anthropology. The volume includes an English translation of the three fundamental prefaces of the Commentary. The publication of this volume has received the generous support of the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the ERC Consolidator Grant NeoplAT: A Comparative Analysis of the Middle East, Byzantium and the Latin West (9th-16th Centuries), grant agreement No 771640 (www.neoplat.eu). "This is, indeed, a precious insight into the spirit of Berthold’s philosophical thinking. Overall, the monograph’s ambition seems to be both to represent a starting point for new readers interested in Berthold, and to stress the philosophical value of the Commentary: both goals are most certainly reached." -Giuseppe Thomas Vitale, Thomas-Institut der Universität zu Köln, Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales 89.2
Trade Review"Resulta sumamente importante [...] el extenso apéndice del libro, que ofrece la traducción (una versión brillante, que plásticamente sigue tanto la frecuente sequedad del original cuanto sus ocasionales efusiones) al inglés de los tres textos introductorios de la Expositio. Si exceptuamos la versión francesa realizada por Alain de Libera de solo uno de los tres prólogos, no existía hasta el momento traducción de estos textos a lenguas modernas." - Ezequiel Ludueña, in: Patristica et Mediævalia 44.1 (2023) "...the monograph's ambition seems to be both to represent a starting point for new readers interested in Berthold, and to stress the philosophical value of the Commentary: both goals are most certainly reached." - Giuseppe Thomas Vitale
Table of ContentsPreface List of Figures and Tables Introduction 1 Life and Contexts 2 Toward a Reconstruction of Berthold’s Library 3 The Commentary on Proclus: Background, Purpose, and Exegetical Methods PART 1 Non secundum nos. Platonism as Philosophical Revelation 1 Prologus 1 Hermes Trismegistus and Thomas of York 2 Hermes Trismegistus and Albert the Great 3 Approaching and Entering the House of God 2 Expositio tituli 1 Plato’s Theorems 2 The Three Motions of the Soul 3 The Two Orders of Providence 3 Praeambulum libri 1 Theology as a Science 2 “Our Divinising Theology” PART 2 Providere cum diis. The Philosophical Principles of the Expositio 4 Exstasis divini amoris The Macrocosm 1 Plato and Aristotle on the One and the Good 2 Creation 3 The Trinity and the Gods 4 Limit and the Unlimited 5 Determination, Generation, and Light 5 Epulatio entis The Microcosm 1 Human Nature and the Spiritual Body 2 Between Being and Becoming 3 The Goodness of Silence: Deification and Providential Cognition Conclusion 1 Legacy 2 Lady Philosophy’s Vesture Translation Prologue Exposition of the Title Preamble of the Book Bibliography Index of Manuscripts Index of Authors (Ancient) Index of Authors (Modern)
