SOURCE: Carabine, Deirdre. “Eriugena's Use of the Symbolism of Light, Cloud, and Darkness in the Periphyseon.” In Eriugena: East and West: Papers of the Eighth International Colloquium of the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies: Chicago and Notre Dame: 18-20 October 1991, edited by Bernard McGinn and Willemien Otten, pp. 141-52. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994.

In the following essay, originally delivered as lecture in 1991, Carabine examines ambiguous aspects of Eriugena's symbolism.

The diverse ways in which eriugena employs the theme of light have been given scholarly attention in the past.¹ It is my intention that this essay should complement that aspect of Eriugena's thought through an elucidation of la métaphysique nocturne in the Periphyseon. In doing so, I do not propose to diminish the importance of the carefully constructed light metaphysics so obviously present in that work. Nevertheless, I do suggest that there...