John Gavin: Betrayal and Contemplation:Eriugena’s Neoplatonic Interpretation of the Last Supper

In Perphyseon V, Eriugena offers a reflection on the different approaches to Christ by Judas and Peter in the Last Supper: Judas, who remains at the level of the material, becomes the betrayer of Christ’s flesh; Peter, who ascends through the material to contemplation, comes to know (cognoscere) and love Christ’s mind. This passage is complemented by Eriugena’s treatment of the Eucharist in his Expositiones in Ierarchiam Coelestem, in which he discusses the movement from the material perception of the sensible elements to the immaterial understanding (intellegere) of Christ. The major themes in these passages—material reality as both deceptive and anagogical; contemplation as an ascent to participatory understanding—come from the Christian Neoplatonism that Eriugena inherited from Pseudo-Dionysius and other Patristic thinkers. This paper will examine the roots of Eriugena’s appropriation of these themes in his interpretation of the Last Supper, as well as his creative adaptation and application of these ideas in his approach to Christian philosophy.