Original scientific paper
The Notion of Creation in Herman Dalmatin's Treatise on Essences
Alojz Ćubelić
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Herman Dalmatin is one of the scions of the famous Chartres twelfth-century school. Of his varied intellectual interests, we have picked a topic arresting his spirit, yet also the spirits of all the Chartres commentators and teachers. The problem of creation is quite challenging because a complete understanding of God the Creator’s activities and his relationship with the world of creatures is a complex issue. On the basis of the texts we have cursorily inspected, Herman’s approach is an example of an autonomous thinker considering problems in a novel way, naturally, relying on the authorities of Plato, Boetius, Aristotle, and others. While the Classics generally viewed creation as putting things in order, starting from an original chaos the causes of which had not been looked for, Herman boldly expounded that there is but one almighty Creator, the primordial cause and multiplicator of the Universe. In this manner, he added what Plato’s Demiurge »lacked« so he could be a Creator in the Christian sense, attempting a rational presentation of the Christian belief, that is, that God created heaven and earth »in principio«.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
74043
URI
Publication date:
4.12.2000.
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