RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Scotus Erigena Scribes
history evil in every form is to be annihilated. This is the necessary consequence of the system of Scotus, to which he gave extended discussion. According to his system, it was impossible that a nature, something created by God, could suffer eternally. And he attempted to show how a vice could attach to a pure nature without corrupting it, also how it might be punished, though in itself nothing, otherwise than in the nature possessed by it; his demonstration, however, is unsatisfactory. How the bad will can continue to exist while the nature is completely pure is not made clear, and this difficulty is the greater because Scotus regarded the will not as an accident but as an essential. Yet Scotus has (x. 38) a sentence which should be noticed. He says that practically all authors agree that as many men attain to the heavenly kingdom as there are angels who have fallen, and remarks that, if that is correct, then must the number of men who eventually are born equal that of angels or else not all men attain to the purpose of their creation, which last is contrary to the reasons already given for the salvation of all men in Christ. In that case only demons and the devil are doomed to eternal condemnation. The system of Scotus in its consequences favors throughout the doctrine of Apocatastasis (q.v.).
The foregoing points have been the more thoroughly considered because in his general thinking this scholar was true to the teaching of the Church. Where he differed from it he seems to have concealed the fact even from himself. He used trinitarian formulas frequently; he as- 12. His sumed that the Father created in the Position in Son — the Logos or intelligence — the General, primordial causes, while in the Holy Spirit he saw the active principle through which those causes issued in effects. The teaching of the Church on Christology he assumed in his system without regarding the deep-lying difficulties. Whether Scotus can be called "the father of scholasticism" is the more doubtful inasmuch as his interest was more philosophical than theological. His personal position is freer and more independent than that of later schoolmen. His relation to mysticism is peculiar; he can not be called a mystic, for the personal experiences of mystics were never his or at least never found expression; yet his system is full of mystical thought dialectically justified. Through this thought and by the translation of the Dionysian writings he exercised an uncommon influence upon mysticism. He also greatly affected medieval speculation, especially in the twelfth century; in the first part of the thirteenth century he had considerable vogue in Paris, ecclesiastical opposition to him found voice, and Honorius III. ordered the destruction of his De divisione natures. This worked f orgetfulness of him so that he does not appear on the Tridentine index. A requirement of the present is a complete critical edition of his works, with an adequate investigation of his relation to his predecessors. (S. M. Deutsch-j-.)
Bibliography: For the life consult: G. B. Sch titer, Scotus Erigena, Minister, 1838; F. Christlieb, Leben und Lehre des Johannes Scotus Erigena, Gotha, 1860; J. Huber, Johannes Scotus Erigena, Munich, 1861; O. Hermens, Das Leben des Scotus Erigena, Jena, 1868; L. Noack, Ueber Leben und Schriften des Joh, Scotus Erigena: die Wissen-
schaft und Bildung seiner Zeit, Leipsic, 1876; P. Hoffmann, De Johannis Scoti Erigence vita et doctrina, Halle, 1877; K. Werner, Johannes Duns Scotus, Vienna, 1880.
For his philosophy consult: P. Hjort, Johann Scotus Erigena, oder von dem Ursprung einer christlichen Philosophic und ihrem heiligen Beruf, Copenhagen, 1823; H. Schmidt, Der Mysticismus des Mittelalters in seiner Entstehungsperiode, Jena, 1824; F. C. Baur, Die christliche Lehre von der Dreieinigkeit und M enschwerdung , ii. 263— 344, Tubingen, 1842; A. Helfferich, Die christliche Mystik, vol. ii., Gotha, 1842; St. Rene Taillandier, Scot. Engine et la philosophic scolastique, Strasburg, 1843; N. Moller, Joh. Scotus Erigena und seine Irrthumer, Mainz, 1844; J. P. Haureau, De la philosophie scolastique, Paris, 1850; idem, Histoire de la philosophie scolastique, ib. 1872; W. Kaulich, Geschichte der scholastischen Philosophie, Prague, 1863; A. Stockl, Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie im Mittelalter, i. 31-128, Mainz, 1864; idem, De Joh. Scotus Erigena, Minister, 1867; J. G. Boivin, Philosophia quadripartiti Scoti, 4 vols., Paris, 1868; H. Rahse, Des Joh. Erigenas Stellung zur mittelalterlichen Scholastik und Mystik, Rostock, 1874; F. J. Hoffmann, Der Gottes- und Schopfungsbegriff des Johannes Scotus Erigena, Jena, 1876; G. Anders, Darstellung und Kritik der Ansicht von Johannes Scotus Erigena, dass die Kategorien nicht aufGott anwendbar seien, Jena, 1877; G. Buchwald, Der Logosbegriff des Johannes Scotus Erigena, Leipsic, 1884; T. Wotschke, Fichte und Erigena, Halle, 1896; M. DeWulf, Histoire de la philosophie medievale, Louvain, 1900; A. Gardner, Studies in John the Scot (Erigena), London, 1900; J. Draseke, Johannes Scotus Erigena und dessen Gewahrsmann, Leipsic, 1902 (on the sources used by Scotus); the works on the history of philosophy by H. Ritter, Hamburg, 1844 (vii. 206-296) ; J. E. Erdmann, Eng. transl., 3 vols., London, 1892-98; W. Windelband, Eng. transl., New York, 1893; and F. Ueberweg, ed. Heinze, 9th ed., Berlin, 1901-05.
SCOTUS, JOHANNES DUNS. See Duns Scotus.
SCOULLER, sku'ler, JAMES BROWN: United Presbyterian; b. near Newville, Cumberland County, Pa., July 12, 1820; d. at Newville, Pa., 1899. He graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., 1839, and at the Associate Reformed Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa., 1842; was pastor of United Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia, 1844-46; Cuylerville, N. Y., 1847-52; Argyle, N. Y., 1852-62; and editor of The Christian Instructor, Philadelphia, 1862-63. He was the author of A Manual of the United Presbyterian Church (Pittsburg, 1881); and Calvinism: its History and Influences (1885).
SCOVEL, SYLVESTER FITHIAN: Presbyterian; b. at Harrison, O., Dec. 29, 1835; d. at Worcester, Ohio, Nov. 29, 1910. He was graduated from Hanover College, Hanover, O. (A.B., 1853), and New Albany Theological Seminary, New Albany, Ind. (1857). He then held pastorates at Jefferson ville, Ind. (1857-60), and the First Presbyterian churches of Springfield, O. (1861-66), and Pittsburg, Pa. (1866-83); he was president of the University of Wooster, Wooster, O. (1883-99); and after 1899 professor of morals and sociology in the same institution. In theology he was a conservative, and wrote Centennial History of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg (Pittsburg, 1884).
SCRIBES: A term used, especially in the New Testament, to denote those skilled in the Mosaic law. The profession or calling came into being after the return from the exile (for mention of scribes in its more literal sense cf. Jer. viii. 8), when in place of the kingdom there was set up the dominion of the Mosaic statutes, which furnished the rule for
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