"In principio erat Verbum". Philosophy and Theology in the Commentaries on the Gospel of John (II-XIV Centuries)

The fourth Gospel is one of the philosophically denser texts in the Bible. It gives the occasion to ancient and medieval thinkers to speculate philosophically about such themes as the nature of God and Christ, the connection between Logos and the second Person of the Trinity, the Son, the exact meaning and function of the Word in God and, by contrast or by analogy, in human beings, the significance of the theme of ‘light’ or ‘charity’, or even the most correct way of reading the Holy Scripture (literally or symbolically). The contributors to this book have been invited to choose some important exponents within the tradition of the Commentaries on the Gospel of John and to look at them from a philosophical perspective, bringing to light the philosophical topics that occur in the Prologue or in other places of the Gospel. Contributions extend from 3rd to 14th century and focus on several commentators, from Origen to Meister Eckhart, passing through Augustine, John Scotus Eriugena, the School of Laon, Rupert of Deutz, Stephan Langton, Hildegard of Bingen, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, William of Altona, Peter of John Olivi and Peter Auriol.