THE LUMEN MENTIUM METAPHOR IN PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENTATION. THE RESOURCE IN SAINT AUGUSTINE AND IN JUAN ESCOTO ERIUGENA

From the Neoplatonic line drawn by Saint Augustine and Scotus Eriugena, we follow the consequences of the dialogue between the lumen mentium metaphor and philosophical argumentation, in epistemological terms and applied to the exegesis of Genesis 1, 1; in this dialogue the sensitive-intelligible continuity is raised, according to the model that we find in Plotinus. Both the Augustinian illumination and the understanding of what is believed in Scotus Eriugena express the way in which the believer can approach the knowledge of the Unknowable, in the book of the world and in the Scriptures. Both authors conduct the reflection on God from the way in which the believer relates to Him, and only in this circumstance, they examine the hierarchy of being. For this reason, the common point between both Neoplatonists is that the unity of being is understood through the triadic form of our thought: measure, number and weight (Wis. 11, 21). The exegesis of Genesis 1,1 bases the deep link between religio et philosophia, not so much as determinations in themselves, but as realities acting in the human being: the revelation of the Scriptures and the reason for exegesis; this identity implies the impossibility of contradiction between them.