Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustines Theory of Knowledge

This is an account of the history and current relevance of the theory of divine illumination, held by Augustine as the pre–condition for all knowledge.  Schumacher traces the idea from its Platonic originas, through its re–working by St. Augustine, and its use by medieval thinkers such as Duns Scotus, Anselm, Bonaventure and Aquinas. Augustine′s account was widely held to be authoritative until the end of the thirteenth century, when former champions of Augustine′s tradition, the Franciscan order, pronounced illumination theory untenable. Schumacher recovers the notion of illumination, showing how the medieval use of the theory unwittingly and radically changed Augstine′s original ideas. In an intellectually adventurous retracing of the prehistory of the modern theory of knowledge, Schumacher examine the presuppositions of divine illumination in Augustine, Anselm, Bonaventure and Aquinas. The book goes byond this, however, in combining an analysis of these historical texts with cutting edge questions in current philosophical theology on faith and reason, and the relation of metaphysics and epistemology This book is an original and lucid contribution to the history of philosophy, medieval history, and modern theology and philosophy.

Acknowledgments. Editions. Abbreviations. Introduction. Augustine on Divine Illumination. Interpretations of Divine Illumination in Augustine’s Thought. Interpretations of Divine Illumination in Medieval Thought. Re–interpreting the History of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge. 1. Augustine. Introduction. The Doctrine of God. Creation in the Image of God. The Fall and Redemption. Conforming to the Image of God. Divine Illumination. 2. Anselm. Introduction. The Image of God. Conforming to the Image of God. Divine Illumination. Anselm the Augustinian. 3. Divine Illumination in Transition. Introduction. New Schools. New Translations. New Religious Challenges. New Religious Orders. New Intellectual Traditions. 4. Bonaventure. Introduction. The Doctrine of God. Creation in the Image of God. The Fall and Redemption. Conforming to the Image of God. Divine Illumination. Bonaventure the Augustinian?. 5. Aquinas. Introduction. The Image of God. Conforming to the Image of God. Divine Illumination. Aquinas the Augustinian. 6. Divine Illumination in Decline. Introduction. Peter John Olivi. Henry of Ghent. John Duns Scotus. Augustinian and Franciscan Thought. Franciscan and Modern Thought. 7. The Future of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge. Introduction to a Theological Theory of Knowledge. Reason in a Theological Theory of Knowledge. Faith in a Theological Theory of Knowledge. Conclusion . Index.

Lydia Schumacher is Research Fellow and a member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford. She has published articles in The Grandeur of Reason: Religion, Tradition, and Universalism (2009); and in The Expository Times, Modern Theology, Lyceum, New Blackfriars and Augustinian Studies. She works as an editor on the forthcoming Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine (2011).

“Nonetheless, she has written an important and stimulating book.”  ( Reviews in Religion and Theology , 1 March 2013) "This volume merits attention from patristic scholars, medievalists, systematic theologians, and philosophers alike."  ( Religious Studies Review , 1 June 2012)  “Schumacher could very well recommend the epistemological itinerary of the de Trinitate without the challenge of re–writing western intellectual history. I look forward to her next book, which promises to do just that.”  ( Modern Theology , 1 January 2013)