Berthold von Moosburg (Dominican)

Autograph note of ownership by Berthold in the autograph of De animalibus Alberts the Great , Cologne, Historical Archives of the City , W 258a, fol. (I) r

Berthold von Moosburg († after April 20, 1361 ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher of scholasticism . He was a member of the Dominican order .

Life

Berthold probably came from Moosburg on the Isar . The time of his entry into the Dominican order is unknown. He is first attested to around 1318 as an Aristotle commentator. In 1327 he worked as a lecturer ( reading master ) at the Dominican monastery in Regensburg, and from 1335 to 1343 he was reading master in the Cologne monastery of his order. When the Dominicans were expelled from Cologne in 1346, he had to leave the city; he then stayed in Nuremberg for some time, and from 1353 he was back in Cologne.

plant

One page of a manuscript of Macrobius' commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis with Berthold's own marginal glosses , Basel, Public Library of the University , F IV 31, fol. 5v

Berthold is best known for his Expositio super elementationem theologicam Procli , which is the only one of his works that has survived . This is a detailed commentary on the Stoicheíōsis theologikḗ ("Fundamentals of theology", Latin elementatio theologica ) by the late ancient Neo-Platonic philosopher Proclus . The work of Proklos became known in the West after Wilhelm von Moerbeke translated it from Greek into Latin in 1268.

A comment by Berthold on Aristotle's Meteorologica has not survived.

Teaching

In his commentary on Proclus, Berthold is strongly influenced by the Neo-Platonic views of the late antique theologian Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita . Other authorities on whose writings he relies are the Dominicans Albertus Magnus , Ulrich von Strasbourg and Dietrich von Freiberg . His interest in Proclus relates primarily to the unified metaphysics of the ancient Neoplatonist, which he uses for his Christian theme, the unification of the soul with God. He regards the relationship between God - the One of ancient Neoplatonism - and the substances of the world as analogous to the relationship between substance and accident .

In connection with Boethius, Berthold is of the opinion that the person who accomplishes a gradual ascent to God thereby attains a divine quality himself; he "becomes God" and "everyone who is blessed is God". In sharp contrast to the view of Thomas Aquinas , he ascribes properties to creatures which, for Thomas, belong to the privileges of God. So he considers it possible that a creature that is very close to its divine origin is pure act, although it is different from the Creator. From his point of view, the manifold can only exist through its participation in the One and only in so far as it participates in the One can it be an object of knowledge. Berthold assigns paramount importance to knowledge - not only about God, but also about the world; He thinks that man is not only created to gain knowledge of God, but also to explore the order of the visible world, which is divine through participation in the divine itself.

reception

Since Aristotelian-oriented Thomism prevailed in the Dominican order in the course of the 14th century , Berthold's Neoplatonic philosophy did not have a strong aftereffect. Only two manuscripts from Berthold's Proklos commentary have survived, both of which date from the 15th century. Nikolaus von Kues appreciated the Proklos comment.

expenditure

• Berthold von Moosburg: Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli (= Corpus philosophorum Teutonicorum medii aevi vol. 6). Meiner, Hamburg 1984–2011
  • Vol. 6/1: Prologus. Propositiones 1-13 , ed. by Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Loris Sturlese, 1984, ISBN 3-7873-0599-8
  • Vol. 6/2: Propositiones 14-34 , ed. by Loris Sturlese et al., 1986, ISBN 3-7873-0673-0
  • Vol. 6/3: Propositiones 35-65 , ed. by Antonella Sannino, 2001, ISBN 3-7873-1560-8
  • Vol. 6/4: Propositiones 66-107 , ed. by Irene Zavattero, 2003, ISBN 3-7873-1655-8
  • Vol. 6/5: Propositiones 108-135 , ed. by Fiorella Retucci, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7873-1754-7
  • Vol. 6/6: Propositiones 136-159 , ed. by Fiorella Retucci, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7873-1755-4
  • Vol. 6/7: Propositiones 160-183 , ed. by Udo Reinhold Jeck, Isabel Johanna Tautz, 2003, ISBN 3-7873-1661-2
• Loris Sturlese, Eugenio Massa (ed.): Bertoldo di Moosburg: Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli, 184–211. De animabus (= Temi e Testi , Vol. 18). Edizioni di storia e letteratura, Rome 1974

literature

• Isabel Johanna Tautz: First-One, Intellects, Intellectuality. A study on Berthold von Moosburg . Kovač, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-8300-0573-3
• Tengiz Iremadze: Conceptions of Thought in Neoplatonism. On the reception of Proclic Philosophy in the German and Georgian Middle Ages. Dietrich von Freiberg - Berthold von Moosburg - Joane Petrizi . John Benjamin, Amsterdam 2004, ISBN 978-90-6032-369-4
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Berthold von Moosburg. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 553.

Web links

• Literature by and about Berthold von Moosburg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Meister Eckhart and his time: Berthold von Moosburg

Remarks

1. ↑ Berthold von Moosburg, Expositio super elementationem theologicam Procli , Expositio tituli L (vol. 1 p. 49): ... divinitatem adeptos deos fieri ... necesse. Omnis igitur beatus deus .
2. ↑ Berthold von Moosburg, Expositio super elementationem theologicam Procli , Propositio 5d (vol. 1 p. 121): ... unum, quod est prope suam causam, immo immediatelyissimum, est actus purus, licet differat a superpurissima puritate suae causae . See Kurt Flasch : Introduction . In: Berthold von Moosburg: Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli , Vol. 1: Prologus. Propositiones 1-13 , Hamburg 1984, p. XVII f.
3. ↑ Kurt Flasch: Introduction . In: Berthold von Moosburg: Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli , Vol. 1: Prologus. Propositiones 1-13 , Hamburg 1984, pp. XV, XVIII f.