Unity and trinity in Dionysius and Eriugena

The philosophy of late Antiquity was fired by the endeavour to investigate the concept of unity and the concept of tri-unity; the latter as a form of unity and plurality. The adoption in manifold forms, and the transformation into a new thought structure, of Plato's central question justifies the characterisation of this philosophy as Neo Platonism. The central tenet of Neoplatonism is the concept of Unity, which is construed in terms of the search for the one ground and origin of the differentiated many, a concept which was to remain fruitful in the subsequent history of thought, and by no means as mere historical reminiscence. This thought determined one of the major philosophic trends in medieval and modern philosophy, the latter from Spinoza and Leibniz up to the Idealism of Fichte, Hegel and Schelling. Christian theology was, and has been since its beginning, decidedly involved in this its own special concern: the philosophical relationship between unity and trinity. The systematic analysis of just this question is the necessary presupposition for the working out of a form of reflexion which at least approximates to the central Christian thought of the Trinity or Tri-Unity. The Trinity the three essence and appearance forms of the One God is revealed by the New Testament as a basic truth and is experienced and adored as a mystery stricto sensu similar to the Incarnation. Yet, nevertheless, this concept was a continual challenge for strenuous reflexion. It was not that the incomprehensible should be made comprehensible but rather that the attempt should be undertaken towards a conceptual approximation. Reflexion should thus be a circling delineation of the Trinity which makes faith in the Trinity intelligible, justified by reflexion, and a binding communicable faith.1. During the long lasting and momentous process of the "Hellenizing of Christianity" the conceptuality of Greek metaphysics substantially conditioned the dogmatisation of Christian truth whether consciously or unconsciously. Herein we find many theological tenets which only through philosophical reflexion and theoretical form come to be what they are, or at least through philosophy gain a convincing character for