Supersapientia: Berthold of Moosburg and the Divine Science of the Platonists

Abstract

This study examines the motivations and doctrinal coherence of the Commentary on the Elements of Theology of Proclus written by Berthold of Moosburg, O.P. († c. 1361/1363). It provides an overview of Berthold’s biography and intellectual contexts, his manuscript remains, and a partial edition of his annotations on Macrobius and Proclus. Through a close analysis of the three prefaces to the Commentary, giving special attention to Berthold’s sources, it traces the Dominican's elaboration of Platonism as a soteriological science. The content of this science is then presented in a systematic reconstruction of Berthold’s cosmology and anthropology. The volume includes an English translation of the three fundamental prefaces of the Commentary.. Readership: Students and specialists of medieval philosophy and the history of Platonism, especially those interested in the influence of late-antique Neoplatonism on medieval natural philosophy and theories of contemplation.