| Medieval Philosophy and Exodus 3:14 - Examiner Posted: 17 Jan 2011 09:00 AM PST Etienne Gilson said that the sources of Christian philosophy was not Plato nor Aristotle but Moses. He was referring to Exodus 3:14; "I am who am". God refers to himself as "the Being". For St. Augustine and Meister Eckhart this verse from Exodus played a significant role in medieval metaphysics especially ontology. It is crucial to look at these two thinkers to understand why Exodus 3:14 had such an impact on medieval philosophy.
One must note that Platonism had a great effect on St. Augustine's philosophy. His description of the Immutable being echoes that of the Greek thinkers. Paramendes' idea of the Being was distinct from change as was Plato's Good and Plotinus's One. It seems one can argue that Platonism inspired St. Augustine to have his inward look. Like Plato's Good, St. Augustine's God is immutable and incorporeal. He who Is does not change. For St. Augustine, God announced himself as Being itself when he said "I am who am". Compared to God, man is nothing, we are "non being" compared to the perfect immutability of God. Man can attain a state of being by according to the essence of God, or "non being" by disobeying (sin) God.
Meister Eckhart claimed that existence does not "belong" to God because God is "something loftier than being" (Paresian Question 2 pg 50). God is related to the intellect or understanding. It because he understands all things that he "exist". God transcends existence for he is the cause of all things. Eckhart also states that God does not contain the accidents that beings contain. God transcends accidents for this reason; "the intellect is not a natural form so that it can know all forms" (pg 50). He goes further to say that if we are to say that God exist, he contains Pure existence. For Eckhart it is the Pure existence that is meant in Exodus 3:14.
Parisian Questions-Meister Eckhart
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