David of Dinanto

David Of Dinanto (13th century) is said to have been a disciple of Amalrich of Bena (q.v.), who died A.D. 1207. The Council of Paris (A.D. 1209) not only condemned Amalrich, but also David of Dinanto. Thomas Aquinas (Sent. 2, Dist. 17, qu. i, art. i) speaks of certain "modern philosophers" as adherents of David, and attributes to him a doctrine in substance pantheistic: "God is the eternal substance; all things are God, and God is everything." Albertus Magnus speaks of a treatise of his, De Tomis. But, in fact, little is really known of David or his writings, except that he was one of the leaders of the pantheistic tendency in the Middle Ages. Neander (History of Dogmas, 2:560, Ryland's translation) gives the chief authorities for what is known of David's doctrines, viz. Concil. Paris, a. 1209, in Martene Thesaur. Anecdot. 4:163; Albertus Magnus, Summa P. 1. Tract. 4, Quaestio 20, Memb. ii, ed. Lugd. t. xvii, f. 76; Thomas Aquinas, in Sent. 1. ii, Dist. xvii, qu. i, art. i, ed. Venet. t. x, p. 235. David "described God as the principium materiale omnium rerum, and in reference to the three departments of existence distinguished three principles: matter, the first indivisible principle of the corporeal world; in reference to the spiritual world — spirit, the invisible νοῦς from which proceeds the soul; and in reference to the ideas of God — the first Indivisible in the eternal substances. Between these three principles no distinction could exist, for otherwise they must be referred back to a higher principle of unity. There are, therefore, three relations of the one divine Being to the corporeal, the spiritual, and the ideal worlds." See Baur, Vorles. ib. d. Dogmengeschichte, 1866, vol. ii, p. 328; Gieseler, Ch. Hist. vol. ii, § 74; Kroenlein, de genuina Amalrici a Bena ejusque sectatorum ac Davidis de Dinanto doctrina, Giess. 1842; Staudenmaier, Phil. d. Christenthums, 1:633 sq.; Engelhardt, Amalrich von Bena, in den kirchenh. Abhandlung. No. 3; Kroenlein, Amalrich von Bena u. David von Dinanto, in Stud. u. Krit. 1847, 1:271 sq.