Abstract

A great deal of attention has been paid to Petrus Iohannis Olivi’s last great work, his Apocalypse commentary. Less has been paid to his earliest writings. Here I want to address two aspects of those earlier works that rank among Olivi’s more interesting ideas. The first is the notion of Christ’s three advents in history: first in the flesh, then in the spirit, and finally in judgment. I mentioned those three advents years ago in my book on Olivi’s Apocalypse commentary, but only briefly. Here I want to look more closely at the original context in which the three advents appeared.Second, I intend to examine the connection between the three advents and another of Olivi’s important ideas, that of the double...