1. Bridging the Gulf from the Side of Dialectics.—After Abælard’s condemnation theological dialectics came more and more to be associated with the church doctrine and to approach more or less nearly to a friendly alliance with mysticism. Hugo’s writings did much to bring this about. The following are the most important Schoolmen of this tendency.
    1. The Englishman Robert Pulleyn, teacher at Oxford and Paris, afterwards cardinal and papal chancellor at Rome, who died about A.D. 1150. His chief work is Sententiarum Ll. VIII. Though very famous in its day, it was soon cast into the shade by the Lombard’s work.
    2. Petrus [Peter] Lombardus [Lombard], born at Novara in Lombardy, a scholar of Abælard, but powerfully influenced by St. Bernard and Hugo St. Victor, was Bishop of Paris from A.D. 1159 till his death in A.D. 1164. He published a dogmatic treatise under the title of Sententiarum Ll. IV.; of which Bk. 1 treated of God, Bk. 2 of Creatures, Bk. 3 of Redemption, Bk. 4 of the Sacraments and the Last Things. For centuries this was the textbook in theological seminaries and won for its author the designation of Magister Sententiarum. He himself compared this gift laid on the altar of the church to the widow’s mite, but the book attained a place of supreme importance in mediæval theology, had innumerable commentaries written on it and was officially authorized as the theological textbook by the Lateran Council of A.D. 1215. It is indeed a well arranged collection of the doctrinal deliverances of the Fathers, in which apparent contradictions are dialectically resolved, with great skill, and wrought up together into an articulate system, but from want of independence and occasional indecision or withholding of any definite opinion, it falls behind Hugo’s Summa and Robert’s Sentences. It had this advantage, however, that it gave freer scope to scholars and teachers, and so was more stimulating as a textbook for academic use. The Lombard’s works include a commentary on the Psalms and Catenæ on the Pauline Epistles.
    3. The Frenchman Peter of Poitiers (Pictaviensis), one of the ablest followers of the Lombard, was chancellor of the University of Paris toward the end of the century. He wrote 5 bks. of Sentences or Distinctions, which in form and matter are closely modelled on the work of his master.
    4. The most gifted of all the Summists of the 12th century was the German Alanus ab Insulis, born at Lille or Ryssel, lat. Insulæ. After teaching long at Paris, he entered the Cistercian order, and died at an advanced age at Clairvaux in A.D. 1203. A man of extensive erudition and a voluminous writer, he was called Doctor universalis. He wrote an allegorical poem Anticlaudianus, which describes how reason and faith in union with all the virtues restore human nature to perfection. His Regulæ de s. theologia give a short outline of theology and morals in 125 paradoxical sentences which are tersely expounded. A short but able summary of the Christian faith is given in the 5 bks. De arte catholicæ fidei. This work is characterized by the use of a mathematical style of demonstration, like that of the later school of Wolf, and an avoidance of references to patristic authorities, which would have little weight with Mohammedans and heretics. He is thus rather an opponent than a representative of dialectic scholasticism. The Summa quadripartita c. Hæreticos sui temporis ascribed to him was written by another Alanus.

§ 102.6. The Controversy on German Soil.—The provost Gerhoch and his brother, the dean Arno of Reichersberg in Bavaria, were representatives of the school of St. Victor as mediators between dialectics and mysticism. In A.D. 1150 Gerhoch addressed a memorial to Eugenius III., De corrupto ecclesiæ statu, and afterwards he published De investigatione Antichristi. He found the antichrist in the papal schisms of his times, in the ambition and covetousness of popes, in the corruptibility of the curia, in the manifold corruptions of the church, and especially in the spread of a dialectic destructive of all the mysteries of the faith. The controversy in which both of these brothers took most interest was that occasioned by the revival of Adoptionism in consequence of the teaching of French dialecticians, especially Abælard and Gilbert. It led to the formulating of the Christological doctrine in such a form as prepared the way for the later Lutheran theories of the Communicatio idiomatum and the Ubiquitas corporis Christi (§ [141, 9]).—In South Germany, conspicuously in the schools of Bamberg, Freisingen, and Salzburg, the dialectic of Abælard, Gilbert, and the Lombard was predominant. Its chief representatives were Folmar of Triefenstein in Franconia and Bishop Eberhard of Bamberg. The controversy arose over the doctrine of the eucharist. Folmar had maintained like Berengar that not the actually glorified body of Christ is present in the sacrament, but only the spiritual substance of His flesh and blood, without muscles, sinews and bones. Against this gross Capernaitic view (John vi. 52, 59) Gerhoch maintained that the eucharistic body is the very resurrection body of Christ, the substance of which is a glorified corporeity without flesh and blood in a carnal sense, without sinews and bones. The bishop of Bamberg took offence at his friend’s bold rejection of the doctrine approved by the church, and so Folmar modified his position to the extent of admitting that there was on the altar not only the true, but also the whole body in the perfection of its human substance, under the form of bread and wine. But nevertheless both he and Abælard adhered to their radical error, a dialectical dismemberment of the two natures of Christ, according to which the divinity and humanity, the Son of God and the Son of man, were two strictly separate existences. Christ, they taught, is according to His humanity Son of God in no other way than a pious man is, i.e. by adoption; but according to His Divine nature He is like the Father omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. In respect of His human nature it must still be said by Him, “My Father is greater than I.” He dwells, however, bodily in heaven, and is shut in by and confined to it. Only His Divine nature can claim Latria or adoratio, worship. Only Dulia, cultus, reverence, such as is due to saints, images, and relics, should be given to His body and blood upon the altar. Gerhoch’s doctrine of the Supper, on the other hand, is summed up in the proposition: He who receives the flesh of the Logos (Caro Verbi) receives also therewith the Logos in His flesh (Verbum carnis). Folmar and Eberhard denounced this as Eutychian heresy. A conference at Bamberg in A.D. 1158, where Gerhoch stood alone as representative of his views, ended by his opponents declaring that he had been convicted of heresy. In A.D. 1162 a Council at Friesach in Carinthia, under the presidency of Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg, reached the same conclusion.

§ 102.7. Theologians of a Pre-eminently Biblical and Ecclesiastico-Practical Tendency.

  1. Alger of Liège, teacher of the cathedral school there, was one of the most important German theologians in the beginning of the 12th century. He resigned his appointment in A.D. 1121, to spend his last years in the monastery of Clugny, in order to enjoy the company and friendship of its abbot, Peter the Venerable; and there he died about A.D. 1130. The school of Liège, in which he had himself been trained up in the high church Cluniac doctrine there prevalent, flourished greatly during his rule of twenty years. His chief works are De Sacramentis corporis et sanguinis Domini in 3 bks., distinguished by acuteness and lucidity, and a controversial tract on the lines of Radbert against Berengar’s doctrine condemned by the church. In his De misericordia et justitia he treats of church discipline with circumspection, clearness, and decision.
  2. Rupert of Deutz, more than any mediæval scholar before or after, created an enthusiasm for the study of Scripture as the people’s book for all times, the field in which the precious treasure is hid, to be found by any one whose eyes are made sharp by faith. He was a contemporary and fellow countryman of Alger, and died in A.D. 1135. Though he refers to the Hebrew and Greek texts, he cares less for the literal than for the speculative-dogmatic and mystical sense discovered by allegorical exegesis. In his principal work, De trinitate et operilus ejus, he sets forth in 3 bks. the creation work of the Father, in 30 bks. the revealing and redeeming work of the Son, from the fall to the death of Christ, and in the remaining 9 books the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, from the resurrection of Christ to the general resurrection. He maintains in opposition to Anselm (who was afterwards followed by Thomas Aquinas) that Christ would have become incarnate even if men had not sinned (a view which appears in Irenæus, and afterwards in Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus, John Wessel, and others).In regard to the Lord’s Supper he maintained the doctrine of consubstantiation, and he taught like pope Gelasius (§ [58, 2]) that the relation of the heavenly and earthly in the eucharist is quite analogous to that of the two natures in Christ.[302]
  3. The Benedictine Hervæus in the cloister of Bourg-Dieu, who died about A.D. 1150, was distinguished for deep piety and zealous study of Scripture and the fathers. He wrote commentaries on Isaiah and on the Pauline Epistles, the latter of which was ascribed to Anselm and so published among his works.

§ 102.8.

  1. John of Salisbury, Johannes Parvus Sarisberiensis, was a theologian of a thoroughly practical tendency, though a diligent student of Abælard and an able classical scholar, specially familiar with the writings of Cicero. As the trusted friend of Hadrian IV. he was often sent from England on embassies to the pope. In Becket’s struggle against the encroachments of the Crown upon the rights of the church (§ [96, 16]) he stood by the primate’s side as his faithful counsellor and fellow soldier, wrote an account of his life and martyrdom, and laboured diligently to secure his canonization. He was made Bishop of Chartres in A.D. 1176, and died there in A.D. 1180. His works, distinguished by singularly wide reading and a pleasing style, are pre-eminently practical. In his Policraticus s. de nugis Curialium et vestigiis Philosophorum he combats the nugæ of the hangers on at court with theological and philosophical weapons in a well balanced system of ecclesiastico-political and philosophico-theological ethics. His Metalogicus in 4 bks. is a polemic against the prostitution of science by the empty formalism of the schoolmen. His 329 Epistles are of immense importance for the literary and scientific history of his times.
  2. Walter of St. Victor, Richard’s successor as prior of that monastery, makes his appearance about A.D. 1130, as the author of a vigorous polemic against dialectic scholasticism, in which he combats especially Christological heresies and spares the idolized Lombard just as little as the condemned Abælard.[303] He combats with special eagerness a new heresy springing from Abælard and developed by the Lombard which he styles “Nihilism,” because by denying the independence of the human nature of Christ it teaches that Christ in so far as He is man is not an Aliquid, i.e. an individual.
  3. Innocent III. is deserving of a place here both on account of his rich theological learning and on account of the earnestness and depth of the moral and religious view of life which he presents in his writings. The most celebrated of these are De contemtu mundi and 6 bks. Mysteria evang. legis ac sacramenti Eucharistitæ, and during his pontificate, his epistles and sermons.

§ 102.9. Humanist Philosophers.—While Abælard was striving to prove Christianity the religion of reason, and for this was condemned by the church, his contemporary Bernard Sylvester, teacher of the school of Chartres, a famous nursery of classical studies, was seeking to shake himself free of any reference to theology and the church. Satisfied with Platonism as a genuinely spiritual religion, and feeling therefore no personal need of the church and its consolations, he carefully avoided any allusion to its dogmas, and so remained in high repute as a teacher and writer. His treatise, De mundi universitates. Megacosmus et Microcosmus, in dialogue form discussing in a dilettante, philosophizing style natural phenomena, half poetry, half prose, was highly popular in its day. It fared very differently with his accomplished and like-minded scholar William of Conches. The vehemence with which he declared himself a Catholic Christian and not a heathen Academic aroused suspicion. Though in his Philosophia mundi, sometimes erroneously attributed to Honorius of Autun, he studiously sought to avoid any contradiction of the biblical and ecclesiastical theory of the world, he could not help in his discussion of the origin of man characterizing the literal interpretation of the Scripture history of creation as peasant faith. The book fell into the hands of the abbot William of Thierry, who accused its author to St. Bernard. The opposition soon attained to such dimensions that he was obliged to publish a formal recantation and in a new edition to remove everything objectionable.

§ 103. The Thirteenth Century.

Scholasticism took a new departure in the beginning of the 13th century, and by the middle of the century it reached its climax. Material for its development was found in the works of Aristotle and his Moslem expositors, and this was skilfully used by highly gifted members of the Franciscan and Dominican orders so that all opposition to the scholastic philosophy was successfully overborne. The Franciscans Alexander of Hales and Bonaventura stand side by side with the brilliant Dominican teachers Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. As reformers of the scholastic philosophy from different points of view we meet with Raimund Lull and Roger Bacon. There were also numerous representatives of this simple biblical and practical tendency devoted to Scripture study and the pursuit of the Christian life; and during this period we find the first developments of German mysticism properly so called.

§ 103.1. The Writings of Aristotle and his Arabic Interpreters.—Till the end of the 12th century Aristotle was known in the Christian West only through Porphyry and Boëthius.This philosophy, however, from the 9th century was diligently studied in Arabic translations of the original text (§ [72]) by Moslem scholars of Bagdad and Cordova, who wrote expositions and made original contributions to science. The most distinguished of these, besides the logicians Alkindi in the 9th, and Alfarabi in the 10th century, were the supernaturalistic Avicenna of Bokhara, † A.D. 1037 Algazel of Bagdad, inclined to mysticism or sufism, † A.D. 1111, and the pantheistic-naturalistic Averroes of Cordova, † A.D. 1198. The Moors and Spanish Jews were also devoted students of the peripatetic philosophy. The most famous of these was Maimonides, † A.D. 1204, who wrote the rationalistic work More Nebochim. On the decay of Arabic philosophy in Spain, Spanish Jews introduced the study of Aristotle into France. Dissatisfied with Latin translations from the Arabic, they began in A.D. 1220 to make translations directly from the Greek. Suspicions were now aroused against the new gospel of philosophy. At a Synod in Paris A.D. 1209 (§ [108, 4]) the physical writings of Aristotle were condemned and lecturing on them forbidden. This prohibition was renewed in A.D. 1215 by the papal legate and the metaphysics included. But no prohibition of the church could arrest the scientific ardour of that age. In A.D. 1231 the definitive prohibition was reduced to a measure determining the time to be devoted to such studies, and in A.D. 1254 we find the university prescribing the number of hours during which Aristotle’s physics and metaphysics should be taught. Some decades later the church itself declared that no one should obtain the degree of master who was not familiar with Aristotle, “the precursor of Christ in natural things as John Baptist was in the things of grace.” This change was brought about by the belief that not Aristotle but Erigena was the author of all the pantheistic heresies of the age (§§ [90, 7]; [108, 4]), and also by the need felt by the Franciscans and Dominicans for using Aristotelian methods of proof in defence of the doctrine of the church. Philosophy, however, was now regarded by all theologians as only the handmaid of theology.Even in the 11th century Petrus [Peter] Damiani had indicated the mutual relation of the sciences thus: Debet velut ancilla dominæ quodam famulatus obsequio subservire, ne si præcedit, oberret.[304]