Scholasticism
 With all changes in Western Europe, there
were several themes pertinent to our study.
 Islamic influence though very great in Iberia
(Spain) was finally expelled by Ferdinand and
Isabella (Castille and Aragon)
 The original foothold of Islamic Caliphates in
Cordoba became weakened.
 The reconquista was launched 8th century—stalled
until Sancho I of Navarre.
 Long war with Islam to regain lost Spanish lands
from the Moors.
 It was a blended richness of Christian, Islam, and
Jewish cultures.
 Military success was advanced by Rodrigo Dias de
Vivar, “El Cid.” This went on for 400 yrs before total
success.
 Because of early victories, Portugal became a nation
or kingdom of its own in 1139.
 After Toledo and Portugal, the issue of reconquista
was no longer in doubt—just time.
 Ireland will be somewhat different: Ireland early
being as ferocious fighters as the Vikings united
early to beat back and incorporate the Viking
hordes.
 Brian Boru (976-1014) began to exert influence and
a cohesive following, at least in the South of Ireland;
 1100 the Church reformers were able to create a
national Church organized on a strict territorail
basis;
 By the 12 century, Rory O’Connor turned to England
for mercenaries—fatal victory—sparked the interest
of Henry II (issues with the French)—invaded Ireland
in 1171.
 Concerning Eastern Europe, always issues. The
Polish kingdom waxed and waned on Germany’s
eastern frontier.
 Poland was a western entity due to its embrasure
and strong affiliation with the catholic Church.
 King Boleslave divided his kingdom between his
three sons (connection to the fall of the Carolingian
empire)—they squabbled and fought—sught help
from the German Dukes and eastern Rus—disunited
and Poland has since been fragmented and
partitioned over time.
 Rus, the ancestor of Russia and a Viking
establishment since the creation of Kiev in 862—
huge trading and commerce.
 Once Rus expanded and entered into a commercial
and economic alliance with the Byzantines, it slowly
grew influence;
 Russia filled the eastern power vacuum when
Byzantium collapsed; it accepted eastern Greek
Orthodoxy—always be suspicious of the west.
 Very much influenced by Byzantium and Mongol
culture.
 Italy on the other hand did not exist as a large
cohesive connection of culture and tradition.
 Three very different geographical zones: South,
Center, and the North.
 South under constant invasion and intrusion by the
Byzantines, North African Muslims, and Normans—
followed by French and Germens.
 Then there was contention from the Aragonese
from Spain.
 The center zone, dominated by the Popes and the
Catholic Church; Popish wars and expansion and
constant haranguing from the Lombards;
 North dominated by the Carolingians; after 932, the
Germans dominated the northern zone;
 Italy was never a unified country in purpose,
philosophy and true traditional culture—which may
explain a lot—not unified (politically or socially) until
Garibaldi in the 1870s.
 The Germans fought and won wars against the
Magyars, Slavic and even Hun intrusions;
 Tightly controlled the Catholic Church in Germany;
 They used marriage alliances, diplomacy, and
military intimidation to control the Dukes in
Germany and on their borders (The Ottonian Rulers,
the Duke of Saxony—over 100yrs).
 Same old issue—no Capetian line in Saxony—
Influenced waned after 1002, military fell into
squabbling with one another—loss of unification
and prestige;
 Rulers after Saxony never found the formula of
gaining control over more than 1 or 2 Duchies;
there were five big Duchies in Germany.
 Gravest problem was the Popes and the
Ottonianum—power over the successor—Popes
wanted to re-instill Papal Primacy—Popes won.
 By 11th century, German Kings and Emperors usurped
the divinity of the title Holy Roman Emperor—not just in
name, but in actual Holy Powers;
 Control of the church and all domestic powers were
ordained to be placed in their hands—Popes just a
bunch of human meddlers—(The Anti-Christs)—Popes
chief impediment to moral and true religious reform.
 However, when authoritative ideology battles with
ecclesiastical ideology—Popes, Holy Trinity, and Heaven
will most time win over human egos.
 Speaking of the Church, it was at this time it became
a very formidable spiritual, economic and social
organization.
 Developed a very sophisticated legal system (see
Scholasticism); Curia—central court—expanded in
power and influence;
 College of Cardinals emerged as a “Senate” for the
Church; Lateran Councils became church wide
Parliaments—system of Legates connected Popes
with Parliaments, Nations and Kingdoms
 Church now began to meddle in every day affairs
(personal and public);
 Disciplinary measures put in place for people
control;
 Excommunication—exclusion from the
sacraments(individual or nation)—a social death—
inevitable Hell!
 Inquisition—a formal judicial procedure to smoke
out and eliminate heresy
 All this is the social and spiritual make up and
political structure developed during the Medieval
development toward the Renaissance and
modernity.
 Rather than look for winners and losers we need to
look at what they developed into and wonder—
 These are the very real traditions we live with today.
 This segues nicely into Scholasticism—based on
scholarly methodology—not just a call from God,
but true study and research—of course based solely
on religious dogmatic research;
 Based solely on the authority of the early Church
fathers—Aquinas was the most famous for us;
 Scholasticism is a catchall phrase for the dominant
Latin intellectual culture developed during the High
Middle Ages
 Not all Latin literature was scholastic—much of Latin
was in literary composition and letters, even poetry
and much was bureaucratic;
 Government writings, correspondence and
recordings of government functions;
 Much of the correspondence was written by
Scholastic scholars—they worked for the
government;
 There also were many mystical writers—not real
researched scholarship—these guys included the
Bernard of Clairvaux of St. Victor in Paris.
 Satire was a very notable form of literary
expression—and in many cases opposed and
caricatured scholasticism;
 Example: The Gospel According to the Silver
Marks 12th century diatribe of the excesses of the
Church to gain wealth.
 A Vast amount of non scholastic writing took n the form
of secularism and everyday life;
 Such as Abelard’s poem yearning his love for Heloise—a
women he loved from afar;
 The landscape to assist the expansion of scholasticism
and others was the high economic boom for the time.
 People traveled more and further—therefore
introduced to new forms of intellectualism and
history—they imbibed it, disseminated to the west.
 Crusades aided greatly in these scholastic
discoveries;
 The West found that the Jewish and Muslim
communities had been gathering, disseminating,
and debating the great questions of the world for
centuries—interestingly enough it was Greek and
Roman polemics in literature, math and
medicine—and religious dogma;
 The West was late, but now voraciously gobbled up
these data bases.
 Between 750 and 900, Persian scholars had
translated much of Aristotle and other classical
philosophers and wrote follow up
commentaries—holy grail of antiquity research;
 Brilliant thinker such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
developed theories and questions about how
and why life is the way it is—school of
philosophical thought—Epicureanism and
Stoicism etc … Physics and psychology;
 Ibn Rushd tried to explain the correlation between
reason and spirituality;
 Jewish scholars also were asking questions—
Solomon ibn Gebriol tried to reconcile the earthly
world of Aristotle, the in the moment mentality,
with the Jewish concept of the next spiritual world—
tied to the great teachings of the Talmud;
 Moses ben Maimon also tried to combine and
differentiate faith and reason;
 Solomon ben Isaac used the ancient texts and scholarly
writings of early Rabbis as a form of dialectics and
spiritual studies—the faiths of Christianity and Judaism
were forever interconnected and part of the same
spiritual cycle;
 Dialectic—using ones own polemics against him while
arriving at the real turth (sophists—lawyers)
 Lanfranc used dialectical reasoning to dispute with
Berengar whether Christ was a real presence in the
Eucharist
 Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)—very gifted
logician—devised an ingenious logical proof for the
existence of God;
 How things exist in the mind and how they are
perceived in the world;
 Anselm argued that one can think in ones mind of
the supernatural or things nonexistence—ie
Leprechaun or Unicorn, but the reality there is
nothing greater than God, so therefore if one can
think of God there must be a God—
 Peter Abelard—satirist and scholastic—used
dialectics in Sic et Non (Yes and No), to marry and
coalesce the seeming contradictions between the
Old and New Testament;
 The turn also began in normal social and legal life—
dialectics could be used to determine issues that
arose in every day life;
 Differences between Canon (Church) and Secular
law. Maybe common logic was superior—maybe
faith and reason were inseparable and not the same
and can exist as stand alone interpretations.
 Still, caveat here—scholasticism is a difficult to
define singularly; it can be attached to an era and a
common end of dialectical reasoning;
 But Faith and reason were a means to an end foe
these scholars—not an end unto itself as we believe
today;
 Anselm stated, “Faith seeking understanding.”
 The end result was to deify and glorify God and use
reason and apologetics to do so.
 Many of the non-Scholastic scholars thought using
reason and polemics were sacriligious and a
defiance to God—not praise but equity in human
exultation;
 To study and prove God was to be his equal “Tree of
Knowledge” issue.
 The correct to know God was through silent
reflection and divine intervention
 Scholasticism can also mean “Schoolism.” A particular
school of thought and educational philosophy;
 The Bolognese Monk Gratian used logic to systematize
Canon Law: Concordance of Discordant Canons (called
the Decretum)—what it did was establish scientific
Canon Law and legitimized it;
 Peter Lombard—wrote Sententia (sentence), Quaestria
(poses a problem), Disputatia (forming propositions or
scenarios)—they all treated the Trinity, Creation and Sin,
Incarnation and Virtues, and the Last Things creating a
systematic treatment of the Catholic faith and its
Theology.
 Large scale writings became known as Summas; the
greatest scholastic writer and defender was Thomas
Aquinas;
 Summa Contra Gentiles—assessment of all the
knowledge of the Pagans and all things learned
through human reason.
 Summa Theologiae—major doctrines with
commentary concerning Doctrine of the Catholic and
Apostolic Faith and the Church itself.
 Thomas Aquinas—(1225-1274) born south of Rome
to nobility; Father wanted him to become an
Abbott—Church positions not just for piety, but for
political, social, and financial security;
 1244, Naples to study the arts (logic and reasoning
and normal curriculum); There he found that he
enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of the
Dominican Friars and their apostolic teachings—
father objected, but joined anyway.
 He studied in Paris for 3yrs under the tutelage of
Albert the Great—studying the texts and
commentaries of Aristotle; He followed Albert to
Cologne to the new Studium Generale (place of
learning);
 He then taught in Paris, then left for Italy only to
return to the stimulating academic environment of
Paris (scholarship center of the world);
 Prolific writer wrote of his travels, studies,
observations and applied Christian commentaries to
everything.
 Highly influenced by Arab and Jewish scholars—he
explored roles of the will and the intellect;
 Faith is a matter of the will; he would opine that he
did not commit an act contrary to reason. He would
state, however, concerning faith, “I agree to
something that is not demonstrable by reason.”
 Things can be known by reason—(2 + 2 = 4) even
religious things—for example the existence of God—
but other things can only be known by faith (trinity,
incarnation (God made man), and creation) …
 Thomas Aquinas so influential that in the 19th
century, it was made the basis by which all Catholic
and Church doctrine (Theology) would be taught;
 It was called “Thomism.” It remained the basis for
Catholic teaching until the Second Vatican Council
between 1962 and 1965,