PEOPLE OF IDEAS

THE MIDDLE AGES
(450 to 1400 AD)

Proclus Diadochus (c. 410-485)   Proclus' major works or writings: Commentary on Euclid Hypotyposis Book of Causes Elements Elements of Physics Platonic Theology Boethius (480-524)   Boethius' major works or writings: The Consolation of Philosophy The Trinity is One God, Not Three Gods

Leo I "the Great" (pope: 440-461) In the Roman West, under Leo I, the Roman bishops ("popes") became predominant.  The other bishops, especially the North African bishops, simply disappeared from view as the German hordes collapsed their power bases. (In the East, the patriarchs in Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria vied with each other for the remaining authority.) Benedict of Nursia (480-547) In the early 500s Benedict established his Benedictine "Rule" within the monasteries under his supervision--which proved successful and popular and widely copied among the abbeys. This served to give order, power and wealth to the monastic movement. Indeed, over time, these monasteries themselves grew very rich.   Benedict's major works or writings: The Rule of Benedict Columba (521-597) A monk and missionary, known also by his Irish nickname, Columcille ("Dove of the church").  After his banishment from Ireland for opposing the King he and 12 of his disciples founded the missionary settlement at Iona (563)--which became the launch site for bringing Scotland into the Christian faith. He had also been very active in shaping the Irish church in his earlier years, founding several hundred churches and monasteries in Ireland as well.  And even after establishing himself in Iona he remained active in Irish affairs, helping to shape the governmental structure of Ireland at the council of Druim Cetta in 575.   Columba's major works or writings: The Rule of St. Columba Columban (c. 540-615) An Irish monk who in 591 (at age 50+) traveled with 12 of his disciples to the European continent, to the Burgundian kingdom (in Southeastern Gaul or present-day France) to establish monasteries among the Celtic Gauls. But his strong disapproval of the lax moral and spiritual conditions within the Burgundian government and Roman church in that region brought him under attack.  In 610 (at age 70!) he was forced out of Burgundy.  He eventually settled in Switzerland to preach the faith to the pagan Alemanni--though he was soon chased from this region as well because of his having chopped down sacred pagan trees and because of a continuing conspiracy against him in the courts of Theodoric II.  Thus he moved south into Italy (c. 612-614) and established a monastery at Bobbio, where he died a short time later. In his sermons, teachings, writings and personal example, he left a legacy of spiritual integrity and vitality which gave inspiration to Christians generations after him. Gregory I "the Great" (b. 540 pope: 590-604) Gregory was chiefly responsible for reorganizing the structure of the Western Church -- giving it the broad features that it would have for the rest of the Middle Ages -- and indeed, through the on-going Roman Catholic Church, even down to the present. Gregory was born of a noble or "patrician" Roman family -- a family possessing not only great wealth but also a distinguished placement in the Christian community as a family of deep Christian devotion.  As a youth Gregory received the typical patrician schooling at which he proved to be highly accomplished.  He eventually stepped into a public career (as would have been expected of one with his family background) and by his early 30s he had become the prefect of the city of Rome.  But soon thereafter his abandoned his public life and took up the vow of poverty in becoming a monk.  Eventually his family inheritance of considerable landholding he turned to use as the site of a number of monasteries.  But Pope Pelagius II pressured him to come out of seclusion and first had him appointed as a deacon of Rome and then as papal ambassador to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine court in Constantinople.  Here he revealed his highly organized mind in a controversy he had with the Eastern Patriarch -- a controversy in which the Emperor eventually placed himself squarely on Gregory's side of the argument.  Eventually he was returned to Rome and soon became abbot of St. Andrew's monastery -- where he also became a widely respected teacher of the Scriptures.  But  he became fascinated with the the idea of becoming a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons of Britain -- but at the insistence of a very upset Roman populace was recalled to Rome shortly after his departure.  Under a promise never to leave Rome, he soon became a special assistant to Pelagius II.  But he never lost his fascination for the idea of a mission to the Anglo-Saxons of Britain. In 590, during the middle of a horrible plague which had followed upon equally devastating floods, Pelagius II died -- and the unanimous Roman choice for pope went to Gregory -- who nonetheless did what he could to duck the responsibility.  Nonetheless the Eastern Emperor confirmed the appointment and Gregory was forced to take up the position as bishop of Rome (pope). Soon after his accession to the papacy, he began to demonstrate his brilliance as a church administrator (including the management of the vast land holdings of the church, which he used generously to support the poor) -- and as a dominating authority throughout the whole Christian world.  With respect to church organization, the personal behavior of priests and bishops, and the handling of church monies, he was deeply demanding of papal discipline throughout the ranks of the church..  He even claimed authority over the Patriarch of Constantinople, insisting that the church at Rome was the true Apostolic See. He also drew the church into active politics -- particularly when it became evident that the Byzantine Emperor was not going to do anything to stop the advancement of the Germanic Lombards across Italy.  Gregory not only appointed a new tribune to Naples to organize that city's defenses against the Lombards but eventually entered directly into negotiations with the Lombards for peace in Italy. He finally had a chance to fulfill an old dream of sending a mission to the Angles in Britain -- sending Augustine of Canterbury to begin the conversion of the Angles and Saxons in Britain. He also worked closely with the monastic movement reformed by Benedict -- by drawing monasteries more closely into the ecclesiastical system that he presided over and disciplining it according to his strict standards ... and at the same time acting as a protector of the monasteries against the efforts of bishops to bring these monasteries under their own control.   Gregory's major works or writings: Moralia in Job Book of Pastoral Care Augustine of Canterbury (? - c. 605) Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory from Rome (where he had been prior of a Benedictine abbey) to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Catholic Christianity.  Augustine arrived in Kent in 597 accompanied by 40 monks.  Kentish King Ethelbert was supportive of Augustine's mission and gave him a place at Canterbury to base his mission. Augustine's mission proved to be highly successful.  Ethelbert and thousands of English were brought to the faith in the first year alone.  Within a few years a number of other missionaries were sent to England to assist Augustine, including 12 bishops--over which Augustine presided as archbishop.  His church (Christ Church) was recognized as the cathedral for England Aidan (?-651) Aidan was a humble Irish monk at Iona, when he was consecrated in 635 as bishop and sent to evangelize the English under King Oswald (and King Oswin who succeeded Oswald in 642) in Northumbria.  Just off the Northumbrian coast, Aidan established the mission center of Landisfarne for the training of more missionaries to the English, including  the brothers Chad and Cedd (missionaries to the Mercians and East Saxons respectively) and Hilda (founder of a number of monasteries, including the notable monastery of Whitby). Cuthbert (634-687) A profoundly spiritual and humble Celtic monk who entered Melrose Abbey as a youth, became very close to its prior, Boisil, and succeeded him in 661 after a plague killed Boisil.  Cuthbert quickly gained a reputation as a miracle worker after he went about the countryside praying for and treating plague victims. When after the decision of the Synod of Whitby (664) to adopt Roman and drop Celtic church traditions (a decision which Cuthbert supported) Colman, who had been a leader of the Celtic position, resigned his post as prior of Lindisfarne.  Cuthbert was invited to take his place.  As prior of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert supervised the changeover from the more informal Celtic to the much more highly structured Roman church style. But Cuthbert had more a heart for quiet piety than for administrative duties.  In 676, searching for solitude, he ventured to Farne Island and established himself in a hermit's cell there.  However his fame would not go away.  He was recalled briefly as prior of Lindisfarne and then once again retreated to Farne Island where he lived out his days in prayer So well loved was Cuthbert that the beautiful Lindisfarne Gospel (a treasure today of the British Library!) was published by Bishop Eadfrith of Lindisfarne in Cuthbert's honor shortly after his death. Synod of Whitby (663-664) The Christians convened at Whitby in Northumbria to face the decision as to whether to follow Celtic or Roman patterns of church organization and life.  The decision (supported by Cuthbert, among many other leaders) was made in favor of the Roman formula. Bede (the "Venerable") (c. 673-735) An English monk who wrote the history of the English Church.   Bede's major work or writing: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731) Conversion of England  The Life of Cuthbert Boniface (Winfrid) (ca. 680-754) English missionary to Germany Alcuin (735-804) Charlemagne attracted Latin scholars around him, notably Alcuin an English scholar. John Scotus Erigena (815-877)   Erigena's major works or writings: The Division of Nature

Dionysius the Areopagite "Dionysius" was an anonymous Neo-Platonist writer around 500--posing as a first century author   Dionysius' major works or writings: Divine Names Mystical Theology Heavenly Hierarchy Ecclesiastical Hierarchy Procopius of Caesarea (ca. 500-560) Procopius was the court chronicler of the life of the Eastern Roman Emperor, Justinian.  In his study (Polemon/Wars) of the military achievements of Justinian he was quite laudatory.  But in his study (Anecdota/Secret History) of Justinian's personal life and that of his family, notably his wife, Theodora, he was sharply critical.   Procopius' major works or writings: Polemon (Wars) Secret History The Emperor Justinian (527-565) The Second Council of Constantinople (553) The Fifth Ecumenical Council.  This Council was called to try to settle a dispute between: 1) the Antiochene supporters of the Chalcedon formula, which emphasized the two natures (divine and human) of Christ and 2) the Monophysite Alexandrians with Cyril's formula, which stressed the oneness of Christ out of his two natures (the "hypostatic" union). A compromise formula was established by emperor Justinian stressing the oneness of Christ (Alexandrian) in two distinct natures (Antiochene). As an additional part of the "house-cleaning" agenda by Justinian (to bring theological unity and conformity to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire), the Council condemned or anathematized: 1) the teachings of Origen and Evagrius; 2) the teachings of the dualist Nestorius and his teacher, Theodore of Mapsuestia; and 3) some of the early anti-Cyrilline works of Theodoret and Ibas. Documents from the Second Council of Constantinople: The Fifth Ecumenical Council: Constantinople II (553) Maximus the Confessor (ca. 580-662) Maximus was chief secretary to the emperor--who became a monk in 614, but who nonetheless continued to influence the empire greatly with his teachings on the two wills of Christ (in conformity to the two natures of Christ). He was hotly opposed by the Alexandrian school which stressed the singularity of Christ's will (monotheletism). When the Alexandrian school briefly gained the upper hand in the East, he fled to Carthage and Rome where he influenced Western thinking on this issue. But he was brought back to Constantinople and tortured by the Alexandrian party for his views. Then he was sent into exile--where he died. He was viewed by his supporters as a martyr or "confessor."

Muhammad of Mecca (570-632) Received his call as a prophet in 610. The hegira (622) or flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina--marking the beginning event or starting date on the Muslim calender.   Muhammad's major works or writings: Qur'an THE BYZANTINE REMNANT IN THE EAST (635 to 1453) The Third Council of Constantinople (680-681) This Council decided in favor of Maximus' viewpoint: two distinct wills of Christ, just as two distinct natures. This decision had the support of the Roman pope Agatho who wrote an influential treatise for the Council. An earlier Roman pope, Honorius, was condemned for his Monophysite views. The Alexandrians were rebuffed by the decision of this Council. But due to the Muslim conquest of Egypt, their views no longer carried great weight! The Iconoclast Controversy This religious uproar in Byzantine Christendom broke out in 726 when Eastern Emperor Leo III (680-741), who had just managed to fight off the Muslim army from the gates of Constantinople and retake most of Asia minor, went on the offensive against religious icons.  This provoked riots throughout Leo's dominions in the process--and produced the effective end of Byzantine rule in Italy. John of Damascus (ca. 675-749) John had inherited from his Christian father a high position in the caliph's government; but losing this position, he became a monk near Jerusalem. He became an outspoken critic of the Emperor's iconoclastic policy, making a distinction between veneration and worship, stating that veneration of icons was merely the focus on the visible human nature of Christ--themselves, like the written Gospels, merely testimonies to the divine Christ.   John of Damascus's major works or writings: The Fountain of Knowledge: Dialectic; Heresies; Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith  The Second Council of Nicea (787) The Seventh Ecumenical Council Documents from the Second Council of Nicea: The Second Council of Nicea (787) Cyril (827-869) Greek missionary to the Slavs (Moravians).  Supposed inventor of the Cyrillic alphabet used by the Slavs. Methodius (825-885) Brother of Saint Cyril and also a Greek missionary to the Slavs (Moravians). Michael (Constantine) Psellus (1018-1078) Byzantine philosopher whose interest in Platonism and its association with Christian theology helped to spark a renewed interest in classical philosophy in the East.  This would eventually touch the same interest in the West--during the Renaissance several centuries later. Demetrius Cydones (1324-1398) Cydones was a Byzantine humanist scholar who travelled to and lived in Italy,  introducing the study of Greek in Italy as that country was just undergoing the Renaissance interest in classic scholarship. In 1354 Cydones journeyed to Italy to study the Latin classics--which he then translated into Greek.  He was so enamoured of  Latin culture that remained in Italy until 1369--converting from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism while he was there. Upon his return to Constantinople he was named Prime Minister by Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologus.  But discouraged by the inability (including incompetency) of the Byzantines to hold off Turkish growth, he retired from that position in 1383. Then in 1390 he returned to Italy, opening up an Academy that taught Greek scholarship to the Venetian and Florentine students--encouraging the classic foundations of the new Renaissance culture. He was an active supporter of the idea of the Eastern and Western churches reuniting--though he made no headway with either groups. In 1391 he was called back to Constantinople, to become prime minister to the Greek Emperor, Manuel II Palaeologus--a former student of his.  But in 1396 he resigned from that office, because many of the Byzantines found his earlier conversion to Catholicism intolerable.   Cydones' major works or writings: De contemnenda morte (On Despising Death) Symbouleutikoi (Exhortations) ECCLESIASTICAL / IMPERIAL REVIVAL IN THE WEST (1050 to 1250) Leo IX (b. 1002 pope: 1049-1054) Reform of the papacy.  Rupture of relations with Eastern Orthodoxy (though not his desire; occurred at time of his death) Gregory VII [Hildebrand] (pope: 1073-1085) In 1076 Gregory excommunicated and brought under papal discipline the Holy Roman Emperor.  Encounter with emperor Henry IV at Canossa (1077) Dictatus Papae Urban II (b. 1042 pope 1088-1099) In 1095 he galvanized the faith of German/Norman Europe as he preached the first (and only authentic) crusade against the Muslims. Concordat of Worms (1122) Compromise in the investiture controversy: recognizing papal jurisdiction over ecclesiastical appointments (or investiture) and imperial jurisdiction over temporal appointments. Frederick I Hohenstaufen (Barbarossa) (1152-1190) Holy Roman Emperor Innocent III (b. 1160 pope: 1198-1216) Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) Holy Roman Emperor INTELLECTUAL STIRRINGS IN THE WEST (1050-1150) Berengar (999-1088)   Berengar's major works or writings: De Sacra Coena adversus Lanfrancum Anselm (1033-1109) Anselm was a theological writer of the first order.   He employed reason in the refinement of faith.   Anselm's major works or writings:  Proslogion  Monol ogium  Gaunilon's on behalf of the fool   Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Man?) Hugh of St. Victor (fl. early 1100s) Augustinian monk in early 12th century Paris.  Though a Platonist and Christian mystic, he proposed the study of the natural/secular world:  the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic or logic ); the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy). Peter Abelard (1079-1142) Abelard was given to an irreverent exploration of the earthly life.   He was a master logician and critical of the thought processes of his times.  But he ran into the determined opposition of Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Lombard who thoroughly disliked his impiety.   Abelard's major works or writings: Story of My Calamities   Sic et Non (commentary on contradictory statements issued officially by the Church) 1079 Abelard and Heloise (letters written to friends) Ethics Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Cistercian.  Bernard was a powerful organizer of the monastic system.  Under Bernard, the monastic movement recovered its mystical or spiritual focus and its intellectual powers. Some, like the Cistercians, sought the apostolic life of poverty, chastity and obedience behind cloister walls; others, like the Augustinians, sought the apostolic life in the form of service to the community--especially evangelical teaching and preaching.   Bernard's major works or writings: On Loving God In Praise of the New Knighthood Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) An amazingly prolific writer, artist, musician, poet, doctor and herbalist who was also the abbess of a dual male/female monastery.  Much of her work survives to this day.  The Rhineland mystics were strongly influenced by her works two centuries later.   Hildegard's major works or writings: Scivias (1141-1151) an apocalyptic vision or prophecy relating the fate of mankind at the hands of God Liber vitae meritorum (1158-1163) Liber divinorum operum (1163-1170) a musing over the cosmic character of light and life which flows to and from God Liber Simplicis Medicinae Liber Compositae Medicinae Musical Compositions Peter Lombard (1100-1160) Lombard put together a devotional guide, Sentences, which, after the Bible, was the most widely read writing of the Middle Ages.   Lombard's major works or writings: Four Books of Sentences John of Salisbury (1120-1180) Bishop of Chartres   Salisbury's major works or writings: Metalogicon Peter Waldo (Valdes) ... and the Waldensians Peter Waldo, or Valdes, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, around 1175 gave up his wealth and took up the way of an itinerant preacher of the gospel.  He taught that only scripture should be the ground of faith and anything that has no scriptural warrant should be rejected.  Though he gathered supporters he drew the opposition of the local bishop for preaching (which was restricted to clergy); an appeal to Rome in 1179 resulted in refusal. For a time the Waldensians observed the restriction--but then returned to evangelical preaching--resulting in their excommunication in 1184 (along with the Cathars--with whom they had little in common). Excommunication seemed only to draw more support--principally in northern Italy and southern France as well as along the French and German Rhine. They also had adherents in northern Spain, in Bohemia and in Austria. THE NEW TEACHING ORDERS (Early 1200s) Dominic de Guzman (1172-1221) Spanish Augustinian; founder of the Dominicans.  In the early 1200s, the Spanish Augustinian canon, Dominic urged the local monks in Southern France to fight Waldensianism and Catharism by emulating the apostolic poverty of the heretics--thereby winning back the support of the people. As the Albigensian crusade swirled around him Dominic began to organize such a new evangelical teaching movement, finally receiving papal recognition in 1217 as the Order of Preaching Brothers--though the term "Dominican" became the popular designation of this new order. This evangelical and service organization spread rapidly throughout all Europe, reaching by 1230 from England and Spain to Denmark, Poland, Greece and the Holy Land. In short order also, the Dominicans were given chief responsibility in administering the Inquisition (which was in direct violation of Dominic's original understanding of their mission); and they also sought and obtained professorships in the new universities, becoming highly influential within the life of the institutional church. Francis (Giovanni Bernardone) (1181-1226) Of a different order of things was the movement started by Giovanni Bernardone, known as the "Frenchman" or Francesco (Francis).  Francis had no ambition to do anything other than to try to live his own life as he understood Christ would have; the fact that others soon joined him was to him merely incidental.  In fact, he resisted as long as he could the creation of a formal "order," fearing that the institutionalizing of his movement would destroy its original spirit. in 1206 or 1207 he had a vision calling him to rebuild God's church--which he did with some of his father's money. This got him in trouble with his father and local authorities, and he determined to shed himself of all earthy connections to pursue this vision. He had no plan, no long-range goal except to live and serve as Christ had done, rebuilding churches and aiding the poor and sick. He succeeded where Valdes failed--in gaining papal support, though he came close himself to being declared one of the heretics bothering the institutional church in those days. In 1215, his movement was recognized as the Friars Minor (lesser brothers). But the Franciscans became organized effectively only with the help of cardinal Hugolino. Francis himself retreated more and more from the responsibilities of leadership, having little heart in seeing his movement institutionalized. When he died in 1226, he died a very simple man. But his movement, based on his charismatic example, was spreading rapidly throughout Europe--in parallel with the Dominicans. The Dominican and Franciscan scholars vied with each other for intellectual leadership of Europe, with the Franciscans a bit more mystical (Platonic-Augustinian) and the Dominicans a bit more naturalist (Aristotelian). For more information on Francis 13th CENTURY MYSTICS (1200s) Joachim of Fiore (1132-1202) Allegorized human history into three periods: the Father (patriarchal times of the Old Testament), the Son (the priestly or clerical times of the New Testament the church), and the Holy Spirit (a new age of individualistic spiritualism about to burst forth fully into human history)   Joachim of Fiore's major works or writings: Harmony of the Old and New Testaments Exposition of the Book of Revelation Psalterium of Ten Strings Everlasting Gospel Bonaventure (Giovanni di Fidanza) (1217-1274) Bonaventure was a Franciscan leader of an Augustinian bent.  He was a spiritualist and a mystic:  claiming that true knowledge came through meditation and prayer--aided by divine grace--which raises our gaze above the mundane to the divine where the soul reaches God and finds ecstatic peace and love. Bonaventure was staunchly opposed to the wealth and worldly ways of formal Christianity--seeing the example of Christ and Francis as the true way of the Christian. He was fervently opposed to the rationalism of the Aristotelians at Paris (Aquinas)   Bonaventure's major works or writings: Journey into the Soul of God (1259) Disputed Questions Concerning Christ's Knowledge Life of St. Francis(1263) On the Incarnation  Mechtilde of Magdeburg (1210-1280) A German Beguine (non-ordained lay worker) from her youth, who late in life became a Dominican nun. She received visions of God's love which she carefully recorded--in a poetic beauty that influenced Christian mysticism for centuries. She also strove to reform the corruption within church--which often forced her to move from town to town.   Mechtilde's major works or writings: The Flowing Light of the Godhead  (A journal which she kept about her reflections on events in her life) THE GREAT AGE OF SCHOLASTICISM (1100 to 1300) Al-Farabi (875-950) ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980-1037) Persian Muslim:  physician and philosopher. A source of recovery of Aristotle's works previously lost to the Christian West. ibn Rushd (Averroës) (1126-1198) Averroës was a Spanish Muslim who proved very influential in bringing Aristotle to the West.  This intellectual import owed nothing to Christianity but relied purely on secular reason.   In consequence Christian learning among scholars that were strongly influenced by the power of Averroës' thinking moved away from Platonic-Augustinian theory and into "natural" theory. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) (1135-1204) Maimonides was a Jewish philosopher born in Spain and educated in medicine and Aristotelian philosophy by Arab instructors.  He went to Egypt and became Saladin's physician. He tried to unite the religions of his times with ancient Greek philosophy. Guide of the Perplexed(1190) Commentaries "Kitáb al Siraj" "Mishneh Torah" Essays: "On the Unity of God" "On Happiness" "On the Terminology of Logic" "On Resurrection" Albertus Magnus (ca. 1200-1280) A German-born Dominican professor in Cologne (briefly also in Hildesheim, Freiburg, Ratisbon, Strasbourg and Paris) as well as Bishop of Ratisbon.  A voluminous writer on such subjects as theology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, the human and "natural" sciences.  A true Doctor of the church--thus his title "magnus" ("the great").  He was also most notably Aquinas' teacher. Albertus stressed the importance of the study of secular, even pagan, empirical science (Aristotle) along with Christian theology.  Indeed, Albertus felt that ultimately there is only one integral Truth, and that therefore theology should not fear philosophy/science--but should work hand-in-hand with it to uncover or reveal the full glory of God in creation.   Albertus' major works or writings:  Opera Omnia (complete works) (1890-99: thirty-eight quarto volumes) Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) The most famous of the Dominicans was Thomas Aquinas, who taught in Paris and in Italy.  Being Aristotelian rather than Platonic-Augustinian, Aquinas felt that knowledge came principally through the rational ordering of what our senses reveal to us about the natural order. The mysteries of God are known of course through "revelation"--though for Aquinas that meant only the logical revelation of Scripture and the Church in its various traditional teachings.  Aquinas opposed Platonic-Augustinian mysticism (Bonaventura) with its emphasis upon truth derived from Spirit-inspired insight (until he had a mystical experience of his own shortly before his death--and seemed to recant his earlier views!). Aquinas downplayed the role of the Holy Spirit and replaced it with the power of the Church and its wide range of sacraments in dispensing God's grace.  Further he explained works (of love) as the means by which faith is formed and the individual is justified before God and thus saved--although these works are possible only through the enabling power of God's Church-dispensed grace (through the sacraments). He was deeply influenced by Aristotle's empiricism (taught by Albertus Magnus).  He attempted to couple it with the Platonic foundations of Christian philosophy of his times.  He attested to the primacy of revelation knowledge (found largely in scripture--interpreted by the Church fathers) which alone gives us understanding of the higher mysteries of faith. However, he followed Albertus in stressing the importance of empirical knowledge as well (though supposedly a less lofty knowledge than revelation knowledge).  The physical and spiritual, body and soul, are not independent phenomenon but of one substance (in distinction to the neo-Platonists/Augustinians)-- though the soul alone survives death (to be reunited with the body at the Last Day). Physical sense perceptions striking a human mind--essentially a blank slate at birth--bring us to the awareness of reality (physical reality) as fact or data.  The active intellect (nous) focuses on this data and organizes it into useful information or ideas or truths. The source of the organizational power of the mind comes as a gift of God, who has placed an element of His own divine light within us--so that we might recognize forms or ideas. God's essence is in the way all existence is summed up in Him--not just particular Ideas or Forms (as an architect's blueprint of creation).  God is existence--not just a part of it.  God is the very force giving rise to all life or existence within creation (working according to Ideas or Forms to be sure--but transcending the function of being merely a prototype of all things): drawing things from potentiality to actuality. It is God Himself who draws us ever-forward in our thoughts, helping us to realize our humanity, in order to approach fulfillment of His Divine Plan.  But--God does not impart knowledge by impressing every human thought with His thought (Platonism), but by fully endowing man at birth with his own potential, through his own human reason, to come to the knowledge of all things. Indeed, its is God's design that man's purpose in life is to come to know fully all things--as the sum of all things gives testimony to the essence of God.  By expanding his own mind, man is making an intellectual journey toward God, is being conformed to God, is participating in God--a matter of great pleasure for God. (empirical knowledge as the way of mystical union with God). For more information on Aquinas   Aquinas' major works or writings: Manual against the Heathens (early 1260s) On Being and Essence On Truth Summa Theologica Compendium of Theology Of God and His Creatures (Summa Contra Gentiles) On the Principles of Nature Catena Aurea (Patristic Commentary on the Gospels) The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas Roger Bacon (1214-1294) Bacon, a Franciscan, was a leading member of a new, rising group of "natural scientists."  He devoted himself notably to the study of astronomy, chemistry and, especially, physics.  He was also a mathematician, logician and (implicitly) a theologian. He emphasized (a la Aristotle) the importance of observation in arriving at an understanding of things--contributing to the development of the mindset that would eventually produce modern science. Siger of Brabant (ca. 1240-1284) Siger was a secular Averroist who pursued a course of human reason which claimed no need for divine revelation to arrive at its truths. Indeed, Siger seriously challenged Aquinas' (and Albertus') idea of the interdependence of science and theology.  He claimed instead a "double-truth" universe of theology and natural science.  He noted that these two approaches to knowledge are quite capable of being contradictory in the truths that they arrive at. In the face of such contradictions, he chose the study of physical science for its own sake--ordered by its own rules of logic--quite unrelated to theology. Marsilio of Padua (1290-1343) ANTI-SCHOLASTIC SKEPTICISM (Around 1300) Duns Scotus (1265-1308) Each thing in the universe had a distinctness about its own existence. This was the foundation of reality: the world is made up of a multitude of separate things which have their existence quite independently of the existence of their defining "forms." It is this separateness between particular things and common forms that calls forth human thought--forcing the human mind to make the connection between form and particulars. This exertion of the human mind, however, is what gives dignity to human life and is reflective of God's own determining influence on nature. God, in all his sovereignty, is not limited to the rules of human reason in the way he operates. God is not under any restraint to work within the logic of "forms" or "universals"--but can create anything as he particularly sees fit.  Plato's (and Aristotle's) "universals" are not compelling as the starting point of knowledge. Further, there is no way that we can use science or the study of the physical world to reflect back to the nature of God.  The physical world we see around us is the product of free choice of God--who is able to make this world any way he wants to.  His choices reveal no necessary qualities about God.   Scotus' major works or writings: A Treatise on God as First Principle William of Ockham (1285-1349) English Franciscan in Paris. Ockham was an ardent nominalist, claiming that what was truly "real," that is, open to human understanding through direct observation and reason, were the individual or particular things belonging to the physical world.  However, the mind naturally reached beyond this reality to create broad mental categories or universals (names for things, thus "nominalism") of closely related particulars (such as "dog"--a broad category of all animals that we recognize individually as dogs), abstracting from the particular to the universals (Plato's "forms"). But these abstractions or universals had no reality in themselves. "Universals" were only mental constructs, nothing more--useful, of course, in helping us come to some kind of appreciation of reality, though by no means 100% reliable as a tool for establishing the truth of things. From this observation resulted "Ockham's Razor":  we must be very careful not to become too abstract in our rational handling of particulars--lest we leave reality behind in the process. Ockham was thus a skeptic with respect to the claims made for human reason (anticipating David Hume by centuries). With respect to religion, Ockham (like Scotus) pointed out that we cannot move in our reasoning from our observations about the particular aspects of creation to produce general conclusions about the Creator.  God is not constrained to work according to the rules of human logic.  Logic, in fact, can tell us nothing about the nature of God or of ultimate things in creation.  God can be known only by faith--a quite different enterprise than using logic. Only faith, not human logic, can touch God's absolute sovereignty and freedom. Ockham, in an effort to rescue faith from Scholastic rationalism, acted to sever the relationship between religion and secular science, a unity which Aquinas had worked carefully to develop. To Ockham, reason was a useful tool for observing the natural world. But it was useless in probing the realm of God. Only Divine revelation, received through human faith, would bring us knowledge of that higher realm.  Ockham's nominalism had the effect of freeing secular science from theology.  Science no longer had to serve as the handmaiden of theology--or be justified by its theological value.   Ockham's major works or writings: Dialogus HUMANIST POETS, ARTISTS, AND MYSTICS OF THE EARLY 1300s Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Dante allegorized the physical world that was coming to be a matter of great fascination to his times. He ranged all reality from the divine heavens to the evil infernal center of the earth--with human life on earth somewhere between the two extremes. This intense merging of Aristotelian physical science (in particular astronomy) with Christian theology would have later have dire consequences: a certain flexibility in attitude of the church toward science would be lost.  In the face of continuing scientific discovery, the church would feel compelled to go to the defense of a an older worldview--eventually giving the church the appearance of being hopelessly backward in its thinking.   Dante's major works or writings: Vita nuova (The New Life) (1292) De vulgari eloquentia (The Eloquence of the Vernacular) (1304-1307) Divina comedia (Divine Comedy)  (1307-1321)    Inferno (1316)   Purgatorio (1319)    Paradiso (1321) Il convivio (1307) De monarchia (1313) Rima Il fiore Quaestio de aqua et de terra (1320) Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) Muralist, fresco artist famed for his life-like depictions of Biblical personages--the mark of one who studied the human make-up very closely.  To see his murals on the Life of Saint Francis and of Jesus Christ   Meister Johannes Eckhart (1260-1327) Born at Hochheim in Thuringia (Germany).  He joined the Dominican order when 15 and became a prominent member of that order--studying, teaching and preaching in Paris, Strassburg and Cologne.  He eventually also became a leader of the "Rhineland mystics" Eckhart viewed the human soul as containing a "divine spark" and thus being truly of the nature of God's. To Eckhart, the human soul was not just a mere reflection of God's soul, created in his image. The spark of the human soul contained in its very "ground" the same elements as God's soul--having existed at a point before creation in complete unity with the soul of God. Eckhart urged the faithful to retreat from the world to search for this divine spark in the ground of their own souls, to discover there the nascent Word of God, and to become mystically reunited, not just with God but with "Godness" itself:  to become one with Divinity once again. In his later life, he came under suspicion of heresy as a neo-platonist or even pantheist.  Eckhart admitted to having been guilty of "exaggeration" and in the last years of his life backed into a more orthodox Thomist position.  Nonetheless in 1329, shortly after his death, parts of his writings were condemned by Pope John XXII.   Eckhart's major works or writings: Opus Tripartitum (only fragments survive:  mostly the prologues to the three works) Opus propositionum Opus quæstionum Opus expositionum Johannes Tauler (1300-1361) A German Dominican and disciple of Eckhart, preaching and teaching in Strasbourg and Basel. Tauler taught a more orthodox view that God gifts his people with a spiritual "ground" crafted in his own divine image. This is conferred as a matter of divine grace; it is not (as per Eckhart) "self- discovered" as a matter of natural property of the human being. To Tauler, the return to "oneness" with God is a matter of having our human wills united with God's--not a matter of absorbing our human nature into God's divine nature. Tauler's example and sermons (the only surviving part of his writings) had a great influence on the Rhineland school of mystics, and after them on Luther, because of his stress on suffering and self-denial (experienced poignantly during the Black Death) and on the reliance on grace as the center-pieces of Christian faith.   Tauler's major works or writings: The Inner Way (36 Sermons) Heinrich Suso (1295-1360) A Dominican who studied at Cologne and was greatly influenced by Eckhart (whom he defended after the 1329 condemnation); he preached in his native Constance and at Ulm. Like Tauler, he spoke of the human union of wills--rather than substance--with God, and insisted on the great and eternal difference between created and uncreated being.   Suso's major works or writings: The Little Book of Truth (a widely popular meditation on Christ's passion) Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381) Flemish priest in Brussels; retired to Groenendael where in 1349 he and friends established a contemplative community of Augustinian canons.   van Ruysbroeck's major works or writings: Spiritual Expousals  an early work which drew the criticism from Jean de Gerson of being pantheistic Adornment  Supreme Truth  Sparkling Stone - a later work in which he stresses the continuing "created" nature of the mystic, even in union with God. Also: such joyous union is designed to lead to greater inspiration for the "common life" of good works, not retreat from the common life. Richard Rolle (1300?-1349) English hermit -- who however ended life as a spiritual director of Cistercian nuns at Hampole.   Rolle's major works or writings: De incendio amoris (The Fire of Love) De emendatione vitae (The Mending of Life) Contemplations of the Fear and Love of God Remedy against Temptations The Prick of Conscience "Thy Joy be in the Love of Jesus" Walter Hilton (?-1396) English hermit--who eventually became an Augustinian canon.   Hilton's major works or writings: The Scale (or Ladder) of Perfection Treatise Written to a Devout Man The Song of Angels (Author Unknown) The Cloud of Unknowing A very influential English mystical writing of the 1300s written after the style of the 6th century Dionysus the Areopagite.  It was once speculated that Walter Hilton wrote the work, though scholars now believe this highly unlikely.   The work itself: The Cloud of Unknowing  (Author Unknown) Theologia Germanica A very influential German mystical writing of the 1300s.  It was discovered and published in 1516 by Martin Luther, who declared this work to be next to Scripture and the writings of Augustine the most influential writing in his own spiritual formation.   The work itself: Theologia Germanica THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES (1350 to 1400) In the mid 1300s the Black Death struck Europe--wiping out 25 million people. In England, in a 3-year period it wiped out half of the population of 4 million people. After this a wave of other epidemics swept a much weakened Europe. In England, efforts by landowners (including the church) to hold scarce labor captive, produced a massive uprising in East-Central England known as the Peasants' Revolt (1351)--which though suppressed, left among the commoners a legacy of discontent with the wealth of the landowners and the church. But the European spirit amazingly revived quickly.  However, this spirit tended toward a more humanistic autonomy or self-sufficiency. Not that God was distrusted--but that the human spirit itself seemed so powerful in the face of adversity. The spirit of the renaissance was being crafted in/through this new mood. Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374)   Petrarch's major works or writings: Triumphs (1351-1374). On the Solitary Life (1346) Rime (1374) Canzone (Sonnets) Petrarch's Secret Familiar Letters  Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)   Boccaccio's major works or writings: The Decameron (1350) Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)   Chaucer's major works or writings: Canterbury Tales Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Dominican tertiary. A strong proponent of the Pope's return to Rome from Avignon. Her theology combined the personal elements of mystical rapture with an active Christian mission to the sick and the poor.   Catherine of Siena's major works or writings The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Gerard Groote (1340-1384) Founder (1370s-1380s) in the eastern Netherlands (centering in Deventer) of what eventually became known as the "Modern Devotion" movement (Devotio moderna). Strongly influenced by the Rhineland mystics and his friend, van Ruysbroek. He took ordination as a deacon, and lived within both monastic and parish worlds, actively serving as a spiritual and practical reformer (which got him in trouble in 1383). He established in his own home in Deventer a community of laywomen devoted to serving God and society: the Sisters of the Common Life. Florentius (Florens) Radewijns (1350-1400) A parish priest and disciple of Groote's who established in Deventer the Brothers of the Common Life. These laymen lived on the income of their book copying, permitting them to also teach young men of humbler circumstances who demonstrated a potential for full-time religious life. Eventually these lay communities moved closer to the monastic traditions, some even taking the rule of St. Augustine and becoming fully encloistered. Julian of Norwich (1342-1415) Anchoress attached to St. Julian's Church. Wrote of the Motherhood of God and Christ; stressed the goodness of God and creation (despite the ravages of the Black Death).   Julian of Norwich's major works or writings: The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love Revelations (in Middle English) THE MIDDLE AGES: A FULL HISTORY The Early Middle Ages Islam and the West The High Middle Ages Go on to the next section:  The Renaissance and Reformation   Miles H. Hodges