Referat Theology In The Middle Ages
Mai jos puteti citi fragmente din
Referat Theology In The Middle Ages si de asemenea puteti face
Download Referat theology in the middle agesCiteste fragmente din Referat Theology In The Middle Ages
Theology in the Middle Ages
Who were some of the outstanding theologians of the High Middle Ages and
what were their ideas? Why was theology so important in the Middle Ages?
For about the first 1000 years after the death of Christ, paganism,
propoganda and superstition were popular beliefs. The thoughts of two
theologians of the time period, Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas, would
change this belief system forever.
Peter Abelard applied logic and reasoning in a systematic fashion to
church doctrines, and greatly furthered the development of scholasticism
in the middle ages.
Abelard studied under Anselm of Laon in northern France. He looked down
upon his teachers and viewed them as insignificant, and took up the
teaching of theology in Paris. He became known for the force with which
he threw himself into arguments with fellow intellectuals. In Abelard s
most famous work, Sic et Non (Yes and No), he listed Scripture passages
and quotes from Church fathers that contradicted each other, then
stressed the need to reconcile the contradictions with reasoning or
logic. He accurately summed up his thinking when he said, "By doubting
we come to enquiry, through enquiry to the truth"
Most of Abelard s documents were not highly regarded by the Church. In
fact, he was persecuted under the charge of going against church
teachings. However, Abelard was not a man who wanted to overthrow
established doctrines. He simply believed that reason or logic must be
used to defend doctrines, since many churchmen disagreed on several
fundamental points of theology.
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, greatly influenced another theologian of
the time period, Thomas Aquinas. Many attempted to reconcile the
Christian thinking of the time and the works of Aristotle, but none was
more famous than the work of Aquinas.
Aquinas studied at the University of Naples, then became a monk in 1244.
He studied theology under the teachings of Magnus, one of the prominent
theologians of the age. Aquinas taught at Naples and Paris, and it is
believed that here he completed his famous masterpiece, Summa
Theologica.
In Summa Theologica, Aquinas attempts to integrate faith and reason. He
attempted to prove that the two truths could never be in conflict. He
believed that the natural mind could find truths concerning the physical
attributes of the universe, but without faith, reason couldn t grasp
spritiual thruths such as the Trinity, or even God Himself for that
matter:
"Therefore all beings other than God are not their own being, but are
beings by participation. Therefore, it must be that all things which are
diversified by the diverse participation of being, so as to be more or
less perfect, are caused by one First Being, Who possesses being most
perfectly"
Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Vol. 1. Reprinted, 1945, Random House
Publishing.
The Church eventually accepted the work of these two men to be fact, and
they became the Church s official philosophy. Out of this explosion of
scholasticism came the University as we know it today. The use of reason
to discover truth of faith was soon used in other areas, such as science
and government. Thus, the work of Abelard and Aquinas became, in some
ways, the foundation of the Renaissance and the growth of self
government in the 17th through the 20th centuries.
ì¥Â@