Theological and Spiritual Controversies (11th-16th century) Flashcards
Biblical Interpretation and the Quadriga
Distinguished from the literal sense, spiritual/symbolic senses were cultivated from the early church onward, becoming standardized by the early Medieval period as the allegorical, tropological, and anagogical meanings, corresponding to Paul’s virtues of faith, love, and hope, respectively:
• The allegorical reading drew out Christian doctrinal truths symbolically present in OT passages.
• The tropological/moral reading drew out Christian ethical teachings (and Christian spiritual/devotional practices) in the same way.
• The anagogical reading drew out the significance related to our heavenly goal or eschatological realities symbolically derived from a biblical passage.
In the later Medieval period, focus shifted away from the spiritual senses and
more toward delineating the nature and importance of the literal sense.
Canons Regular
independent groups of clergy (deacons and priests) and sometimes lay penitents who were united by their common adoption of the Rule of St. Augustine, a short monastic guide dating in its oldest version from around 500, to live in a regulated community. Similar to the formation of monastic-type communities among clergy under Chronegang’ reform during the Carolingian period (see “Synopsis of Medieval Church I”), the formation of Canons Regular starting in the 11th century added the life of poverty as well, thus adding momentum to the growing impulsion to take up the “apostolic life” of many in this time. A famous example of a canons regular community was the abbey church of St. Victor (see below, “The School of St. Victor” in “Important
Theologians”)
Cistercians
reform movement of Benedictine monasticism, founded in 1098,
seeking to return to the original spirit of the Rule, with a stress on austerity and return to manual labor and simplicity. Its most famous spokesperson was Bernard of Clairvaux (A similar Benedictine reform movement was the founding just earlier of the Carthusians at the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps.)
[PDF on “Clergy/Monks/Friars in Middle Ages;” Ozment pp.86ff]
Mendicants/Friars:
arising in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, these were the “begging” orders, (versus the older orders, Benedictine in inspiration if not in fact), who were orientated toward the new urban growth and culture, and represented the orthodox answer to the apostolic movements so enthusiastically taken on by many who became critical of the Church’s spiritual life. The Carmelites, Augustinian Friars (Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, englished sometimes into “Austin Friars”), Franciscans (Order of Lesser Brothers), and
Dominicans (Order of Preachers) all were a new type of disciplined (having a Rule) community and movement aiming at the renewal of the Church. They often produced renowned and anticipated preachers, sometimes on street-corners and markets. The Austin Friars, Franciscans, and Dominicans also became heavily invested in university life and teaching. These orders often had female houses as well, as “secondary” orders—the most famous being the “Claires” of the Franciscans (Claire was a companion and friend of Francis in his movement). Of importance for other developments were a “tertiary” order of lay people associated with the various mendicant orders, who though not taking the same strict vows or training, followed a similar form of apostolic life in association with these orders (hence there designation as “tertiaries”).
[PDF “Clergy/Monks/Friars in Middle Ages”]
Beguines
first appearing in late 12th and early 13th century lowlands, northern France, and the Rhineland, this was a movement of women collecting into small communities (sometimes only a few people) to devote themselves to ascetic, devotional, and charitable life, monastic in character but with service to others usually included, not cloistered, nor with a rule and abbot/abbess. Male counterparts were known as Beghards. They were parallel to the lay “tertiary” orders associated with the Mendicant orders (more prominent in the south), sometimes being absorbed by those groups as time went on. A number of these groups became adept at contemplative spirituality, mystical experience, etc. They often “networked” as “Friends of God” with other female communities, and were often advised by interested male clerics, such as the Dominican Meister Eckhardt. Some of these groups developed heretical tendencies, influenced by many currents flowing through the high Medieval period, but mostly suspicion was much worse than actual practice. A few who developed toward “autotheism” became known as the heresy of the Free Spirit, but they were small percentage of the Beguine movement as a whole (see below, “Important Heresies”). [pod- cast/power-point (p-c/p-p) on Women in Medieval Church; Ozment pp.91-4]
Scholasticism
a method of teaching, learning, and theological discourse developed to deal with the growing realization of discordant theological traditions, and their investigation and harmonization through logical and systematic analysis and debate. This method became centered on the dialectical method, delineating the proper questions, balancing and debating different authorities and positions, and bringing forth from this confrontation theological truth, aimed at promulgating and bolstering the accepted orthodox consensus (though also pushing against its boundaries at times). Scholastic method and aims were further called forth by the rediscovery of Aristotle in the 12th and 13th century, which pushed theologians and teachers to integrate not only a fuller logical arsenal, but an articulated system of lucid and wide-ranging scientific, philosophical, and ethical treatments. This epitome of “earthly wisdom” was especially appropriated in the new urban atmosphere which allowed new approaches in all sorts of fields of endeavor: compared to a Platonism more habitual to Christian tradition, Aristotle’s this- worldly engagement in the natural and human world—change and flux, potential and realization, embedded form and natural development to maturity—fit in well with the new energies and enthusiasms of the 12th century renaissance. Early scholasticism is represented by such 12th century figures as Hugh of St. Victor and Abelard of Paris. High scholasticism is usually exemplified by the works of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. Late scholasticism is characterized by its retreat from the confident coordination of nature and grace, “natural knowledge of God” and special revelation, especially with the rise of nominalism. Scholasticism paralleled the rise of the universities and their standardized curricula and course of studies. Representative fruits of this method/movement were the great summae of the 13th century. [p-c/p-p “New Schools, New Tools, New Rules, New Fools”; also the last section (VII) on the background presentation “The Intellectual Context” found in Week 1]
Mysticism
Mysticism, mystical practices, and theology concerned with mysticism (not all the same!), flowered in the 11th century onward, though not absent previously. Further, it was to some degree a “democratic” movement, an experience open to women as well as men—and thereby we find among the mystics some of the most articulate women authors of the Medieval period. Some differences of approach are apparent, especially the “Christocentric” (Cistercian and Fransciscan, stressing bridal mysticism and union of wills) versus “Theocentric” (Dionysian and Dominican, stressing intellectual ascent and union of being). The Dionysian strain also stressed the element of experience or apprehension beyond conceptual knowledge, represented at times as entering into the “cloud of un-knowing” or “learned ignorance.” Further, there were often geographical or national mystical traditions, such as the English, which have some characteristic features. [Ozment pp.115-134]
Nominalism
though primarily designating a philosophical approach that discounts universal notions as entities that exist either transcendently (i.e., the Platonic “forms”) or in objects (as the Aristotelian “formal cause”), allowing them only as mental concepts designated by verbal terms (hence, originally a form of epistemology), it designates more specifically in theology the movement stemming from William of Ockham (hence also called “Occamism”) which, following Duns Scotus’ stress on the will of God as determinative, saw relations between God and humanity in terms of covenants, of verbal agreements and conventions, not of an organic causal nexus (nota bene: the epistemology described above was still part of this theological outlook). Though claimed by opponents to undermine the Church and its sacral power, making its mediating of grace to the laity based on a covenant rather than on the nature of things, its advocates point to its strong biblical rootage and also that God binds himself to these covenants and will be faithful to them. Also important in late Medieval nominalism is the use of the distinction between “the absolute power of God” (potentia Dei absoluta) and “the ordained power of God (potentia Dei ordinate).” [PDF on “Late Medieval Theology”]
Renaissance Humanism
the literary side of the Italian Renaissance, it was a movement originating in city-states and towns of 14th and 15th century northern Italy, eventually spreading across the Alps to northern Europe [though often presented as an opponent of scholasticism, many of its first practitioners and
supporters were scholastics—so it pays not to be too “oppositional” in viewing these movements]. It aimed at a major shift within the standard educational curriculum of the later Middle Ages. Renaissance humanism proposed to substitute for dialectic, the art fundamental to scholastic discourse, a primary emphasis on grammar, the art of reading and interpreting texts, and, above all, on rhetoric, the art of eloquent and persuasive discourse. Developing out of this focus was a concern with individual human beings, with their changing thoughts, values, and feelings, and with human interaction in society. Along with this was a high valuation on returning to the sources of classical Latin orators and patristic Christian authors. Promoted on the ground that it was better suited to the needs of the laity and of life in society, humanistic education had profound epistemological and anthropological implications that pointed to an evangelical spirituality significantly different from the more intellectual spirituality of the previous period. Great proponents included Petrarch, Lorenzo Valla, and Erasmus. [p-c/p-p “Renaissance Humanism”]
