Biblicists, Biblical Doctors

BIBLICISTS, BIBLICAL DOCTORS: A name sometimes given to those who, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, demonstrated religious truths by the Scriptures and by the authority of the Fathers, in contrast to others, who abandoned Scripture and tradition in order to give full rein to their fancy and philosophy. The most of the latter were Dominican and Franciscan monks who, since their orders held no property, had no libraries, and, owing to their unsettled and vagrant lives, had little opportunity for the study of books. Some of the Biblical doctors were scholars, and produced valuable works; but the majority of them were servile imitators of their predecessors.