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Page 260

 

8oholastiai8m THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

and concessions to the old, slowly and surely reason

gained its position alongside of authority. Then, of

a sudden, the silent development was preciPitated

by the wide-spread sensation caused by Berengar

of Tours' (q.v.) impassioned criticism of the doc

trine of the Eucharist, in which reason and dialectic

alone were to be the arbiters of truth. The defense

of authority itself employed such dialectic subtle

ties as the distinction between the permanent acci

dents of the bread and its temporary substance.

The more and more flourishing school system of

cathedral and cloister, the itinerant restlessness of

scholars, the attraction of brilliant teachers-all

combined speedily to disseminate scientific theology.

At this point two mighty spirits entered the cur

rent, creating two methods that governed scientific

work for a long time to come. These

x. Anselm were Anselm of Canterbury and Abe

and lard (qq.v.). Anselm's method is

Abelard. marked by the following points: (1) he

was a realist, i.e., the champion of the

reality of the universal; of species and genus, of

concept and idea. These universals are objective

realities, not merely a flatus vocis, " blast of sound,"

or pure subjective images. Upon this hinged the

battle throughout the Middle Ages. Upon its vin

dication depended the right and merit of specula

tion in theology; to inquire into the realities at the

basis of church doctrine, and to create if necessary

new formulas. Anselm's problems (2) arose from

the consideration of the thing itself. They are of a

practical, religious importance, and their solution

aims at clear expression and forms intelligible to

the times. Witness in Cur dens homot the practical

idea of God as the sovereign Lord and the work of

Christ in forms derived from the sacrament of pen

ance. The pious daring and religious tendency of

Anselm's intellectual work betray the spirit of

Augustine. From him also (3) descended Anselm's

voluntarism. God's sovereign will rules the world

and the nature of will is freedom. Anselm, with his

maxim Credo ut intelligam, also (4) starts out from

belief in the traditional doctrines. But this is only

in order to gain experientia of the matter described

by the formulas. The existence of God, the Trinity,

and the incarnation can be proved by " reason

alone." Anselm means that the positive faith of

the Church is for him who obtains inner experience

of its content the rational truth. The significance

of Anselm is that he regenerated the formulas of

Augustine in the spirit and mode of thought of the

latter. In sharp contrast is the thought of Abelard.

Starting with the contradictions in tradition, he

held (1) that the task of science is to reconcile them

by dialectic (in his work, Sic et non). He does not

contemplate experience by himself of the truths of

religion, but a rational formulation of the articles

of belief. Thereby (2) he by no means aimed to

shake the faith as handed down in the Athanasian

formulas. He would only set limits to the belief

in authority. That which was believed must be

inwardly understood, and the truths of religion

must be made probable and clear to reason. (3)

The writings of the Fathers were to be read not

" with the necessity of believing," but with " the

liberty of judgment," or reason. (4) The canonical

authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures consists in their inherent superiority: Abelard, believing that the substance of church doctrine was in harmony with the Bible, did not mean to attack it. (5) On the question of the reality of the universal, he combated the realism of his teacher William of Champeaux (q.v.), yet seemed to have represented a moderate realistic position himself. His interest was preoccupied by the dialectical treatment of theologyy and therefore abstracted from an intimate interest in realism. Pure nominalism, on the other hand, would have reduced his dialectic to a mere word-battle, and, being already disreputable,

it was little adapted to his mediating tendency, which sought the harmony of " authority and reason." (6) Abelard proved his constructive talent by reforming the Augustinian division of theology

from faith, love, and hope, to faith, sacrament, and love, in correspondence with the historical situation

·r the Church of his time.

The method of Anselm was the more tedious; no one without speculative endowments could employ it. Abelard's method seemed made to order

for scholastic practise. It afforded the 3. Influence use of the reason when the time was

of Anselm eager and ripe. It drove through the and Abelard land like a storm-burst. It introduced

to the scholars a mass of information and a formal discipline of thought, but in the final result it was fruitless. In the preparation of his Sentences (c. 1150), Peter Lombard (q.v.), prudent

in judgment, moderate in the application of reason, fortunate in the classification of his materials, at

once orthodox and scientific, followed the method of Abelard. The foundation for dogmatics which he laid and Abelard's method became through this text-book the standard for all the Middle Ages, just

as his commentary on the Pauline Epistles made its way as a standard " glossary." Strict traditionalism still prevailed and impassioned attacks were made on the new theology by Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, John of Salisbury, Walter of St. Victor, and the brothers Gerhoh and Arno of Reichersberg (qq.v.); yet men like Gerhoh, from a genuine religious interest, began to deal with the substance of doctrine itself. The spiritual independence at the root of the dialectic of Abelard stirred also in the older orthodoxy. Rupert of Deutz (q.v.) worked out his themes in dependence upon Scripture. Honorius of Autun (q.v.) followed the footsteps of Anselm, his master in thought and method, in Octo qua'stiones and in Elucidanum, in which he treated Christian theology entire. More important are the two works of Hugo of St. Victor (q.v.), De sacramentis and Summa sententiarum, in which he partly depended on Anselm, and made the sacraments his main topic. Although dis-

avowing " reason " and " experience," yet professing to depend on Scripture, he betrays evidence of some thinking for himself. On the whole and indi-

vidually, although strict orthodox development continued, the leaven of Anselm's spirit and Abelard's method worked into the orthodox continuity; thought was promulgated; and the Fathers, particularly Augustine, were read in a new light.

The spiritual upheaval of which the liberation