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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