Scholasticism

Background

Scholasticism was a method of learning that developed in the monastic schools and universities of Western Europe from around the eleventh century to the end of the Middle Ages. Its name is generally said to derive from the Latin word schola, meaning "school." It accepted the authority of Scripture and of the Church Fathers (the theological leaders of the early church), such as Augustine. At the same time, it sought to explain the content of the faith systematically by using logic to frame questions and by examining objections one by one.

Development

• Early period (11th–12th centuries): The figure commonly called the first Scholastic is Anselm, a student of Lanfranc (c. 1004–1089). Championing "faith seeking understanding," he attempted to demonstrate the existence of God by reason alone. He also proposed the "satisfaction theory" to explain the atonement. In Sic et Non ("Yes and No"), Peter Abelard (1079–1142) collected conflicting statements by church authorities and invited readers to resolve them through reason.
• The emergence of textbooks: Peter Lombard (c. 1096–1160) wrote the Sentences around 1155–1158. By the early thirteenth century, this work had become the standard textbook for theological instruction at the University of Paris.
• High period (13th century): As the works of Aristotle were newly translated, the task became how to integrate his philosophy with theology. Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274), a student of Albert the Great and a friar of the Dominican Order, treated the whole of doctrine in his Summa Theologiae in the disputational form of question, objection, and reply. Through this approach he sought to harmonize faith and reason. Bonaventure was also a leading figure of this period.
• Late period (late 13th–14th centuries): John Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308) took a different path from Thomas. In addition, realism and nominalism (the position that universals are merely names) contended over whether universal concepts actually exist.

Results and Influence

Scholasticism left two legacies. One was the university method of disputation, which weighed arguments for and against a position; the other was the framework of systematic theology, which organized doctrine by topic. On September 4, 1517, before the Ninety-five Theses, Martin Luther held a disputation on ninety-seven theses. This document later came to be known as the Disputation against Scholastic Theology. In this disputation Luther argued that human beings cannot love God without God's grace, and he criticized William of Ockham, Scotus, Gabriel Biel, and others. John Calvin and other Reformers also criticized Scholastic theology. In the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas's authority remained high. After Leo XIII issued the encyclical (an official papal document) Aeterni Patris in the late nineteenth century, Neo-Thomism developed.

Assessment

The Roman Catholic Church regards Thomas's synthesis of philosophy and theology as an important part of its heritage. Within Protestantism, assessments are divided. The Reformation tradition has criticized Scholastic theology for giving philosophy an increasingly large role and for its optimism about human nature. On the other hand, some Protestant scholars hold that because Luther's criticisms were aimed mainly at late medieval nominalists, they do not apply directly to Anselm or Thomas. In Korean Protestantism, Scholasticism is introduced chiefly through church history courses at seminaries and through church history series in Christian media.