Key Theologians
Key Theologians
Of the many theologians of importance to have emerged during this period of enormous creativity, the following are of especial interest and significance.
John of Damascus (c.676–749)
The Syrian theologian known as John of Damascus was one of the eastern church's most influential thinkers, and is often regarded as the last of the Greek fathers. At this time, Islam was sweeping through much of North Africa and the Levant, and Syria was firmly under Islamic control. John was brought up within the household of the caliph of Damascus, Abdul Malek (645–705), and succeeded his father as the caliph's chief financial officer. We know little about him and are dependent upon unreliable later sources for the fragmentary information that has been passed down to us. At some point, probably during the period 726–30, he resigned his position within the caliph's court and entered the monastery of St. Sabas, southeast of Jerusalem.
At an early stage in his career, he was drawn into the iconoclastic controversy, and vigorously opposed those who wanted to destroy icons. Paradoxically, John's position within an Islamic household prevented his many enemies in Byzantium from taking any action against him. His defense of the use of icons involves an appeal to the doctrine of the incarnation, both as a basis for establishing the divine willingness to become visible and as a ground for the use of material forms to represent the divine likeness or convey divine truths.
John is remembered for his work The Fountain of Wisdom, which consists of three parts. The first part deals principally with Aristotle's concept of ontology, apparently on the assumption that this would assist in the understanding of Christian doctrine. The second part is an updated reworking of an earlier work on heresy by Epiphanius of Constantia (c.310–403). The third part is the most important and interesting. Entitled “A Precise Analysis of the Orthodox Faith,” it sets out in detail the fundamentals of the Christian faith, as John had received them from earlier writers. This section of the treatise is often treated as a work in its own right, and is generally referred to simply as “The Orthodox Faith.” It was highly regarded by both Latin-speaking and Greek-speaking Christians, and was translated into Latin in 1150 by Burgundio of Pisa (died 1193). This edition is cited by both Peter Lombard in his Four Books of the Sentences and Thomas Aquinas in his Summa theologiae (“The Totality of Theology”).
Simeon the New Theologian (949–1022)
Simeon (or Symeon) was born into a wealthy family in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor, in 949. At the age of 11, he was sent to the great city of Constantinople for further study. His parents had aspirations that he would go on to a political career, but he had a spiritual experience at the age of 20 which convinced him of the importance of a direct encounter with God. Although he did not immediately give up on his political hopes, his ecstatic experience of God as a living presence of radiant light had clearly made a deep impression on him. At the age of 27, he entered the monastery of Studios and came under the spiritual direction of Symeon the Pious (c.918–86), changing his given name, George, as a mark of respect for his mentor. He subsequently entered the monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople, where he was ordained priest and eventually became the abbot. During this period, he set about renewing the monastery's life of prayer and meditation, and wrote a number of spiritual treatises, emphasizing the power of contemplative prayer and meditation.
Simeon remains one of the most important theological influences on modern Orthodoxy, reflecting the high regard in which he is held. His theology echoes many of the now-traditional themes of Byzantine doctrine, particularly an emphasis upon the doctrine of the incarnation and an accentuation of redemption as deification. He is called Simeon the New Theologian within Orthodoxy to distinguish him from John the Evangelist (known as John the Theologian) and Gregory of Nazianzus (329–89, known as Gregory the Theologian in the eastern Orthodox tradition).
Anselm of Canterbury (c.1033–1109)
Anselm was born in northern Italy but soon moved to France, which was by then establishing a reputation as a center for religious learning. He quickly mastered the arts of logic and grammar, and acquired a formidable reputation as a teacher at the Norman abbey of Bec. Standing at the dawn of the theological renaissance of the twelfth century, Anselm made decisive contributions to two areas of discussion: proofs of the existence of God, and the rational interpretation of Christ's death upon the cross.
In his treatise known as the Proslogion (the word is virtually untranslatable), written around 1079, Anselm set out to formulate an argument supporting belief in the existence and character of God as highest good. The resulting analysis is often known as the “ontological argument,” although Anselm does not really regard it as an “argument” and does not state it in an “ontological” way – both those developments are found in the writings of Descartes (1596–1650). Anselm holds that, if God is understood as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived,” the existence of God turns out to be implied in the definition. Although this argument has been contested since its inception, it has remained one of the most intriguing components of philosophical theology to this day. The Proslogion is also of importance on account of its clear appeal to reason in matters of theology and its appreciation of the role of logic. In many ways, the work anticipates the best aspects of scholastic theology. Anselm's phrase fides quaerens intellectum (“faith seeking understanding”) has passed into widespread use.
Following the Norman invasion of England (1066), Anselm was invited to become archbishop of Canterbury in 1093, thus ensuring the consolidation of Norman influence over the English church. It was not an entirely happy period of his life, due to a series of violent disputes between the church and the monarchy over land rights. During one period spent working away from England in Italy, Anselm penned perhaps his most important work, “Why God became Man.” In this work, Anselm sought to set out a rational demonstration of the necessity of God becoming man, and an analysis of the benefits that accrue to humanity as a result of the incarnation and obedience of the Son of God.
This argument, to be considered at length later in this work (see pp. 259–60), remains of foundational importance to any discussion of “theories of the atonement” – in other words, understandings of the meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ, and its significance for humanity. Once more, the work exhibits the characteristics which are typical of scholasticism at its best: the appeal to reason, the logical marshaling of arguments, the relentless exploration of the implications of ideas, and the fundamental conviction that, at its heart, the Christian gospel is rational and can be shown to be rational.
Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–74)
Thomas Aquinas was born at the castle of Roccasecca in Italy, the youngest son of Count Landulf of Aquino. To judge by his nickname – “the dumb ox” – he was rather portly. In 1244, while in his late teens, Aquinas decided to join the Dominican order, also known as the Order of Preachers. His parents were hostile to this idea: they rather hoped he would become a Benedictine, and perhaps end up as abbot of Monte Cassino, one of the most prestigious positions in the medieval church. His brothers forcibly imprisoned him in one of the family's castles for a year to encourage him to change his mind. Despite this intense opposition from his family, Aquinas eventually got his way, and ended up becoming one of the most important religious thinkers of the Middle Ages. One of his teachers is reported to have said that “the bellowing of that ox will be heard throughout the world.”
Aquinas began his studies at Paris before moving to Cologne in 1248. In 1252, he returned to Paris to study theology. Four years later, he was granted permission to teach theology at the university. For the next three years, he lectured on Matthew's gospel and began to write the Summa contra Gentiles (“Summary against the Gentiles”). In this major work, Aquinas provided important arguments in favor of the Christian faith for the benefit of missionaries working among Jews and Muslims. In 1266, he began the most famous of his many writings, usually known by its Latin title, Summa theologiae. In this work, Thomas developed a detailed study of key aspects of Christian theology (such as the role of reason in faith) as well as a detailed analysis of key doctrinal questions (such as the divinity of Christ). The work is divided into three parts, with the second part subdivided into two. Part one deals chiefly with God the creator; part two, divided into two sections known as the prima secundae and the secunda secundae (literally, the “first of the second” and the “second of the second”), deals with the restoration of humanity to God; and part three considers the manner in which the person and work of Christ bring about the salvation of humanity.
On December 6, 1273, Aquinas declared that he could write no longer. “All that I have written seems like straw to me,” he said. It is possible that he had some sort of breakdown, perhaps brought on by overwork. He died on March 7, 1274. Among Aquinas's key contributions to theology, the following are of especial importance, and are discussed elsewhere in this volume:
Duns Scotus (c.1266–1308)
Scotus was unquestionably one of the finest minds of the Middle Ages. In his short life, he taught at Cambridge, Oxford, and Paris and produced three versions of a “Commentary on the Sentences.” Known as the “subtle doctor” on account of the very fine distinctions that he frequently drew between the possible meanings of terms, he was responsible for a number of developments of considerable significance to Christian theology. Only three can be noted here.
First, Scotus was a champion of the theory of knowledge associated with Aristotle. The earlier Middle Ages were dominated by a different theory of knowledge, going back to Augustine of Hippo, known as “illuminationism,” in which knowledge was understood to arise from the illumination of the human intellect by God. This view, which was championed by writers such as Henry of Ghent (c.1217–93), was subjected to devastating criticism by Scotus.
Second, Scotus regarded the divine will as taking precedence over the divine intellect, a doctrine often referred to as “voluntarism.” Thomas Aquinas had argued for the primacy of the divine intellect; Scotus opened the way to new approaches to theology, based on the assumption of the priority of the divine will. An example illustrates the point. Consider the idea of merit – that is to say, a human moral action which is deemed worthy of reward by God. What is the basis of this decision? Aquinas argued that the divine intellect recognizes the inherent worth of the human moral act. It then informs the will to reward it appropriately. Scotus argued along very different lines. For him, the divine will to reward the moral action comes before any evaluation of the action's inherent worth. This approach is of considerable importance in relation to the doctrines of justification and predestination, and will be considered in more detail later (pp. 336–7).
Third, Scotus was a champion of the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Thomas Aquinas had taught that Mary shared the common sinful condition of humanity. She was tainted by sin (Latin: macula) like everyone else, apart from Christ. Scotus, however, argued that Christ, by virtue of his perfect work of redemption, was able to keep Mary free from the taint of original sin. Such was the influence of Scotus that the “immaculate position” (from the Latin immacula, “free of sin”) became dominant by the end of the Middle Ages.
William of Ockham (c.1285–1347)
In many ways, Ockham may be regarded as developing some of the lines of argument associated with Scotus. Of particular importance is his consistent defense of a voluntarist position, giving priority to the divine will over the divine intellect. It is, however, probably his philosophical position which has ensured his permanent place of note in the history of Christian theology. Two major elements of his teaching may be noted.
First is “Ockham's razor,” often referred to as “the principle of parsimony.” Ockham insisted that simplicity was both a theological and a philosophical virtue. His “razor” eliminated all hypotheses which were not absolutely essential. This had major implications for his theology of justification. Earlier medieval theologians (including Thomas Aquinas) had argued that God was obliged to justify sinful humanity by means of what was called a “created habit of grace” – in other words, an intermediate supernatural entity, infused by God into the human soul, which permitted the sinner to be pronounced justified. Ockham dismissed this notion as an unnecessary irrelevance and declared that justification was the direct acceptance of a sinner by God. There was no need for this intermediate step in the acceptance of the individual by God. What Aquinas held to take place by an intermediate entity, Ockham declared to take place directly, without any intermediate such as a “created habit of grace.” The way was thus opened to the more personalist approaches to justification such as those associated with the Reformation.
Second, Ockham was a vigorous defender of “nominalism.” In part, this resulted from his use of the razor: universals were declared to be a totally unnecessary hypothesis and were thus eliminated. The growing impact of the “modern way” in western Europe owes a considerable debt to Ockham. One aspect of his thought which proved to be of especial importance is the “dialectic between the two powers of God.” This device allowed Ockham to contrast the way things are with the way things could have been. A full discussion of this follows later (pp. 188–9); for the moment, it is enough to note that Ockham made a decisive contribution to discussions of divine omnipotence, which are of continuing importance today.
Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536)
Desiderius Erasmus is generally regarded as the most important humanist writer of the Renaissance, and he had a profound impact upon Christian theology during the first half of the sixteenth century. He was one of the first theologians to exploit the new medium of printing as a means of spreading his ideas. Erasmus did much to lay the intellectual foundations of the sixteenth-century Reformations, not least through his extensive editorial undertakings, including the production of the first printed text of the Greek New Testament (see pp. 36–7) and extensive editions of patristic writers. His Handbook of the Christian Soldier became a bestseller and was a landmark in religious publishing.
His Handbook developed the then revolutionary and highly attractive thesis that the church of the day could be reformed by a collective return to the writings of the fathers and the Bible. The regular reading of Scripture is put forward as the key to a new lay piety, on the basis of which the church may be renewed and reformed. Erasmus conceived of his work as a layperson's guide to Scripture, providing a simple yet learned exposition of the “philosophy of Christ.” This “philosophy” is really a form of practical morality rather than an academic philosophy. The New Testament addresses the knowledge of good and evil, in order that its readers may eschew the latter and love the former. The New Testament is the “law of Christ,” which Christians are called to obey. Christ is the example whom Christians are called to imitate. Yet Erasmus does not understand Christian faith to be a mere external observance of a moral code. His characteristically humanist emphasis upon inner religion leads him to suggest that the reading of Scripture transforms its readers, giving them a new motivation to love God and their neighbors.
Figure 2.3 Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536).
Source: Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy / Bridgeman Images.
Erasmus also undertook extensive scholarly projects, two of which are of especial importance to the development of Christian theology: