Part II ◈ The Middle Ages
Part II
◈
The Middle Ages
The Consolidation of the Doctrine
The terms ‘
medieval’
and ‘
Middle Ages’
emerged during the Renaissance, reflecting the humanist devaluation of this uninteresting period separating the cultural and intellectual glories of antiquity and their retrieval in the Renaissance. Although phrases similar to ‘
medieval’
are encountered in the medieval period itself, their meaning is quite distinct from the modern sense of the term. Julian of
Toledo, for example, uses the phrase ‘
the middle age’
or ‘
the middle of time’
(tempus medium
) in an Augustinian sense to refer to the period between the incarnation and the second coming of Christ.
1
Although the terms ‘
medieval’
and ‘
Middle Ages’
remain widely used in both popular and intellectual works, there is a widespread acceptance of their limitations,
2
and an absence of consensus on what might eventually replace them.
Given the difficulties of definition, it is perhaps inevitable that there is little consensus about when the ‘
Middle Ages’
can be said to have begun.
3
The practically simultaneous suppression of the Athenian Platonic academy and the establishment of the first Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in 529 are regarded by many as icons –
though not causes –
of the transition from late antiquity to the medieval period. For the specific purposes of the present study, the medieval period is most appropriately seen as the extended period between the death of Augustine and the emergence of evangelical groups in western Europe during the 1510s. During this time, there was a gradual shift in the centres of intellectual life from the Mediterranean world to the northern European world of Theodoric and Charlemagne, and later to the abbey and cathedral schools of France, and the universities of Paris and Oxford, following the destabilisation of the western Roman empire resulting from
Alaric’
s sacking of Rome in 410. While Augustine’
s world was that of the imperium Romanum
, that of his later interpreters would be the courts and monasteries and later the universities of northern Europe.
Associated with this shift in the intellectual centres of gravity within Europe was a related transition in the methods employed by the theologians of the medieval period. The accumulated body of tradition associated with the world of antiquity –
which included both pagan philosophy and early Christian theology –
was assimilated and incorporated into the emerging theological literature in the form of collections of citations.
4
A good example of this genre can be seen in Prosper of
Aquitaine’
s Liber sententiarum ex operibus Augustini
(‘
Book of Sentences from the Works of Augustine’
). These collections of ‘
sentences’
–
largely drawn from the works of Augustine –
appear to have been modelled upon the codifications of the canonists, who initially grouped their collected decretals chronologically, and later according to subjects.
The most famous and influential such collection is the Sententiarum libri quattuor
(‘
Four Books of the Sentences’
) of Peter
Lombard. In 1947, it was reported that 1,407 commentaries were known on this collection of patristic sentences; more have since been identified. Peter Lombard’
s Sententiarum libri quattuor
has been styled an ‘
Augustinian breviary’
, in that roughly 80 per cent of its text is taken up by a thousand citations from Augustine. As well as gathering together such sententiae
, writers of this period attempted to develop hermeneutical methods to resolve the apparent contradictions encountered in this process.
5
Although these strategies are not without interest, they tend to expose the fundamental weakness of the ‘
sentences’
project –
namely, that these patristic citations are merely cut and pasted into a collective document, without any serious consideration of historical or contextual issues which might shape the original statements, or influence the hermeneutical task.
The high regard in which Augustine was held during the theological renaissance of the late eleventh and the twelfth centuries ensured that the framework of the medieval discussion of justification was essentially Augustinian.
6
The theology of the period may be regarded as a systematic attempt to restate and reformulate Augustine’
s theology to meet the needs of the new era then developing. The development of the doctrine of justification during the medieval period may be considered primarily
as the systematisation, clarification and conceptual elaboration of Augustine’
s framework of justification, where possible restating the dogmatic content of his works in the accepted categories of the day.
Yet this high regard for Augustine led to excessive attention being paid to works attributed to him, yet now known to lack a genuinely Augustinian provenance.
7
Critical approaches to such writings did not develop until the sixteenth century, stimulated by the humanist textual
techniques developed by Erasmus and others, which allowed
Ambrosiaster to be identified as a theological voice distinct from
Ambrose of Milan.
8
Pseudo-Augustinian works –
such as the treatise De spiritu et anima
(‘
On the spirit and soul’
) –
found their way into early scholastic discussions of various theological issues;
9
as far as I can see, none of these pseudo-Augustinian works played a significant role in shaping medieval attitudes towards justification.
Although Christian theology remained a significant and intellectually vibrant presence in the Greek-speaking eastern Roman empire, focussed on the imperial city of Constantinople, the doctrine of justification was not at the fore of theological debate, nor seen as an overarching principle of theological coherence, beyond the western churches of the Middle Ages. The major writers of the Christian east –
from the Cappadocian fathers through to Dionysius and on to Gregory Palamas –
tended to see the conceptualities of assimilation to God or union with God as the core biblical motifs that require theological elaboration and spiritual application.
10
‘
As the Scriptures teach, assimilation to God and union with Him come about only through love and the keeping of the commandments.’
11
Gregory of
Nyssa certainly appreciates Paul’
s interest in justification, occasionally summarising his views as justification ‘
by faith alone’
12
–
but interprets this not in terms of a changed legal or forensic status on the part of the believer, but rather in terms of an apophatic ascent of the mind to God.
13
Here, as with Maximus the
Confessor, the exclusivity of faith is not framed in terms of ‘
faith versus works’
but ‘
faith versus other forms of knowledge’
.
14
The growing emphasis upon theology as a scientia
was not without parallels in early periods of intellectual history;
15
the tendency for systematisation became increasingly significant with the rise of the theological genre of the ‘
Summa’
, which moved away from the notion of theology as commenting on patristic sentences, and towards the articulation of coherent intellectual systems.
16
During the Middle Ages, the concept of justification emerged within the western church as a metaphor with particular theological virtues for the articulation of the soteriological convictions and affirmations of the western church –
but not
as a controlling or even as an organising theological principle.
This medieval interest in justification is connected with a number of factors that are of wider historical and theological interest.
1
The transference of the discussion of the salvation of humankind from the mythological
to the moral
or legal
plane. The semantic relationship between the Latin terms iustitia
and iustificatio
helped the theologians of the medieval period to rationalise salvation in terms of God’
s righteousness, thus providing a theological legitimation, rather than a mere description, of the Christian understanding of the nature and grounds of salvation.
2
The increasingly significant role played by Pauline
commentaries as vehicles for theological development in the earlier Middle Ages.
17
This inevitably led to the incorporation of certain core Pauline concepts, such as justification, into the modus loquendi theologicus
of the later medieval period.
3
The particular association of Paul’
s notion of ‘
justification by faith’
with the articulation of a Heilsgeschichte
–
an overall view of the grand narrative of salvation, as played out in the history of Israel and the church.
Each of these points merits further comment.
1
The early patristic discussion of the redemption of humankind in Christ, particularly in popular sermons, frequently took the form of the portrayal of a cosmic battle between God and the devil, with its locus
in the cross of Christ. This theme would later pass into the medieval tradition as the ‘
Harrowing of Hell’
, a dramatic and highly visual way of conceiving salvation which was well suited for popular preaching and
tracts, as well as presentations in Mystery Plays.
18
Associated with this image of the cosmic battle fought between God and the devil over humanity are several concepts which indicate the crude realism of its mythology –
for example, the ideas of the devil possessing rights over humanity (the so-called
ius diaboli
), of God entering into a formal transaction with the devil, or of God deceiving the devil. Partly on account of their strong appeal to the imagination, these themes had become widely incorporated into popular religious literature and public presentations.
19
During the theological renaissance of the late eleventh century such ideas were subjected to theological criticism, particularly by Anselm of
Canterbury, largely on account of the conviction that the ‘
righteousness of God’
, necessarily entailed that God acted rightly and righteously in all his actions, including the redemption of humanity.
20
This fundamental conviction led to the medieval construction of theories of redemption in which emphasis was laid upon the moral or legal propriety of both the redemption of humankind in the first place, and the means subsequently employed by God in bringing about this redemption. The justification of humanity was thus consistent with divine justice, rather than a consequence of its suspension. It is possible to argue that it is with Anselm’
s insights that the characteristic thinking of the western church on the means of the redemption of humankind may be said to begin. The emphasis which is then laid upon the moral or legal character of God inevitably leads to increased interest in the precise nature of
iustitia Dei
, and in the question of how iustitia Dei
and iustitia hominis
are correlated. The recognition of the cognate relationship between iustitia
, ius
and iustificatio
served to further enhance the importance of the concept of justification as a soteriological metaphor, particularly as legal language and concepts began to gain theological traction in the later Middle Ages.
2
The influence of Pauline
commentaries on the shaping of theology during the earlier medieval period has been well documented,
21
particularly as catalysts for the early systematisation of theology during the medieval period. A survey of the commentaries on Romans alone –
the most important of the Pauline epistles, judged from the standpoint
of the development of the doctrine of justification –
suggests that practically all major theologians of the early medieval period used such a commentary for both the positive statement and the development of their own characteristic theological positions.
22
It was therefore inevitable that both the vocabulary and concepts of these theological positions would be influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by the Pauline material with reference to which they were developed and expounded. Yet there is often a mismatch between a given theologian’
s discussion of justification in the context of their commentary on a Pauline epistle, and their subsequent systematisation of these views within their Commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard
, or their Summas. The writings of Thomas
Aquinas illustrate this point neatly: there is a process of theological transposition at work in the movement from a biblical commentary driven by a desire to clarify the text and a work of systematic theology driven by a concern for the use of appropriate categories and coherent conceptual organisation.
23
3
The discussion of
heilsgeschichtlich
questions such as the salvation of the Old Testament patriarchs, the relation between Christian faith and the works of the Mosaic law, and the historical and intellectual roots of the church in Israel, often made explicit reference to the concept of justification, in that Paul’
s reflections on these questions are often framed specifically in terms of this context.
24
Recent studies of Old English theological works –
such as Ælfric of
Eynsham (c
. 955–
c
. 1010) –
have highlighted how salvation history often functions as a framing device in their presentations of Christian theology, particularly their catechetical writings.
25
‘
In place of Germanic myth, Christianity
offers a comprehensive, coherent, and ordered narrative, which structures the history of the individual and the communal by means of the drama of original sin and its transcendence.’
26
Christ’
s theological location as saviour and redeemer –
to use the two soteriological terms most frequently encountered in this period
27
–
is seen as safeguarding the rationality and coherence of the Christian vision of evangelical transformation. The concept of ‘
justification’
, however, does not play as significant a role in Old English theological literature as might be expected, given its importance and heilsgeschichtlich
function in the Pauline letters.
The present chapter documents the development of particular aspects of the doctrine of justification during the medieval period, and illustrates how Augustine’
s basic insights into the framework of the doctrine of justification were preserved, while being developed further to meet the challenges and opportunities of a new and more systematic era in theology.
28
We begin by considering how the concept of justification itself is to be understood
.
1
Julian of Toledo, Antikeimenon
ii, 69; PL
96.697C. Cf. Augustine, De civitate Dei
XI, 1, where he refers to living ‘
in this intermediate age (in hoc interim saeculo
) in a similar context.
4
Colish, ‘
The Sentence Collection and the Education of Professional Theologians in the Twelfth Century’
.
5
For this concern, see Boureau, ‘
L’
usage des textes patristiques dans les controverses scolastiques’
.
8
Stüben, ‘
Erasmus von Rotterdam und der Ambrosiaster’
. Some scholars suggest that this name may actually date from the seventeenth century: Lunn-Rockliffe, Ambrosiaster’s Political Theology
, 29–
32.
10
Constas, ‘
The Reception of Paul and Pauline Theology in the Byzantine Period’
; Dassmann, ‘
Zum Paulusverständnis in der östliche Kirche’
. While Dassmann notes an inattentiveness to certain Pauline themes –
such as justification –
he does not offer a compelling explanation for this observation.
11
Dionysius, De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia
ii, 1.
13
Laird, Gregory of Nyssa and the Grasp of Faith
, 74.
14
Cooper, The Body in St Maximus the Confessor
, 229.
16
Chenu, La théologie comme science au XIII
e
siècle
. There are important parallels here with the encyclopaedic ambition of contemporary works such as Vincent de Beauvais’
s Speculum maius
: Franklin-Brown, Reading the World
, 95–
127.
19
Marx, The Devil’s Rights and the Redemption in the Literature of Medieval England.
20
See McGrath, ‘
Rectitude’
; Rosato, ‘
The Interpretation of Anselm’
s Teaching on Christ’
s Satisfaction for Sin in the Franciscan Tradition from Alexander of Hales to Duns
Scotus’
. More generally, see Link-Wieczorek, ‘
Wiedergutmachung statt Strafe’
.
21
E.g., Landgraf, Einführung in die Geschichte der theologischen Literatur der Frühscholastik
, 29, 39–
40.
22
Affeldt, ‘
Verzeichnis der Römerbriefkommentare der lateinischen Kirche bis zu Nikolaus von Lyra’
. See further Campbell, Hawkins and Schildgen, Medieval Readings of Romans.
There are also useful reflections on this point in Colish, ‘
Systematic Theology and Theological Research in the Twelfth Century’
. The importance of the Glossa Ordinaria
as an evolving communal biblical commentary should also be noted: Smith, The Glossa Ordinaria
, 1–
38.
23
See the excellent study of Levering, Paul in the Summa Theologiae
, which provides a detailed assessment of the extent and nature of Aquinas’
s appropriation of Pauline texts and ideas. For Aquinas’
s engagement with Paul’
s theology of justification, see Levering, Paul in the Summa Theologiae
, 153–
84.
24
Cloes, ‘
La systématization théologique pendant la première moitié du XIIe
siècle’
, which illustrates this point with particular reference to Hugh of St
Victor’
s De sacramentis
. A similar pattern is found in Alexander of Hales’
s discussion of the place of the Old Testament: Marcolino, Das Alte Testament in der Heilsgeschichte
. However, not all such heilsgeschichtlich
questions explicitly reference the concept of justification –
as, for example, at Romans 11:25–
26. See Cohen, ‘
The Mystery of Israel’
s Salvation’
.
25
Lees, Tradition and Belief
, 78; Garde, Old English Poetry
, 9‒
13; Garde and Muir, ‘
Patristic Influence and the Poetic Intention in Old English Religious Verse’
.
26
Lees, Tradition and Belief
, 54.
27
For the terminology, see Pelteret, Slavery in Early Medieval England
, 47.