J.H. Heidegger's Corpus of Christian Theology: Scholastic Theology

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60.  The history of Scholastic Theology.

More specifically, this Theology, begun in the Twelfth Century, whether by Peter Abelard,[1] or by Lanfranc;[2] and first reduced into the form of an art around 1145 AD by Lombard, בעל or חידות מבין, Master of Sentences,[3] or of Sophisms (by which name Antichrist is identified, Daniel 8:23[4]), by blending Scripture and the Fathers, Augustine especially; and marvelously corrupted around 1220 AD by Albert the Great,[5] by the Sorbonne founded in Paris,[6] and by the Metaphysics of the Scholastic Theologians and Aristotle brought into the very holy of holies of Christ’s sanctuary; and most foully polluted in 1320 AD by Durandus of Saint-Pourçain[7] with all σοφιστικῆ τερθερείᾳ, sophistical quibbling:  the Papacy to this day continues to develop unto insanity, and loves like another Helen, as it were.

61.  And the causes bringing Scholastic Theology forth and nourishing it.

This Theology, or rather this Sophistical Harlot, was begotten by ill-omened Lucina,[8] and then nourished both by a loathing of simple and Fisherman-like, that is, Apostolic, Theology; and by a supine ignorance of the original Languages neglected by lazy Monks; and by an overly great esteem of the Fathers and Councils, and so by the established authority of a human name:  and by a fawning admiration of Aristotelian Philosophy only recently transmitted from the Arabs to Christians; and by a neglect of the practices and exercises of solid piety; and, finally, by a fear of Papal tyranny now growing in the Church, while it was hardly allowed to Theologians to treat the doctrine of the cross out of the word of God, so that they might not just so often dash against the triple crown of the Papal head, and fasten themselves to the cross.

62.  And the corruptions of Scholastic Theology are related, and are touched upon.

Moreover, if any praise in this Theology is deserved, it is for its Dialectical order and method or certain more acute aphorisms; or for the keenness of the judgment of the Theologians in many things; or, finally, for certain testimonies of truth, which their unrelenting discord and σύῤῥαξις/ clashing of opinion in many articles of the faith furnish:  yet its capital vices almost completely obscure that praise, and render that entire Theology of the Church useless, even indeed pernicious, among which sort of vices are, that it rests on false Principles, human authority, and the incredibly corrupt pagan Philosophy of Aristotle especially, without which Pallavicinus[9] not so long ago dared to assert that the Church would have been without many articles of the faith:  that it has received Dogmas ἄγραφα/unwritten and ἀντίγραφα, against what is written, in great numbers into the rich bosom of its own errors; that concerning the most weighty topics it disputes for and against topically, skeptically, and Academically, whereas Theology requires analytic, not Topical, Disputations; that overly curious Theologians, wholly occupied with curious, vain, and useless questions, miserably waste oil and effort, and undermine piety; that it gushes out continual divorces, quarrels, and battles of opinions, causing and nourishing parties that contend hatefully with each other; finally, that the truth, if it has any left, does not illustrate, but wraps and wastes in clever Sophisms, in prodigies of terms altogether obscure, and in the use of new jargon, and so after the manner of the Lawyers hides τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς γνώσεως, the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52); and they pervert the words of the living God, Jehovah of hosts, our God, into words horrid, barbarous, and Scythian, Jeremiah 23:36, and so bring it to pass that the people of God forget the name of their God, verse 27.

[1] Peter Abelard (1079-1142) was a theologian, scholar, and popular lecturer in and around Paris.  He was drawn toward controversy (holding an almost Sabellian view of the Trinity and Moral Influence theory of the Atonement), and controversy drew students (and trouble) to him.  Abelard was also influential in the development of the Scholastic Method; in his work, Sic et Non (Yes and No), he gathered apparently paradoxical statements from the Church Fathers and Scripture, and encouraged students to use reason and dialectic to resolve them.

[2] Lanfranc (c. 1005-1089) was an Italian churchman, scholar, and theologian, becoming one of the most influential figures in the English Church after the Norman Conquest (eventually rising to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury).  He founded a school at the Abbey of Bec, where he inculcated dialectics as a method for explicating and defending Christian doctrine, an important step in the development of the Scholastic Method.  At Bec, his instruction exerted a formative influence upon Anselm of Canterbury.

[3] Peter Lombard (c. 1096-c. 1164), although of relatively humble birth, became a renowned theologian in Paris.  His Four Books of Sentences served as a standard theological text at medieval universities.

[4] Daniel 8:23:  “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, shall stand up a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences (‎וּמֵבִ֥ין חִידֽוֹת׃).”

[5] Albert the Great (c. 1193-1280) was a German Dominican friar and eventual Bishop of Regensburg (1260).  He is regarded by many as the greatest theologian and philosopher of his age; his publications were instrumental in making the thought of Aristotle much more widely accessible.  He taught Thomas Aquinas.

[6] The Sorbonne, founded in 1257, became the premier center of Scholastic Theology.

[7] Durandus of Saint-Pourçain (c. 1275-c. 1332) was a French Dominican philosopher and theologian. He lectured and wrote commentaries on Lombard’s Sentences. In some matters, he differed from the great Dominican theologian, Thomas Aquinas, and became known as the Doctor Resolutissimus for his firm adherence to his subtle and novel positions.

[8] Lucina was the Roman goddess of child-birth.

[9] Pietro Sforza Pallavicino (1607-1667) was an Italian Jesuit, theologian, and historian.  He was made Cardinal in 1659.  He is remembered for his Istoria del Concilio di Trento, which includes a defense of Scholastic Theology.