Scholastic Theology (c. 1200-1500)
More general subjects:
Kabbalah from Medieval Ashkenaz and Renaissance Christian Theology
Eleazar of Worms (c. 1165–c. 1238) and Egidio da Viterbo (c. 1469–1532)
The preoccupation of Christian theologians and scholars with the Hebrew language and sources at the dawn of the sixteenth century resulted in the transfer of a vast corpus of medieval Hebrew texts into Christian intellectual discourse and networks. These Hebrew sources were meticulously collected copied translated and subjected to rigorous study. These collections include texts that originate from medieval Ashkenaz the majority of which can be attributed to Eleazar ben Yehuda of Worms (c. 1165–c. 1238). Rabbi Eleazar was a prominent Jewish scholar of his time and a member of one of the most prestigious families in Jewish communities of the German Rhineland and Palatinate.
However the history of medieval Ashkenazic writings has been neglected in scholarship which has favoured other Jewish (primarily Sephardic) sources in tracing the infl uence of medieval Jewish mysticism on Christian theology and Kabbalah. This book takes the hitherto disregarded Ashkenazi Hebrew sources as its point of departure. It focuses on the work of Eleazar as a main representative of the Ḥaside Ashkenaz and on his mag num opus Sode Razayya which discusses all matter of the divine and the mundane sphere. The book explores how Eleazar’s work was a potentially interesting source for a Renaissance Christian Kabbalist like Egidio (Giles) da Viterbo. Kabbalah from Ashkenaz is distinguished by its emphasis on the Hebrew letters and language along with the divine word and divine speech (dibur). This central motif of the Ashkenazi sources found resonance with certain Christian theologians and Kabbalists in the context of Christian logos theology which is similarly anchored in the divine word (verbum).
Peter Abelard, Know Yourself (Scito te ipsum)
Peter Abelard (1079-1142) famous for his unhappy love story with Heloise which he wrote down in his autobiographical work Historia calamitatum was among the most respected scholars of his time. Brilliant as a philosopher and theologian he was one of the co-founders of scholasticism seeking to elucidate theological facts through logic.Scito te ipsum is one of the most important texts of the twelfth century. Only in the later phase of his life and work did Abelard decide to separate moral themes from his overall theological schema and to dedicate a monograph to them under the guiding concepts of "sin" (First Book) and "obedience before God" (Second Book unfinished). As Ethica nostra it was intended to provide a Christian conception alongside a philosophical ethics and to summarise the results of his previous studies.
Along with Abelard’s entire theology this treatise was also condemned as heretical by Pope Innocent II and was long considered lost. Since its rediscovery in the 18th century it has met with lively interest both from a theological and also from a philosophical point of view. The historical aspects of the work and its integration into Abelard’s complete works receive special attention in the introduction to this volume which presents the Latin text from the Corpus Christianorum (CC CM 190) with a new English translation.
L’amour au Moyen Âge
Est-il un, est-il pluriel ?
Peu de notions médiévales sont aussi vastes et semble-t-il aussi hétérogènes que l’« amour » puisque de la convoitise à la charité de la passion amoureuse à la piété filiale de l’amitié entre égaux à l’amour du prince de l’amour de Dieu à l’amour du prochain en passant par celui envers soi-même ou ses ennemis il reçoit les noms les plus variés vise les objets les plus divers encourt les jugements moraux les plus contraires. Ceci soulève plusieurs questions au centre des échanges entre médiévistes de toutes disciplines: histoire philosophie théologie lettres latines et romanes histoire du droit histoire de l’art etc. Pourquoi observe-t-on soudain une vogue littéraire de l’amour au xiie siècle chez les poètes d’oc et d’oïl les exégètes du Cantique des cantiques les théologiens de la Trinité ou de la charité les maîtres de la vie intérieure les commentateurs du pseudo-Denys les philosophes de l’amor honestus ou de l’amitié les canonistes définissant le mariage les théoriciens de l’amour du prince et de ses sujets les amants eux-mêmes dont on commence à conserver les correspondances enflammées? Ensuite comment écrivains et docteurs tout en distinguant soigneusement les diverses sortes d’amour les intègrent-ils dans une même conception unitaire? Enfin pourquoi dans les trois derniers siècles du Moyen Âge se met-on à opposer de plus en plus la connaissance et l’amour comme deux facultés de l’âme symétriques et antithétiques et quels sont les enjeux jusqu’à aujourd’hui de cette joute entre l’amour et la connaissance ?
William of Ware on the Sentences
Teaching Philosophy and Theology in the 13th Century between Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus
The Franciscan William of Ware – the Magister Scoti – flourished as a theologian at the end of the thirteenth century. Although he wielded significant influence on fourteenth-century theological and philosophical debates his thought remains little known and even less studied than it deserves. A major cause for this situation lies in the difficulty of accessing the text of his Questions on the Four Books of the Sentences which is largely unedited.
This volume is the first entirely devoted to William of Ware. It aims to promote a renewed knowledge of his texts and doctrines. The book includes updated information on studies and editions of Ware's texts and specific studies on crucial aspects of his doctrines such as theology metaphysics physics epistemology Christology and anthropology. Additionally the volume presents previously unpublished questions from his Commentary on the Sentences.
Overall the volume serves as an essential reference for the thought and texts of William of Ware and provides a new and illuminating perspective on scholastic culture during the turn from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century.
In Principio
Genesis and Theology in St Bonaventure
This volume offers a fresh approach to the structure of Bonaventure’s thought. Ruben Martello argues that Bonaventure employs the Genesis creation account as an overarching framework and fecund source for understanding nature theology and even Scripture itself. Beginning with Bonaventure’s view of the literal meaning of Scripture the reception of the hexaëmeron is traced chronologically in a number of major theological works. Bonaventure is interpreted in light of the hexameral commentarial tradition like Augustine’s De Genesi ad litteram and filtered through Dionysian and Victorine inspired hermeneutics. It is proposed that reading Genesis in Bonaventure may clarify a number of contemporary disputed theological exegetical and epistemological concerns. This study also unpacks the Bonaventurian understanding of the distinctive senses of the 'image' and 'likeness' of God aiding in the articulation of a rich theological anthropology.