Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

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Chur ch Mat ter s : Ret r i ev i ng the Great Trad i t i on

(5) Fifth Crusade led in 1219, minimal impact

(6) Sixth and Seventh were undertaken by Louis IX (France) with no impact

d. Crusades are etched into the Muslim historical consciousness as the clearest sign of the true nature of Christian charity!

E. Scholastic theology, the Great Schism, rumblings in Catholicism, and decline of the papacy

1. Scholastic theology

a. John Scotus Erigena; Irishman born about 810, preeminent theologian of the early Middle Ages whose chief work was his Division of Nature , where he interpreted Christianity in a neo-Platonist framework

b. Anselm: born around 1033 in Italy, archbishop of Canterbury, first true theologian of the medieval West; revelation not philosophy gives Christianity its content, yet reason can reveal revelation’s coherence and rationality ; three major writings: Monologion (1077), Proslogion or Faith Seeking Understanding (1078), and Cur Deus Homo ( Why God Became Man ) (1090)

c. Peter Abelard: brilliant theologian of the 12th century who introduced the method of doubt, asking questions to find the answer ( Sic et Non )

d. Bernard of Clairvaux: b. 1090, in 1115 appointed abbot of a new monastery leading over 70 Cistercian monasteries during his lifetime, “the last great representative of early medieval monastic theology”