Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

Ses s i on 2: The Med i eva l Chur ch and the Reformat i on 39

2. The Great Schism (1054)

Different schools of theology arose very early in the church, but it remained essentially united for a thousand years despite schisms, heresies and bitter controversies. During this period the prominence of the see of Rome steadily increased (see Papacy). Its authoritarian claims were well advanced by the 11th century and certain doctrinal emphases became increasingly clear. It is only with the division between the Eastern and Western churches formalized in 1054 (the ‘Great Schism’) that we can speak more precisely of a Roman Catholic theology. The 16th-century rift with Protestantism at the Reformation sharpened its distinctiveness.

~ Sinclair B. Ferguson. “Roman Catholic Theology.” New Dictionary of Theology . Ed. J. I. Packer: electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, c1988, p. 596.

F. Notable figures

1. Francis of Assisi: best-loved, known of medieval saints, born 1181 in Assisi, left wealthy home to give himself over to poverty, founded a religious missionary order, a songwriter, author, evangelist “married to Lady Poverty” (i.e., a total renunciation of all property)

2. Bonaventure: born 1221, key medieval thinker who held strictly to Neo-Platonist philosophy, eventually led the Franciscan order in 1257; great devotional writer

3. Thomas Aquinas: born in 1225, perhaps the most systematic Catholic theologian of all time, integrating Aristotelian philosophy into Christian revelation, seeking to argue for a synthesis between reason and faith. He wrote extensively: commentaries, philosophical works, theological treatises, commentaries on Aristotle, etc.

a. Aristotelian philosophy provides the foundation for truth, and Catholic theology perfects and completes it