Reason and Belief in the Age of Roscelin and Abelard

Download or read book Reason and Belief in the Age of Roscelin and Abelard written by Constant J. Mews and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-10-28 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The previous collection by Constant J. Mews focused on the work and thought of Peter Abelard (1079-1142); the present volume looks more broadly at Abelard's intellectual and religious context in the Latin West, and at his teacher, the controversial nominalist philosopher and theologian, Roscelin of Compiègne. It opens with surveys of educational theory and practice in the 12th-century schools. Mews next explores the widespread movement in the period which sought to explain religious belief in terms accessible to reason, and the background to accusations of heresy made by monks troubled by new attempts to interpret Christian belief, both within and outside a school environment. Five related studies then deal with previously unedited texts by Roscelin of Compiègne and St Anselm that throw new light on the importance of the philosopher and theologian who exercised a major influence on Peter Abelard.