Philosopher · Medieval

Peter Abelard

1079–1142 · Early scholasticism (dialectic)

Catholic · censured Latin

Condemned at Soissons (1121) and Sens (1141), the latter confirmed by Innocent II; reconciled with Bernard and died in communion at Cluny.

The most brilliant dialectician of the twelfth century, Abelard applied logic to theology with unprecedented confidence. His Sic et Non set contradictory patristic texts side by side for resolution, his Ethics located sin in consent rather than the deed, and his conceptualism offered a middle way on universals between Roscelin's nominalism and William of Champeaux's realism.

Why he matters: His method of posing questions and reconciling authorities became the scholastic method itself; his stress on intention transformed moral theology, and his failures mark the limits reason must respect.

Where to be careful

Nineteen propositions were condemned at Sens 1141, including his account of the Trinity (attributing power, wisdom and goodness to the Persons as if by appropriation only), his tendency to reduce the Atonement to moral example, and his claim that no act is sinful in itself apart from consent. His best insights survive in St. Thomas, purified.

Reading

Ethics (Scito te ipsum)

Peter Abelard · Sin as consent; the text that shifted ethics toward intention.

Journal
The Story of My Misfortunes (Historia Calamitatum)

Peter Abelard · His own account of his career, Heloise and his condemnation.

Journal
Abelard: A Medieval Life

M. T. Clanchy · The standard biography, fair to Bernard as well.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each question the test asks.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology

Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology

How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing

Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing

Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes

Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes

Do natures and essences really exist? Realism

Nominalism Realism

God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity

Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity

How should we speak of God? Cataphatic (analogical) way

Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way

Is 'being' said of God and of creatures in the same sense? Analogy of being

Analogy of being Univocity of being

How does creation speak of God? Between

Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Rationalism

Rationalism Fideism

Where does knowledge begin? Senses and abstraction

Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas

Is truth objective? Objective truth

Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Between

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

What is theology for? A science ordered to knowing

A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving

Does doctrine develop? A living development

Always the same, in the same words A living development

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul

Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul

Is the body really you? Body–soul unity

Dualism Body–soul unity

Are you free? Free will

Determinism Free will

How fallen is human nature? Basically good

Totally depraved Basically good

Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God

Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God

The body and its desires Desire as its own law

Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law

Person and community Individualism

Individualism Collectivism

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

What makes you this one and no other? A positive thisness (haecceity)

This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)

What is suffering for? A share in the Cross

An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law

Relativism Natural law

Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)

Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)

Are some acts always wrong? Consequentialism

Consequentialism Intrinsically evil acts

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude

Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude

What is conscience? Autonomous conscience

Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth

In doubtful cases Laxism

Rigorism Laxism

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? Between

The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Molinist

Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace

Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace

Who can be saved? Indifferentism

Strict exclusivism Indifferentism

What is salvation for? Pardon and escape

Pardon and escape Deification

Hell and hope The many are lost

The many are lost All will be saved

Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The man Jesus of Nazareth

The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ

Laicism Social kingship of Christ

Where does authority come from? Authority from God

Social contract Authority from God

The nation and the Church Nation does not matter

Nation or race first Nation does not matter

May the state restrain false religion? Civil liberty for every religion

The confessional state: error has no rights Civil liberty for every religion

Which form of government best suits a Christian people? Monarchy and hierarchy

Monarchy and hierarchy Democracy and participation

May a Christian take up the sword? Between

Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically

Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically

Icons and images Veneration of images

Iconoclasm Veneration of images

The way of prayer Discursive meditation

Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation

The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father and the Son (Filioque)

From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)

The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy

Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy

What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato

Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato

When the Pope speaks Every word binds

Resist and judge Every word binds

Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? The Gospel in each people's own forms

One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms

What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Between

Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Contemplation or action? Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy

Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful