"The translation of Aristotle's philosophical works into Latin in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries produced a crisis for Christian thinkers insofar as the Aristotelian writing seemed to offer demonstrative proof that the world has always existed without a beginning at some point finitely distant in the past. The present volume offers the reader three different responses to the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the world: the radical Aristotelian views of Siger of Brabant contrasted with those of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. The latter two both held creation in time, though Aquinas believed that the question could only be decided on the basis of revelation, while Bonaventure argued that creation in time could be proved by reason."--

This dual-language book is a translation of John Pecham's De aeternitate mundi (On the Eternity of the World), written probably in 1270. Pecham was born in England around 1230. He pursued studies in Paris, where he may have been a student of Roger Bacon's, and at Oxford. He returned to Paris some time between 1257 and 1259 to study theology and in 1269-1270 became magister theologiae. It was at this time that he presumably wrote the essay translated here, and presented it as part of his inception, the equivalent of a doctrinal defense, in 1271, when he sought to become a magister regens, a member of the theological faculty. While Pecham was studying in Paris, two controversial theological innovations were being debated. The first issue involved the founding of the mendicant orders (Franciscans and Dominicans) in the first decade of the thirteenth century. Their active moving about, preaching and teaching, represented a departure from the established Rule of St. Benedict in which Orders were largely confined to monasteries. The second debate was over the introduction of the new philosophy of Aristotle. The Dominicans and Franciscans found themselves allied against the Latin Averroists (or Radical Aristotelians) on such issues as the unicity of the intellect and the assertion of the world's eternity in the sense that is was not created. The two Orders disagreed, however, on the truth of other Aristotelian theses such as the unicity of substantial form and the demonstrability of the world's having a beginning in time. On another front, having to do with the legitimacy of the Dominicans and Franciscans interpretation of religious life, the two Orders united under attacks from the secular clergy. Pecham, a Franciscan, witnessed his Order allied with the Dominicans against Averroists and secular clergy, and at odds with them over Aristotelianism in orthodox theology. During this tumultuous time Pecham met, and probably discussed his inception with Thomas, and his position on the eternity of the world can be compared to the treatment of the topic found in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. In 1279, Pecham was named the Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Nicolas III, in this position it was expected that he carry out reforms mandated by the Council of Lyons. The ruling of that council included the eradication of the Averroists radical departures from theological philosophy and some of the theses held by the Thomists. Pecham died in 1291, no doubt in disappointment that the reforms for which he had strived never came to pass.

In the first work Boethius offers a purely philosophical discussion of man's highest good and, in the course of doing this, presents the life of the philosopher as the highest kind of life. In the second treatise, he considers in detail an issue which was much contested by Christian thinkers of his day: Can philosophical reasoning prove that the world began to be? Or does it rather show that the world is eternal, i.e. that it did not begin to be? In the third he offers a highly naturalistic explanation of dreams. Only within carefully defined limits will he acknowledge that dreams can give us any kind of knowledge of future events.

This study forms part of a research programme aiming to interpret and evaluate the theology of Thomas Aquinas and the later reception of his theology. In particular, it deals with the reception of Aquinas' thinking about the eternity of the world by theologians at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century. De Grijs defends the thesis that Aquinas' main interest in De Aeternitate Mundi is not philosophical but theological; while Aertsen opposes this thesis and tries to demonstrate Aquinas' philosophical purposes by comparing his De Aeternitate Mundi with his De Potentia and by study of his concept of creation. Van Veldhuijsen sketches the difference between Aquinas and Bonaventure in this respect. M. Hoenen concentrates on the importance of William de la Mare's Correctorium fratris Thomae and of the Correctoria Corruptorii for our understanding of the history of the reception of the views of Aquinas. F. Thijssen discusses the criticism of the Oxford theologian Henry of Harclay (died 1317) of Aquinas' views on two central issues that are involved in an eternal world: the traversal of an infinity and the existence of unequal infinities. Van Veldhuijsen, finally investigates Aquinas' reception by Richard of Middleton.

This volume examines the approaches of Fakhr-al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1209) and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) to the question of the eternity of the world, which was one of the most heated issues of debate between theologians and philosophers in the Middle Ages. The first chapter of the book gives some background to the discussion from Greek philosophy, early Judaeo-Christian and Muslim traditions. The second and the third chapters discuss the approaches of Rāzī and Aquinas respectively to the question of the eternity of the world. The last chapter compares their approaches, brings out some similarities of their approaches between them as well as in relation to their own traditions, Islam and Christianity respectively. The book tries to show that though they were theologians, both Rāzī and Aquinas were more in line with the philosophers than their fellow theologians.

Preliminary Material -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER ONE: THE LEGACY FROM ANTIQUITY -- CHAPTER TWO: ERIUGENA AND HIS FOLLOWERS -- CHAPTER THREE: THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY -- CHAPTER FOUR: EXOTIC VIEWS -- CHAPTER FIVE: THE EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY -- CHAPTER SIX: THE DECADE OF THE 1250S -- CHAPTER SEVEN: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTROVERSY -- CHAPTER EIGHT: THE CONDEMNATION OF 1270 AND ITS AFTERMATH -- CHAPTER NINE: THE CLIMAX OF THE CONTROVERSY -- CHAPTER TEN: THE AFTERMATH OF THE CONDEMNATION -- CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY: OXFORD -- CHAPTER TWELVE: THE EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY: PARIS -- EPILOGUE -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX OF NAMES -- SUBJECT INDEX.