In the ancient world being a philosopher was a practical alternative to being a christian. Philosophical systems offered intellectual, practical and moral codes for living. By the Middle Ages however philosophy was largely, though inconsistently, incorporated into Christian belef. From the end of the Roman Empire to the Reformation and Renaissance of the sixteenth century Christian theologians had a virtual monopoly on higher education. The complex interaction between theology and philosophy, which was the result of the efforts of Christian leaders and thinkers to assimilate the most sophisticated ideas of science and secular learning into their own system of thought, is the subject of this book. Augustine, as the most widely read author in the Middle Ages, is the starting point. Dr Evans then discusses the classical sources in general which the medieval scholar would have had access to when he wanted to study philosophy and its theological implications. Part I ends with an analysis of the problems of logic, language and rhetoric. In Part II the sequence of topics - God, cosmos, man follow the outline of the summa, or systematic encyclopedia of theology, which developed from the twelfth century as a text book framework. Does God exist? What is he like? What are human beings? Is there a purpose to their lives? These are the great questions of philosophy and religion and the issues to which the medieval theologian addressed himself. From `divine simplicity' to ethics and politics, this book is a lively introduction to the debates and ideas of the Middle Ages.

This book explores the legal and theological thought of Master Vacarius (c.1115/20 - c.1200), the renowned twelfth-century jurist. It focuses on this Italian master's four works, composed in the second half of the twelfth century, which deal with the resolution of conflict in law and theology. Vacarius is a paradox for scholars. They have found it difficult to reconcile his role as a legal teacher, notably through his textbook the Liber pauperum ('Book of the Poor'), which established a school of Roman law at Oxford, with his 'extra-legal' works on marriage, Christology and heretical theology. This study accounts for this paradox by exploring these three extra-legal treatises, composed in the 1160s and 1170s, in light of Vacarius' legal textbook. The author argues that Vacarius applies the legal method of the ius commune (European common law) to theological and sacramental debates. In this way, Vacarius represents a trend in medieval intellectual history, particular to the twelfth-century renaissance, which has been little appreciated to date - the hermeneutic of the 'lawyer-theologian'.

A collection of 13 papers by leading scholars that looks at philosophical literature of the 12th century. It features several contributors who discuss the most famous thinker of the period, the great commentator Averroes. It also includes figures such as: al-Ghazali, Ibn Tufayl, 'Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi, and Suhrawardi.

The first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe.

The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy comprises over fifty specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of this period. Starting in the late eighth century, with the renewal of learning some centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, a sequence of chapters takes the reader through developments in many and varied fields, including logic and language, natural philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and theology. Close attention is paid to the context of medieval philosophy, with discussions of the rise of the universities and developments in the cultural and linguistic spheres. A striking feature is the continuous coverage of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian material. There are useful biographies of the philosophers, and a comprehensive bibliography. The volumes illuminate a rich and remarkable period in the history of philosophy and will be the authoritative source on medieval philosophy for the next generation of scholars and students alike.

Abelard in Four Dimensions provides new interpretations of central areas of Peter Abelard's philosophy and its influence.

This book shows how the Age of Reason actually began during the late Middle Ages.

Chartres as an intellectual and cultural force in the Renaissance of the twelfth century has engaged the attention of critics and scholars from R. L. Poole through Gilson, Curtius, and Huizinga to, most recently, Peter Dronke. Its importance as a poetic tradition is now reviewed by Winthrop Wetherbee, first as it developed at Chartres, then as it influenced later poetry, French as well as Latin. Mr. Wetherbee analyzes, and supports with his own translations, the poetry notably of Bernardus Silvestrus and Alain dc Lille: he defines the intellectual milieu of the Chartrian poets and their Platonic conception of nature, man, and poetry. Myth, philosophy, and the literary statement that gives them poetic being are Mr. Wetherbee's essential concern, as they were in fact the concern of the poets he discusses. Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The School of Chartres was a bold intellectual movement of the twelfth century that introduced the World Soul and the Chartrian cosmology to Christendom. In his controversial book, The Sacred Cosmos, theologian Peter Ellard analyzes the most radical aspects of Chartrian thought and traces their relation to classical and late-antique philosophers such as Boethius and Plato. In addition, Ellard investigates the Cathedral of Chartres as an important proof and example of Chartrian theology in this essential volume for anyone interested in the intersection of spirituality and philosophy.