Download Middle Ages and Aquinas

Middle Ages and Aquinas
Ann T. Orlando
March 28, 2007
Introduction
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N.B. Augustine writes Confessions c. 400; Aquinas
writes Summa c. 1265; therefore Aquinas is slightly
closer to our time than to Augustine’s time
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Augustine is a man of the late Roman Empire
Aquinas is a man of Western Medieval Europe
Very brief overview of Middle Ages
Very brief overview of Western spiritual
developments
What is virtue
Structure of Summa
How to read the Summa
So what happened between 400 and 1200
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German barbarian invasions; Rome sacked in 410; last Roman
emperor in West abdicates in 476 (NB Roman Empire in East
lasts until 1453)
Church authority in West only educated authority; becomes de
facto civil authority
Rise Islam; Mohammed’s haj from Mecca to Medina in 622; Arab
armies conquer all of southern Mediterranean and Spain by 700
Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel stops the Arabic
army in southern France; Charlemagne creates ‘Europe;’
crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III 800
Invasions from the north: Vikings
First Crusade called by Urban II in 1095 to combat the Seljuk
Turks and to regain the Holy Land
What happened: Roman northwestern provinces become
Europe
Map of Roman Empire During Reign of
Diocletian, 300 www.biblestudy.org/maps/romandio.html
th
5
Century Invasions
Rise of Islam
th
7
C
ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs143/map2.jpg
Charlemagne’s Empire 9th C
www.fsmitha.com/h3/map04chrls.htm
Extent of Viking Conquests, c. 900
darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Eatlas/europe/static/map16.html
Europe in 11th C
www.fordham.edu/halsall/maps/1090map.htm
Catholic Medieval Faith
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Importance of Incarnation; God in the world
Importance of Mary and saints
Importance of Jesus’ sacrifice on cross
Importance of Mass as bloodless sacrifice
Importance of making faith visible and
understandable to everyone
The Medieval Catholic imagination would be
especially active two years ago when feast of
Annunciation and Good Friday coincided
Monasticism: Cluny
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Charter for Foundation of Cluny, 910
 Return to Benedict’s Rule; especially reading of Divine
Office
 But encouraged prayer and study over physical work
 Established a series of daughter monasteries under
the direction of the abbot of Cluny
 While monks were poor, monasteries became wealthy
 Encouraged development of visual arts in service of
religion
 Abbot Suger: ‘Man rises to God through beauty’
Monasticism: Citeaux
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Reform of Cluny: Cistercians
 Founded by Robert Molesme at Citeaux 1099
 Return to strict adherence to Benedict’s Rule; work
equal with prayer and study
 Each monastery independent; that is, each had its
own abbot
 More severe artistic style
 Bernard of Clairvaux most famous Cistercian (10901153)
 Modern day Trappists; Spencer, MA.
Spiritual Movements: New Orders
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Franciscans
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Founded by St. Francis
Mendicants
Woman’s order; Poor Clares
Order recognized by Pope Innocent III
Dominicans
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Founded by St. Dominic
Order of Preachers
Woman’s order founded before men’s
Order commissioned by Innocent III
Universities
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Locus for learning: Universities
 Grew out of Cathedral Schools
 Training of diocesan clergy and civil administrators
 Displaced monasteries as centers of learning
 Development of the academic professional
Most famous, Paris (Sorbonne); others include Oxford and
Bologna
Very international
Universities and the Church were very ‘democratic’; any man
with ability could rise very high
Universities not independent of Church; rather universities
prestigious centers for theological research and teaching
 Aquinas and Bonaventure at Sorbonne at same time
Key Figures
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St. Anselm, 1033 -1109; Archbishop of
Canterbury (after Norman invasion)
St. Bernard, 1090-1153, Cistercian
St. Dominic, 1170-1221, Dominican
St. Francis, 1182-1226, Franciscan
St. Bonaventure, 1221-1274, Franciscan
St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274, Dominican
Note: all of these (except Francis) must deal
with Augustine
Thomas Aquinas
Angelic Doctor
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Developed systematic approach to theology using Aristotelian
methods (Aristotle as the Philosopher in the Summa)
Relied on newly available Greek works from Jewish and Moslem
sources; Moses Maimonides, Averrhoes
Very different from theological approach; Aristotelian rather than
neo-Platonic
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Emphasis on causes
Emphasis on categories
Needed to show that his theological conclusions were consistent
with Augustine; until he did so he was considered radical and
suspect
Two great works: Summa Theologica (theological) or Theologiae
(theology); Summa Contra Gentiles
But he also wrote beautiful songs, especially in praise of
Eucharist (one of which we sing at Benediction, and another
during Holy Thursday)
Example: Transubstantiation
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Relies on Aristotle’s The Categories
 Philosophical idea of substance, accidents
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Augustine has bad things to say about The Categories in
Confessions (IV.28-31)
According to Aquinas (and Catholic Church doctrine as defined at
Lateran IV), Christ becomes fully present in the Eucharist when
 the material substance of bread and wine is transformed into His
own spiritual substance
 only the accidents (color, texture, taste) of the bread and wine
remain
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Substance: what things really are, their essence
Accidents: how they appear to senses, properties that are incidental,
weight, color, taste
Adoro Te Devote
by Thomas Aquinas
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.
From CCC translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Focus on Virtue
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Recall: Virtue is a Greek (pagan) philosophical
concept; Plato, Aristotle; Epicurus; Zeno
Virtue is NOT a Biblical concept
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What about the Wisdom of Solomon (for example, 8:7 and
the four cardinal virtues)?
Whose Bible is it in?
Biblical ethics is following the way of God’s
command
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Psalm 1:1; Do not follow the way of the wicked, odoj
1 Cor 12:31; I will show you a still more excellent way, odoj
Acts 9:2; Earliest Christians called themselves followers of
the Way, odoj
Marriage of Virtue and Biblical Ethics
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One of the most important examples of philosophy as the handmaid
of theology
Greek Jewish diaspora; Philo of Alexandria (1st C AD)
Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria (2nd and 3rd C)
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Note exception is Tertullian when he said “What has Athens
to do with Jerusalem”
All great theologians of 4th and 5th C use virtue language
Augustine’s definition of virtue (On Free Will, II.19) “Virtue is a good
quality of the mind, by which we live rightly, of which no one can
make bad use, which God works in us without us.”
Compare to Aristotle’s Definition, (Nicomachean Ethics II.vi): Virtue,
then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the
mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by
that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now
it is a mean between two vices.
Reading Aquinas
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Thomas Aquinas on Virtue in the First Part of the
Second Part (Ia IIae Q55) and Love in the Second
Part of the Second Part (IIa IIae Q23)
Summa Theologica highly structured
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Divided into Three Parts; the Second Part further divided
Part I and Part II
Each Part divided into Questions
Each Question divided into Articles
Each Article included a Statement, Objections and Replies
Read the “on the contrary” and the “I answer that”
section carefully; this starts the response to the
Objections
Aquinas on Virtue and Love
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Virtue is a good habit (Ia IIae Q 55 a1, a3)
Definition of virtue; note especially, and especially
Reply to Objection 6 (Ia IIae Q 55 a3)
Charity as friendship (IIa IIae Q23 a1)
Charity as a movement of the soul toward God (IIa
IIae Q23 a2,3)
The importance of charity (IIa IIae Q23 a6,7)
Pay special attention to which Patristic auhtor he
quotes, what Scripture he uses
Also Read Ia Q1 a1
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Very beginning of Summa
Look carefully at Reply to Objection 2
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You might notice that something that you have
been taught, that everyone ‘knows’ is not true
Hint: think about Columbus (200 years after
Aquinas)
But everyone knew ‘it’ long before Aquinas;