Ken,
Yes, I should like to discuss this as well. I shall have more time later in
the day, but suffice to say that Luther was influenced tremendously by the
via moderna in general and William of Occam in particular. He entered the
University of Erfurt in 1501, which shortly before that time had adopted a
modernist/nominalist curriculum. This has rather fascinating implications
for studies on Luther and the Reformation of the 16th century, for if you
read Luther closely, he sounds suspiciously like Occam in his criticisms of
Rome's doctrine and practice. E.g., his criticism of transubstantiation is
essentially that of Occam's.
I am convinced that one cannot understand Luther and the Reformation
correctly if one is unaware of their medieval antecedents. The tension
between the Thomists and the Scotists came into full bloom with Luther, I
think, so that when Pope Leo X (I believe) initially dismissed the incident
at Wittenberg as a squabble among monks, well, he wasn't exactly wrong. Had
the incidents of the early- to mid-16th century occurred, say, in the 12th
or 13th, perhaps Lutheranism would have been another order or movement not
unlike Thomism or the Franciscans. But that didn't happen, and for a number
of reasons.
So when Luther says all those nasty things about St. Thomas Aquinas, not
only had he probably read only precious little of Aquinas, but whatever he
did happen to read would have been read through a decidedly Occamist lens.
And for that matter, these criticisms of Thomism and the via antiqua again
follow after Occam's as well.
Very interesting stuff, this. I look forward to future discussions.
Regards,
The Rev. Travis D. Stolz
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: NEW MEMBER Travis D. Stolz
> In a message dated 9/13/00 8:31:09 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << and the other looking at the very early influence of
> William of Occam and nominalism on Martin Luther. >>
>
> I would be very interested in hearing about this, as I wrote a paper
earlier
> this year for my doctoral studies on this subject.
>
> Ken A. Grant
> South Bend, IN
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