Peripateticus Palatinus (10)
But Abelard's religious conversion, if we dare call it that, had a decisive
influence on his scholarship. Hitherto, despite his foray into Bible study
under Anselm of Laon, he had been pre-eminently a philosopher. Now he
became a theologian. He tells us, 'I applied myself mainly to study of the
Scriptures as being more suitable to my present calling, but I did not
wholly abandon the instruction in the profane arts in which I was better
practised and which was most expected of me. In fact I used it as a hook,
baited with a taste of philosophy, to draw my listeners towards the study of
the true philosophy' - by which of course he means theology.
His simultaneous profession of the two disciplines provoked antagonism.
'When it became apparent that God had granted me the gift for interpreting
the Scriptures as well as secular literature, the numbers in my school began
to increase for both subjects, while elsewhere they diminished rapidly.
This roused the envy and hatred of the other heads of schools against me;
they set out to disparage me in whatever way they could, and two of them
especially were always attacking me behind my back for occupying myself with
secular literature in a manner totally unsuitable to my monastic calling,
and for presuming to set up as a teacher of sacred learning when I had no
teacher myself.'
Whereas others underwent a long apprenticeship in Bible study before
commenting on the scriptures, Abelard had served his time as a philosopher,
particularly as a dialectician, a student of logic, and he applied these
techniques to the study of the Bible. Although others before Abelard had
used logic in discussion of religious questions - after all, logic is simply
straight thinking, an essential tool in any form of study - he did so more
thoroughly than any of his predecessors, and did so with an unprecedented
brilliance and freshness. It was this, rather than any carefully elaborated
theological system, which was his chief contribution to the subject.
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Oriens
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