Scholasticism

A movement or approach to theology in Christianity which developed during the middle ages. It flourished from the time of Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) until the beginning of the “modern” period in the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650). It included such noted theologians and philosophers as Anselm, Peter Lombard, Abelard, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham.

The name derives from the development in the middle ages of the great centers of learning, first in the monasteries and cathedrals, and later in the emerging universities. The medieval period was a time of considerable intellectual ferment, and the various “schools” of theology and philosophy debated and analyzed Christian faith in light of the emerging new learning.

Scholasticism was especially important in two areas: the development of the science of logic and the analysis of the relationships between faith and reason, grace and nature, theology and philosophy. The schools differed in their analyses, but all shared a common conviction that the relationship of human beings to God needed systematic analysis. Among the Scholastics, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure have been the most important for the development of subsequent theology.

The theological and philosophical work of Thomas Aquinas was of considerable importance for the Anglican Richard Hooker in his Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Hooker followed Aquinas’s basic teaching that reason is fulfilled in faith, the natural order in grace, and human law in the divine law. See Aquinas, Thomas; see Hooker, Richard.