Page 55 - History of Christianity - Student Textbook

Scholasticism emerges to dominate in Europe 1200-1500

Scholasticism was an intellectual movement during the Middle Ages with
emphasis on the rational justification and presentation of religious beliefs. Its key
scholastic thinkers included Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of
Ockham. Between 1200 and1350 churchmen were dominated by realism as a
result of the work of the schola Augustiniana school of thought.

Scholastic universities awarded degrees in philosophy, theology, law (Roman and canon), and medicine. History
and literature were seldom studied, though grammar was required and some acquaintance with all of the seven
liberal arts was assumed. Philosophy itself gave birth to many now independent fields of study including physics
and chemistry, politics and economics, biology and psychology.

Fourth Lateran Council 1215

The pope who ruled from 1198 – 1216, Innocent III, created the most powerful papacy in
medieval history. Innocent sought to control both the affairs of church and state. He
changed the title of the pope from “Vicar of Peter” to “Vicar of Christ.” He claimed the
pope was the mediator between God and man, below God but above man.” In 1215 He
called the Fourth Lateran Council and the church adopted many of Innocent’s ideas. In
three days, hundreds of decrees were ratified.

The Council ruled that annually every person must make confession to a priest and take communion. The
doctrine of transubstantiation was enacted; the priest playing a vital role in giving people access to the very
body and blood of Christ. He declared the Catholic Church to be the ONLY true church. The council provided for
the state to punish heretics who would face excommunication and even torture. He denied the right of secular
rulers to appoint church authorities. He required Jews to wear special identifying badges and Christians were
forbidden to have any commerce with them. Finally, He enacted the seven sacraments: baptism, communion,
confirmation, penance, matrimony, holy orders, and extreme unction. The Fourth Lateral Council sealed the
misguided direction of the church, and it became at this time in history the Roman Catholic Church of what
exists today.

Thomas Aquinas 1225-74

Known by his fellow students at Cologne as “the Dumb Ox”, Thomas Aquinas was one of
the most important thinkers of the Middle Ages. He wrote extensively including Summa
contra Gentiles which was used as a defense of Catholicism against Protestantism. He
later wrote Summa Theologiae in which he attempts to provide a comprehensive view of
Christian theology. He believed that reason (philosophy) existed APART from theology
and distinguished the two, labeling them reason and revelation. Three months before his
death in 1274, he announced that a heavenly vision had shown him clearly that his
theologizing was only “so much straw.” He gave up theological writing, and his final work was never completed.

John Duns Scotus, c.1265-1308 – Latin given name Joannes, byname Doctor Subtilis,
was an influential Franciscan realist philosopher and scholastic theologian who pioneered
the classical defense of the doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived
without original sin (the Immaculate Conception). He also argued that the Incarnation was
not dependent on the fact that man had sinned, that will is superior to intellect and love to
knowledge, and that the essence of heaven consists in beatific love rather than the vision

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