Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109). St. Anselm was an Italian Benedictine monk, philosopher, theologian, and the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Anselm developed his theology with a strictly rational and philosophical approach. As such, he is generally recognized as the founder of scholasticism. He is most famous for the development of the ontological argument for the existence of God, which is further discussed in the apologetics chapter (see p. 297). He was also the originator for the satisfaction theory of atonement, where Christ’s death restored God’s honor that was impugned by mankind’s sins.
Peter Lombard (c.1096–1160). Lombard was a French scholastic theologian and the Bishop of Paris from 1159 until his death shortly thereafter. He is best known for authoring the Four Books of Sentences (Latin: Libri Quatuor Sententiarum), which became the standard textbook of theology at the medieval universities. A commentary on the Sentences was part of the examination system and was a requirement for every Master of Theology student. Theologically, Lombard is most famous for his controversial identification of charity with the Holy Spirit, which taught that when a Christian loves God and neighbor he becomes in a certain sense divine.
Bonaventure (1221–1274). Bonaventure was an Italian Franciscan bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian, and philosopher. He viewed the core principles of theology to be exemplarism, emanationism, and consummation. These are strongly Platonic themes that Bonaventure applies theologically based on Christ. Christ is the prime exemplar through which creation emanates and through which created beings find consummation. Like all scholastics, Bonaventure has a strong focus on the relationship between reason and faith. He maintains that pure reason can apprehend some, but not all Christian truths. Truths not accessible through pure reason require divine illumination through prayer and meditation. Therefore, the goal of Christian life is to be absorbed as much as possible in God’s love through contemplation.
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). Thomas was from the Italian town of Aquino and is typically referred to as Thomas Aquinas. He was a Dominican friar, priest, theologian, and philosopher. Thomas was a strong proponent of both natural theology and natural philosophy, where truths are identified through pure logic, through characteristics of the natural world, and through a combination of these two. Thomas also believed that many Christian beliefs could only be known through special revelation, but that these also must be reasonable. Thomas’s approach was to take the philosophical framework of Aristotle and apply it to theology. This is referred to as Thomistic philosophy, Thomistic theology, or simply Thomism. He wrote extensively on nearly every theological topic. This includes ethics, where he defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude and the three theological virtues as faith, hope, and charity (see p. 268). The writings of Thomas have been extremely influential, and he is considered the greatest of the medieval philosopher-theologians. His best-known works are the unfinished Summa Theologica, and Summa contra Gentiles.
John Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308). Duns Scotus was a Scottish Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is theologically best known for his doctrine of the univocity of being. Whereas most theologians believe that a word used to describe God does not mean the same thing when applied to a person (e.g., God is good means something different that a person is good), Duns Scotus argued that words describing the properties of God mean the same thing as when they apply to people or things. He also developed an original argument for the existence of God and argued for the immaculate conception of Mary the Mother of Jesus. The theology developed by Duns Scotus is referred to as Scotism. William of Occam (c.1287–1347). William of Occam (sometimes spelled Ockham) was an English Franciscan friar, theologian, and philosopher. He is best known for developing the test of “Occam’s Razor,” which states that the simplest explanation is the preferred explanation. This concept is also known as the principle of parsimony. Ontologically, Occam applied this principle to deny the Platonic concept of universals. For Occam, the simplest (and therefore best) way to understand ontological categories is to only assume two: substance and quality. Occam also rejected the concept of papal infallibility, advocated for the separation of church and state, and encouraged Christians to live a voluntary life of poverty.
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