Medieval university as a space for dialogue of cultures

Abstract

The history of scholasticism provides the modern researcher with a wealth of material for studying the question of the state of theology at the university. Scholasticism can be viewed as an experience of solving the problem of the relationship between theological and scientific-rational knowledge. This experience can be considered negative in the sense that the formula defining the place of philosophy as the servant of theology reflected, rather, some desirable situation, rather than the actual state of affairs. The potential of the natural sciences and philosophy was so high that ultimately the synthesis of philosophy and theology came to be understood as a process of mutual enrichment. However, the idea of mutual enrichment of the arsenals of philosophy and theology, to which, for example, the pedagogy of the Society of Jesus approached quite closely, as a whole remained alien to Western European thought. This idea turned out to be very attractive for the religious philosophy of modern times, where it manifested itself, in particular, in a critical attitude towards the excessive enthusiasm of Western European philosophy with the problems of method, towards its “epistemology”. The religious and philosophical thought of the New Age, which had a significant influence on theology, was based on the recognition of the methodological limitations of natural reason, which is unable to independently cognize the truths of Divine Revelation, the “truth of faith”. This limitation is removed in the experience of existential philosophizing, in many respects opposite to the essentialism (doctrine of essences) of medieval theology. On the other hand, the mutual enrichment of philosophy and theology presupposed an appeal to the traditions of mystical intuitionism, neo-Platonism, and apophatic theology that were not in demand in Western European theology. In the history of Christianity, these traditions have played the same role in knowledge as asceticism in practice. They provided the Christian with a set of intellectual techniques aimed at cleansing the rational soul, necessary for the perception of the truths of Divine Revelation.