Scholastic Thought Research Articles

Plato, Aristotle, and Locke on the accumulation of wealth and natural law

The possibility of a growing accumulation of wealth, what we now refer to as economic growth, was something already considered by Plato, Aristotle and Locke, under the concept of chrematistics. In this paper we show how the economic thinking of these authors cannot be fully understood without considering the intimate relationship they establish between politics and property accumulation. In addition to continuities and ruptures in the arguments, there can be seen a growing understanding of the phenomenon of economic growth in such a way that, when we arrive at Locke, an evident paradigm shift can be appreciated. This change is rooted in the contributions of scholastic thinking for which the acquisition of property through human labour or industry enjoys legitimacy according to natural law.

Analytic Philosophy and Scholastic Thought: How Deep Do Their Similarities Go?

It has become common to draw parallels between scholastic philosophy and modern analytic philosophy. As this paper will show, there exist historical reasons within the scholastic tradition itself to support such comparisons. These reasons bolster a Similarity Thesis regarding the style of reasoning in modern analytic and premodern scholastic thought. In the case of early modern scholastics, it is even possible to substantiate an Identification Thesis, indicating that they primarily identified as scholastics with reference to a reasoning style closely resembling that of post-1970 analytic philosophy. While historians of scholastic thought are correct in asserting that there is no single essential characteristic of scholasticism, but rather a plurality of characteristics, the specific role of a particular reasoning style in defining scholastic theology demonstrates that only this style or method was essential for the self-identification of early modern scholastics as scholastics. This discussion primarily centers on definitions of scholastic theology, as explicit definitions of scholastic philosophy appear to be relatively rare in the scholastic tradition. However, it should be noted that the “analytic” reasoning style associated with scholastic theology was evidently a characteristic of scholastic philosophy as well.

‘Mercatores isti regulandi’: Monopolies and moral regulation of the market in Pedro de Oñate’s De contractibus

Summary Compared to the writings of other teólogos-juristas belonging to the so-called School of Salamanca, Pedro de Oñate’s (1567-1646) De contractibus has met with little if almost no interest in the literature. It nevertheless marks an epochal achievement in the history of juridical and economic thought. Published between 1646 and 1654, Oñate’s De contractibus epitomizes five centuries of scholastic thinking about the moral regulation of the market. It is a spectacular work, addressing hundreds of problems related to contractual agreements and commercial life in general. This paper offers an overview of Oñate’s lengthy assessment of monopolistic practices, including price-fixing cartels, import barriers, the creation of artificial scarcity, and legal monopolies, including the conceptualization of intellectual property. Two major conclusions can be reached from the close-reading of Oñate’s treatment of monopolistic practices. First, Oñate’s opinions are marked by an even starker emphasis on individual rights, property and freedom than those of his colleagues working in major cities on the other side of the Atlantic. Second, his analysis is not only the reflection of his extraordinary knowledge of centuries of scholastic thinking about the morality of the market, but also of his practical experience in the New World.

METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL TEACHING OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Orthodox social doctrine as a discipline is formed without the elements of scholastic thinking that are characteristic of Catholicism. This is due to the fact that social doctrine in Orthodoxy is thought of as an expression of tradition, not the teaching of the church. Also, the methodology of the social doctrine of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was significantly influenced by the fact that the initial principle for all reflections was the value of the dignity of the individual. The absolutization of this value has made it possible to create a Christian humanism that opposes the ideological extremes of modern cultural wars, including the abuse of the idea of human rights. The ROC uses methodological anti-scholasticism in the construction of social doctrine to legitimize the ideas of Orthodox fundamentalism. Against this background, the social doctrine of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is becoming a worldview alternative, critical to the development of Ukrainian theology and education.

In Memoriam J. Hillis Miller (1928–2021)

In Memoriam J. Hillis Miller (1928–2021) Charles Altieri and Jahan Ramazani Editorial note: Our Editorial Board Member J. Hillis Miller passed away on February 7, 2021, at the age of ninety-two, at his home in Sedgwick, Maine. Below we would like to honor him with two personal testimonies by fellow Board Members Charles Altieri and Jahan Ramazani about how they remember the man and the influence exerted by his work. We kindly invite the reader to turn also to the Editor’s Column, the second half of which is likewise taken up by personal recollections. The bibliography there contains an overview of Hillis Miller’s copious writings on Wallace Stevens over a period of more than fifty years. Memories of J. Hillis Miller J. Hillis Miller’s passing away provokes vivid reminders of the difference he made in my life, although I was never his student. The first reminder directs me to a time long before I ever met him. I had thought myself lucky that my philosophy program at Le Moyne College emphasized phenomenology rather than scholastic thinking. But when I went to graduate school at Chapel Hill, then an intensely historicist school, I feared that how I liked to think about poetry would be a considerable distance from how I was being trained to analyze texts. Then, one day in 1966, I came upon a review that led me to read Miller’s Poets of Reality, and then re-read it. I was not quite convinced that Williams was obsessed by modes of nothingness nor that Stevens was so clearly phenomenological, especially given how I was learning to register the impact of the voices he had heard at Harvard. What mattered more, however, was that I now knew I could use a philosophical language in which I felt relatively at home. And, even more important, thanks to Miller’s example I was able to push my imagination as far as I could, using historical concerns as shaping pressures but allowing myself to be fascinated by what poetic imaginations could do with those circumstances. Thank you, Hillis, for facilitating what allowed my mind to discover what it could do in the reading of poets’ confrontations with this history. The second reminder dates to my time at SUNY Buffalo between 1968 and 1976. Hillis was close with two of his ex-students there, Ed Dryden and Roy Roussel, and had become friends with Joe Riddel. These colleagues had become my friends as well, although I never got over my terror at how quick their minds were to leap on errors. And I endowed Hillis with an even more intensified version of those powers. Then we were both [End Page 275] invited to a conference on Whitehead at the University of British Columbia. Hillis was assigned as a respondent to a sweet and very intelligent person who had written the classic book on birdsong. He had actually done some work on birdsong himself and completely departed from his own familiar language in order to see where that mode of dwelling might lead. The event was inspiring, and I could not help contrasting it with how I imagined that many leading philosophers might have engaged the topic. My final memory derives from another academic event, about six years ago, a modernist studies conference in Irvine where Hillis was one of the main speakers. I do not remember his speech very well, but I clearly recall the rapt attention with which the audience listened to what he was saying. This is probably the most compelling evidence of esteem that a professor of literature can receive. Yet what I most remember from the conference was a different experience. I was stunned that he came to my paper, giving me a pleasant greeting before the talk. Maybe almost fifty years in the academy were producing rewards. I was even more delighted by what happened after the session concluded. After complimenting me graciously, Hillis went directly to a then-graduate student at Berkeley, Michelle Ty, who had given a terrific, dense talk on forms that modern fiction felt compelled to pursue. Hillis’s response to her combined the roles of sage...

Az engedetlenség kötelessége – a modern politika egyik forrásánál

A tanulmány nem az alkotmányos ellenállás (ius resistendi) magyar, angol vagy lengyel ősi fogalmával foglalkozik, hanem az engedetlenség – ami nem politikai vagy erkölcsi lehetőség, hanem kötelesség – képzetének kialakulásával. A háború utáni politikai és erkölcsi gondolkodás hangsúlyozta, a természet törvény fogalmával együtt, az engedetlenség, parancsmegtagadás erkölcsi, sőt jogi kötelességét az igazságtalan törvény vagy parancs esetében. Noha a politikai gondolkodásban hagyományosan a fő probléma az volt, hogyan kerüljék el a lázadást, amely a politikai közösséget örökké fenyegeti, a lelkiismeret fogalma köré épülő keresztény erkölcsi gondolkodás története ezzel ellentétes fogalmat eredményezett, az engedetlenség kötelességének a fogalmát. A skolasztikában a tévedékeny lelkiismeret problémája vezetett a Szent Tamás és Szent Bonaventura közti vitához, amelyben az első amellett érvelt, hogy a lelkiismeretet minden esetben követni kell, akár az autoritással szemben is, míg a második azt írta, hogy a lelkiismeret és az autoritás ütközése esetén a lelkiismeretet félre kell tenni, mivel tévedhet. Az engedetlenség erkölcsi kötelességének képzete nyilvánvalóan Szent Tamásnak az ebben a vitában kifejtett érveléséből ered.

華陽九曲圖를 통해 본 尤庵 학통의 계승 양상

華陽九曲圖를 통해 본 尤庵 학통의 계승 양상

Christ's Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and Its Historical Contexts. By Corey L.Barnes. Pp. 332, Toronto, CA,Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2012, $76.50.

Christ's Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and Its Historical Contexts. By Corey L.Barnes. Pp. 332, Toronto, CA,Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2012, $76.50.

Continuity in Patristic and Scholastic Thought: Bonaventure and Maximos the Confessor on the Necessary Multiplicity of God

Continuity in Patristic and Scholastic Thought: Bonaventure and Maximos the Confessor on the Necessary Multiplicity of God

Christ’s Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and Its Historical Contexts by Corey L. Barnes

Christ’s Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and Its Historical Contexts by Corey L. Barnes

Die Erleuchtung des Nordens: Zum Disput zwischen Sengzhao und Liu Yimin über die Bodhisattva-Idee des Mahāyāna von Christian Streif (review)

points such as these, scattered throughout the book as they are, lends an unfortunate impression of carelessness to the work as a whole. It may be hoped that the author, who makes an original and significant contribution to the field, will address the bedeviling details more closely in future publications. In all events, The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China must be considered essential reading for all who are interested in Chinese and Tibetan religious life at the present time. MATTHEW T. KAPSTEIN École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris The University of Chicago CHRISTIAN STREIF, Die Erleuchtung des Nordens: Zum Disput zwischen Sengzhao und Liu Yimin über die Bodhisattva-Idee des Mah ay ana. Lun Wen: Studien zur Geistesgeschichte und Literatur in China, Band 15. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013. ix, 199 pp. J38 (pb). ISBN 978-3-447-06879-6 There are still many facets unstudied in the history of the introduction of Mah ay ana to East Asia. In the present study the author takes up a dispute between the learned monk Sengzhao 僧肇 (374–414) and Liu Yimin 劉遺民 (ca. 360–416), a lay follower of Huiyuan 慧遠 (334–416), on the bodhisattva ideal in the Mah ay ana tradition, and tries to shed more light on the conceptual world of Sengzhao, referring especially to his commentary on the Vimalak ırti-nirde sa s utra (Zhu Weimoji jing 注維摩詰經). Before dealing with Sengzhao’s treatise Bore wuzhilun 般若無知論 (‘‘Abhandlung über die prajñ a, die nicht etwas zu erkennen bedeutet,’’ abbreviated as BWZL) and the letters exchanged between Liu Yimin and Sengzhao, Streif outlines the aims of his research. He emphasizes that he will not follow earlier research agendas led by the differentiation between original Buddhist doctrine on the one side and sinicization of Buddhism on the other. Instead he wants to analyze the BWZL under a variety of respects in order to get a fresh look at Sengzhao’s thought and argumentation. He relates this work to the context of the reception of Mah ay ana doctrine by the Sarv astiv adins (chapter 2) as well as to the most important translation projects in northern China at this time (chapter 3). The following chapters 4 and 5 deal with the political implications of the new concepts conceived by Sengzhao and with the structure and style of the arguments as well as the presumable impact on the contemporary audience or the readers. The book is completed by a biographical study on Liu Yimin and some passages on the hermitage on Lushan 廬山 and the situation around the establishment of the Liu Song-Dynasty. Streif comes to the conclusion that the BWZL is more than just a sinified Buddhist text or an isolated philosophical treatise; it is entwined in a complex network consisting of an intellectual as well as a religious and an institutional setting. Thus this study is more than a mere study on a few texts. It sheds new light on the process of the early implementation of the Mah ay ana in China. It becomes clear that the BWZL can only be understood when the participation of Sengzhao in the translation group with Yao Xing 姚興 and Kum araj ıva (350–409) is taken into account. A crucial role is here played by the commentary on the Great BOOK REVIEWS 251 Prajñ ap aramit a, the Dazhi du lun 大智度論, explaining the scholastic thinking of the Sarv astiv ada school pertinent at that time in Central Asia. In addition to the central part of the study in chapter 3, discussing the BWZL and thus giving the reader some insight into the intellectual debate on crucial aspects of early M adhyamika thinking in China, it must be regarded as a great achievement of this study that Streif also focuses on the political context, mainly in chapter 4. We learn about the interest of certain regional rulers, as well as of gentry families, in legitimating their position by means of Buddhist concepts, especially the bodhisattva ideal, as well as about the opportunities of exchange during times of peace between northern and southern China. Of utmost importance is the part (chapter 5) on the reflexive use of language and on the relation between language...

Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China: A Case Study of the Influence of Christian Ethics on Business Life by Joy Kooi-Chin Tong (review)

Prajñ ap aramit a, the Dazhi du lun 大智度論, explaining the scholastic thinking of the Sarv astiv ada school pertinent at that time in Central Asia. In addition to the central part of the study in chapter 3, discussing the BWZL and thus giving the reader some insight into the intellectual debate on crucial aspects of early M adhyamika thinking in China, it must be regarded as a great achievement of this study that Streif also focuses on the political context, mainly in chapter 4. We learn about the interest of certain regional rulers, as well as of gentry families, in legitimating their position by means of Buddhist concepts, especially the bodhisattva ideal, as well as about the opportunities of exchange during times of peace between northern and southern China. Of utmost importance is the part (chapter 5) on the reflexive use of language and on the relation between language and reality, or words and things in general, and how the BWZL dealt with these problems in particular. In sum this study is a most insightful contribution to our knowledge of M adhyamika in China and on the intellectual situation in China in the first decades of the fifth century CE. HELWIG SCHMIDT-GLINTZER Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel JOY KOOI-CHIN TONG, Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China: A Case Study of the Influence of Christian Ethics on Business Life. London and New York: Anthem Press, 2013. x, 167 pp. US$40 (pb). ISBN 9781 -78308-056-4 This book is a sociological enterprise based on participant observation and indepth interviews aiming to examine mainly how Christianity affects Overseas Chinese Christian entrepreneurs in contemporary China, particularly their economic practices. Through a well-planned set of solid methodological procedures and clearly written, cautiously proposed arguments, Tong provides valid, reliable, valuable findings to support her arguments that may correct, refute, or challenge some presumptuous claims and widely shared yet little proven impressions about Chinese Christianity, Confucianism, and business, or broader issues on the relationship between religious value and economic action. Accordingly, this volume helps the reader to theoretically appreciate how faithbased values, moral convictions, economic practices, and religious life interact (particularly in the light of Max Weber and his widely cited works and the responses to it); it also highlights the spiritual and social aspects of the entrepreneurs who have played significant roles in contributing to economic transformations since the reform and opening era and their potential social consequences to Chinese economic life and religious landscapes. The main body of the book (chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7) is arranged in a very Weberian way, which starts social analysis from values that orient the conduct of individuals and then moves on to larger social assemblages and organizations linking individuals. These four chapters are respectively devoted to investigating Overseas Chinese Christian entrepreneurs’ religiously-motivated values, religiousvalue -driven economic practices and organizational arrangements in their companies, their social networks and religious life, and the female subgroup. Among the values pointed out, many (such as innovation, self-discipline, frugality, the sense of success) could be commonly found among entrepreneurs in many 252 BOOK REVIEWS places and historical periods; however, Tong shows how these Overseas Chinese Christians articulate them to fit their aspirations crafted in a globalizing competitive market of business. In chapter 5, she further demonstrates different strategies of linking religious faith to or realizing it in the economic practices and organizational designs of corporations. While some individuals enthusiastically run a company like a church, others tend to take an individualized and privatized version of Christian beliefs and manage secular corporation affairs on their own terms. Still, some entrepreneurs choose a middle path to selectively and creatively implement some Christian values within the business, but purposely avoid mentioning or downplaying the practices’ religious source. Chapter 6 shows how the aforementioned Christian values and conduct are inspired, guided, and supervised by religious networks and contextualized within the dynamics of Christian interrelationships. Unlike what Weber observed in American Protestant cases at the beginning of the twentieth century in his short work, The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism, these Overseas Chinese Christian businesspeople construct and charge their moral aspirations in economic practices through their continuous...

Christ's Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and its Historical Contexts by Corey L. Barnes, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto, 2012, pp. vii + 356, $85

Christ's Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and its Historical Contexts by Corey L. Barnes, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto, 2012, pp. vii + 356, $85

The Irish Contribution to European Scholastic Thought. Edited by James McEvoy and Michael Dunne. Dublin: Four Courts, 2009. 320 pp. $70.00 cloth.

The Irish Contribution to European Scholastic Thought. Edited by James McEvoy and Michael Dunne. Dublin: Four Courts, 2009. 320 pp. $70.00 cloth.

O IMAGINÁRIO MEDIEVAL NA COLÔNIA: O BESTIÁRIO EM FERNÃO CARDIM

This study is a critical analysis of aspects of the medieval imaginary, as far asits bestiary is concerned, in Father Fernão Cardim´s accounts of colonialBrazilian fauna. It examines that many of Cardim´s figuralizations of animalreality are based on imaginative forms of representation which still bear theinfluence of the medieval scholastic thinking. Advancing some argments, thestudy points out that many other accounts of Brazilian reality in the colonialperiod are indeed much indebted, and above all, to the traditional past andmentality of their authors.

Understanding Scholastic Thought with Foucault by Philipp W. Rosemann (review)

1?6ARTHURIANA device? Or, as is suggested, a negative way ofresponding to conditions in the world (the 'uninventive' mind)? Can we not give the author ofthis play more credit than this? This play, shot through as it is relentlessly with details ofsocial and economic relations, offers much more to the audience than an allegory that leads to a mind that can readily grasp 'divine nature in created reality' (151). Ifthis was all the Master had in mind then what is the audience supposed to think about the state ofworld affairs at play's opening, not to mention in Yorkshire? Purdon's analysis of the plays is here at cross-purposes with his claim that he wants the Wakefield Master to take his place alongside Chaucer and as a precursor to early modern English public theater. To do this, and I think it worth doing, he would need to attend more closely and sensitively to the Masters dramatic art as one not of 'conservative' purpose as a therapeutic experience of learning what amounts to proper Christian behaviour, but rather that spiritual iniquity and social inequality are inextricably linked in human being in the world. What theWakefield Master offers in his drama is an appeal to his audience's experience ofthe world and its many injustices and demands upon them for faith, perseverance, skill and character (in the Greek sense of ethos) through the promise of Christ's message of salvation through brotherly love and the rejection ofmodes ofbeing that ignore or attack this. BRAD GREENBURG Northeastern Illinois University Philipp w. rosemann, Understanding Scholastic Thought with Foucault. The New Middle Ages. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Pp. xiv, 256. isbn: 0-312-21713-7. $65. A recent and widely recognized trend which has come to be named the 'New Medievalism' combines sophisticated awareness of methodological theory with meticulous attention to historical detail in examining selected aspects of medieval culture, society, and institutions. Rosemann applies the post-structuralist theory of history developed by Michel Foucault to a survey ofscholastic intellectual history as an attempt to show how significant new insights are to be gained from the application ofa postmodern approach in the study ofmedieval intellectual history. He prefaces his work with a definition ofthe New Medievalism and a survey of its roots in the work of M.-D. Chenu and Fernand Van Steenburgen, then makes a brief review of some of the scholarly work in which a new approach to medieval studies can be observed. Examples include Alain de Liberas Penser au Moyen Age, new trends in the study ofJohn Scottus Eriugena, and the series Studia Artistarum founded by Olga Weijers and Louis Holtz. Rosemann notes the decline of Neoscholasticism and a general waning of interest in medieval sources after the Second Vatican Council, but urges a re-appropriation ofscholastic thought through recognition ofits affinities to the theoretical bases ofpostmodern thought. The book is divided into a series ofsix 'Studies' beginningwith a basic introduction to Foucault's philosophy of history, and its foundations in Nietsche's Die Geburt der Tragödieausdem Geiste derMusik. Special attention is given to Foucault's concept REVIEWS107 of the 'historical a prions' which are, in Rosemann's words, 'the set of cultural (economic, social, political, philosophical) presuppositions' (p. 37) that govern any given culture's experience ofits realities. Foucault's 'archaeological analysis,' therefore, can be applied to establishing the historical a priori ofthe middle ages, and then to analysing its intellectual practices, or the activities that Foucault defined as the culture's 'rules of formation.' In the second study, Rosemann compares the great medievalists De Wulf, Grabmann, and R. W. Southern on the doctrinal tradition ofthe Middle Ages, before applying a Foucauldian analysis to the tensions between Greek and Christian thought which characterized the patristic and medieval periods. Turning in the third study to the intellectual practices ofthe Middle Ages, Rosemann juxtaposes the techniques and technology of medieval writing with high Gothic architecture, the institutional structures of the universities, and the reading techniques ofscholasticism, thereby bringing to light the surprising interconnections that make up a new and distinctive set ofhigh medieval cultural a priori. Six black and white plate illustrations are included to support his presentation...

DYNAMICS OF RESURRECTION IN THE CHURCH'S TRADITION AND MISSION

Self-regulation of the Orthodox ecciesiology As the majority of the Orthodox churches live in the eastern part of Europe and Russia, in the geographical area of the ex-communist countries, it is necessary that in any description of Orthodoxy the experiences of these churches should be taken into account. The meaning of their experience, in the midst of heavy restrictions and persecutions, remains to be explored and articulated. The end of the cold war, the reunification of the old continent, and the confrontation with a new liberal capitalist society raised new issues. The churches today look for new orientations and programmes in order to meet the challenge of a hybrid post-communist society. Nobody is in a position to propose a synthesis of the post-communist heritage. The fact is that historians did not pay serious attention to it. Even the church authorities do not know how to situate the temptations and weaknesses they suffered and resisted during recent decades. Several conservative positions taken recently by church authorities (on moral and sexu al issues, place and ministry of women, ecumenism) are formulated as if nothing has happened in the evolution of the life and mission of the churches. They try to say that the institutional image of the church as such remained untouched, thus giving a false description of human and historical realities in the post-communist counties. However, the hermeneutical value of this experience is not lost. Many are the voices, inside and outside the church, who say that the Orthodox cannot continue to operate with an old ecclesiological model, if the realities of the world in which they now live are accepted and evaluated, and especially if they want to prepare the people for a new era of evangelization (in their countries and in Europe) and for the new millennium. The point in this critique is to avoid any generalizations or abstractions about present history and the image of Orthodoxy. A lot of new orientations, projects and reforms are taking place, but without being conceived in a coherent way, and as an integral part of a new fundamental understanding of the church. The traditional profile of the church at the end of a long period of tribulations cannot remain beyond question and criticism. As a matter of illustration, I will indicate several areas where some methodological change should take place. Many Orthodox still accept an ecclesiology which makes a sharp distinction between the sinfulness of the individual members of the church, i.e. the faithful who are in need of forgiveness of sins and renewal, and the Church itself, with a capital 'C', which is the body of Christ, holy by her nature, infallible in her doctrinal and moral teachings (ecclesia non potest errare), and the historical manifestation of the coming reign of God (the doctrine on holy/sinful church is at the centre of Reformation-Catholicism confrontation). There are quasi-magical understandings of apostolic succession and of Tradition, with a capital 'T', conceived as sacred entities overflowing from generation to generation. The vocation of the church is to preserve and defend the binding doctrines, and official interpretations and communications of the tradition. The recent experience of the people is rarely theologically and hermeneutically evaluated. Many Orthodox have also an understanding of the efficaciousness of the sacraments that reflects scholastic thinking, i.e. the effect depends on the sacraments being celebrated (ex opere operato), and not on the worthiness of the celebrant and/or recipient. The purpose of this presentation is not to open a debate about a traditional ecclesiology with its component elements, but to name a problem, i.e. to take seriously the credibility of a church institution without by-passing or ignoring the actual history of the people. The recent experience of the Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe confirms some of the grounds of our ecclesiology, but it also challenges several of its claims: We, Orthodox must be ready to be questioned and challenged concerning our claims. …

The Scotist Background in Hervaeus Natalis’s Interpretation of Thomism

The Thomist 66 (2002): 607-27 THE SCOTIST BACKGROUND IN HERVAEUS NATALIS'S INTERPRETATION OF THOMISM ISABEL IRIBARREN Linacre College, Oxford University Oxford, United Kingdom UNDERLYING HERVAEUS NATALIS'S work is an intelligent development of Thomistic theses that, while not altogether deviating from Thomas Aquinas, prepares the ground for an elaboration of Thomism along the lines ofJohn Duns Scotus's theological insights.1 This is already apparent in Hervaeus's Sentences commentary, and becomes explicit in his quodlibetal questions. Thus, as Thomistic enthusiasm develops within the Dominican order, Hervaeusgraduallyincorporates (and endorses) elements alien to Aquinas's theology-an aspect of Hervaeus's thought worth remarking as it stands in contrast to a meeker image of the Dominican as the "champion of Thomism." As a leading Dominican, Hervaeus2 serves as a good example of the type ofinterpretation ofAquinas's thought undertaken by secondgeneration Thomists. An examination of Hervaeus's work will therefore shed some light on our understanding of the evolution 1 Hester G. Gelber is, to my knowledge, the first to point out this development in Hervaeus's interpretation of Thomism. See her Logic and the Trinity: A Clash ofValues in Scholastic Thought, 1300-1335 (Ph.D. diss., University ofWisconsin, 1974), especially 11026 . 2 Hervaeus Natalis (d. 1323) became provincial of France in 1309 and General Master in 1318. For a biographical study of Hervaeus, see B. Haureau, "Herve Nedelec, general des Frl!res Prl!cheurs," in Histoire litteraire de la France 34 (1915): 308-51; A. De Guimares, "Herve Noel (m.1323): Etude biographique," inArchivum Fratrum Praedicatornm 8 (1938): see esp. 5-77 607 608 ISABEL IRIBARREN of Thomism as a theological authority within the Dominican order.3 Hervaeus's view of relations in Trinitarian theology proves to be a good vantage point from which to appreciate his elaboration of Aquinas's teaching, since it reveals his willingness to borrow from sources alien to Thomism if only to update the material according to the subtleties of the day. In what follows, I shall first give a brief account of Aquinas's view of relations as the main sounding board for Hervaeus's own elaboration of this view; second, I shall present Scotus's notion of 'formality' and the connected notion of 'formal distinction'; third, I shall give an account of Hervaeus's Scotist development of the Thomistic theses in his Sentences commentary and, fourth and finally, in his quodlibetal questions. The question at hand concerns the type of distinction between relation and its foundation, especially in its repercussions on the issue of the distinction between the divine processions. L THOMAS AQUINAS ON RELATIONS With respect to categorical relations,4 Aquinas holds that for each of the nine accidental categories there is a distinction between the accidental being common to all categories and the 3 By 1286 there was already clear evidence that the Dominican order had begun to recognize itself in the figure and teaching of Thomas Aquinas. In that year, the General . Chapter in Paris commanded its friars to teach and defend according to Aquinas, thus actively promoting the Thomistic doctrine within the order. The doctrinal allegiance to Aquinas was repeatedly emphasizedin subsequentDominican legislations, notably in Saragossa in 1309 and in Metz in 1313. See B. M. Reichert, Acta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum I (Rome, 1889), 235. For a standard history of the order and the significance of Thomism for the shaping of the order's identity, see W. A. Hinnebusch, The History ofthe Dominican Order in the Middle Ages, vol. 2 (NewYork: Alba House, 1966), especially 154ff. See also M. Mulchahey, "First the Bow Is Bent in Study ...": Do-minican E.ducation before 1350, Studies and Texts 132 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1998); M. Grabmann, "Die Kanonisation des hi. Thomas von Aquin in ihrer Bedeutung for die Ausbreitung und Verteidigung seiner Lehre im 14. Jahrhundert," in Divus Thomas, 1 (Freiburg, 1923), 233-49. 4 For a comprehensive study of Aquinas's theory of relations, see A. Krempel, La doctrine de la relation chez saint Thomas (Paris, 1952). See also M. Henninger, Relations: Medieval Theories 1250-1325 (Oxford, 1989), 13-39. HERVAEUS'S INTERPRETATION OF THOMISM 609 ratio that defines each particular category.5 The...

In Pursuit of the Just Wage: A Comparison of Reformation and Counter-Reformation Economic Thought

Students of economic thought have long associated with the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the spread of attitudes in Europe more tolerant of market processes. New economic attitudes appear in a variety of literary forms during the fifteenth century (McGovern 1970). As compared to the pronouncements of a number of Patristic figures, relatively greater tolerance of commerce is expressed by medieval theologians. In fact, recent scholarly efforts suggest that by the late thirteenth century, suspicions of economic activity remained, but Scholastic thinkers increasingly recognized the importance of an impersonal market process in everyday life and sought to find ways to understand it in light of their concern with natural order (Kaye 1998a). While condemning avarice, Scholastic writers such as San Antonino of Florence and San Bernadino of Sienna explicitly endorsed trade as legitimate when practiced for the common good and when associated with modest profit (Origo 1962; De Roover 1967). Recognition of this movement in thought, especially as it applied the concerns of economic justice to trade in commodities, is explicit in the literature of preclassical economics. But until recently, less attention has been paid to more specific developments in scholastic thinking on justice in the labor market.

Religious texts, moral prescriptions and economy: the case of interest

Outlines the attitudes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to usury, discusses the application of religious principles to economic transactions and argues that Islamic practices with regard to charging interest are not actually inconsistent with Christian Scholastic thinking in the late medieval period. Considers ideas about money and interest from Aristotle onward and uses Scholastic arguments against interest to illuminate the Islamic moral position. Recognizes that in subsistence economies interest causes injustice, but believes that in wealth‐producing economies religious texts should be applied differently to serve “the common good”.