Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas: Faith and Reason

Scholasticism was the dominant intellectual movement of the High Middle Ages, a method of inquiry that sought to reconcile the truths of Christian faith with the findings of human reason, especially the philosophy of Aristotle, whose works were rediscovered through Arabic translations in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The greatest of the scholastic philosophers was Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), whose Summa Theologica became one of the most influential works in the history of Western thought. The scholastic method, the encounter with Aristotle, and the great synthesis of Aquinas and his contemporaries all shaped the development of European thought for centuries, and the legacy of scholasticism remains a major feature of Western intellectual life.

This cluster explores scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas. The articles in the related long-tail pages provide deeper examinations of specific aspects of the topic.

R. W. Southern, “The Making of the Middle Ages” (1953), and Étienne Gilson, “The Christian Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas” (1956), are the two standard English-language treatments of the scholastic tradition. The page below uses both, and the Summa Theologica itself — the standard English translation is the Dominican Province edition (1920; rev. 1981), though more recent translations of the Summa contra Gentiles are also cited — as primary material. The question of what scholasticism is is itself disputed; the page flags the two main readings.

The Scholastic Method

The scholastic method was a systematic procedure for analyzing and resolving questions. It began with the question (a specific problem to be resolved), proceeded to the objections (the arguments against the proposed answer), then to the sed contra (the strongest argument for the opposite position), then to the body of the article (the systematic presentation of the position), and finally to the replies to the objections (the refutation of the counter-arguments). This method, sometimes called the disputative method, was the standard form of theological and philosophical inquiry in the medieval university.

The scholastic method was developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in the schools of Paris and Bologna, in response to the encounter with the philosophy of Aristotle and the development of the canon law of the Church. The method was codified by Peter Abelard in his Sic et Non (c. 1122), a collection of contradictory statements from the Church Fathers that was intended to stimulate systematic discussion of the apparent contradictions. The method was refined by Peter Lombard in his Sentences (c. 1150), a systematic theological textbook that became the standard of the medieval theology faculty for centuries.

The scholastic method was based on the use of authorities — the Bible, the Church Fathers, the philosophers — and on the systematic analysis of the arguments for and against a particular position. The method assumed that the truth is one and that the apparent contradictions between the authorities can be resolved by careful analysis. The method also assumed that reason and faith are compatible, and that human reason can discover truths that are consistent with the truths of faith.

The scholastic method was applied to a wide range of subjects, including theology, philosophy, canon law, civil law, medicine, and natural philosophy. The method produced a large literature of systematic treatises, including the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, the Summa of Alexander of Hales, the Commentary on the Sentences of Bonaventure, and the Opera Omnia of Albert the Great. The method was a major contribution to the development of Western thought, and it shaped the method of inquiry in law, medicine, and science for centuries.

The Encounter with Aristotle

The encounter with the philosophy of Aristotle was one of the most important intellectual events of the High Middle Ages. The works of Aristotle — on logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and the soul — had been largely unknown in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages, but they were gradually translated from Arabic and Greek in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The translations were produced in Spain (especially Toledo), in Sicily (especially Palermo), and in Italy (especially Venice and Naples), and they were transmitted to the rest of Europe by the scholastic scholars of the period.

The introduction of Aristotelian philosophy challenged the existing Christian synthesis and produced a series of intellectual crises, especially at the University of Paris, where the Arts Faculty was accused of over-emphasizing Aristotle at the expense of Christian doctrine. The condemnations of 1277, issued by the bishop of Paris Stephen Tempier, condemned 219 propositions that were held to be dangerous to the faith, including a number of Aristotelian theses. The condemnations were a major blow to the more radical Aristotelians, but they did not stop the integration of Aristotle into Christian thought.

Thomas Aquinas integrated Aristotle into his theological system in a way that the bishop had not intended, and the Thomistic synthesis became the dominant intellectual tradition of the late medieval Church. Aquinas accepted the basic framework of Aristotelian philosophy — the doctrine of the four causes, the doctrine of the mean, the doctrine of the soul as the form of the body — but he modified it in ways that were consistent with Christian doctrine. Aquinas argued that reason and faith are compatible, that natural reason can discover truths that are consistent with the truths of faith, and that the ultimate truth of God is accessible to both reason and faith.

The Summa Theologica

The Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas is one of the most influential works in the history of Western thought. The Summa was begun in 1265 and left unfinished at Aquinas’s death in 1274, but it covers a wide range of subjects, including the existence and nature of God, the creation of the world, the nature of man, the moral virtues, the sacraments, and the last things. The Summa is organized in a systematic way, with questions, articles, and objections and replies, and it represents the culmination of the scholastic method in its most mature form.

The Summa is remarkable for its clarity, its logical rigor, and its breadth of learning. Aquinas draws on the Bible, the Church Fathers, the philosophy of Aristotle, the canon law of the Church, and the natural philosophy of the period, and he integrates them into a coherent system of thought that addresses the major questions of human existence. The Summa is not an easy read — its scholastic prose is dense and technical — but it has been studied and commented on for centuries, and it remains a major work of Catholic theology to the present day.

The Summa begins with the question of the existence of God, and it proceeds to the nature of God, the creation of the world, the nature of man, the moral virtues, and the sacraments. The Summa uses the scholastic method in its most mature form, with questions, articles, objections, and replies, and it represents the culmination of the scholastic synthesis of faith and reason. The Summa was widely studied in the medieval universities and became the standard textbook of Catholic theology for centuries.

Other Major Scholastics

The scholastic tradition was not limited to Thomas Aquinas, and there were a number of other major scholastic philosophers and theologians in the High Middle Ages. Peter Abelard (1079–1142) was a major philosopher and theologian of the twelfth century, known for his method of dialectic and his doctrine of the intention of moral actions. Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) was a major theologian of the twelfth century, known for his ontological argument for the existence of God. Bonaventure (1221–1274) was a major Franciscan theologian of the thirteenth century, known for his synthesis of Augustinian and Aristotelian thought. John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) was a major Franciscan philosopher of the late thirteenth century, known for his doctrine of the will and his theory of universals. William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) was a major philosopher of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, known for his principle of parsimony (known as “Ockham’s razor”) and his doctrine of the limits of human reason.

The scholastic tradition was diverse, and the various scholastic philosophers and theologians disagreed on a number of important issues. The Augustinians emphasized the authority of St. Augustine and the theory of illumination (the idea that human knowledge is ultimately derived from divine illumination). The Aristotelians emphasized the role of reason and natural knowledge. The Scotist school developed a distinctive approach that emphasized the will and the freedom of God. The Occamists emphasized the limits of human reason and the doctrine of divine omnipotence.

The Legacy of Scholasticism

The legacy of scholasticism is immense. The scholastic method became the standard method of inquiry in the medieval universities, and it remained influential in European thought until the seventeenth century. The scholastic distinction between the natural and the supernatural, the essence and the existence, the act and the potency are still used in Catholic philosophical and theological discourse. The scholastic theory of natural law became a major influence on the development of modern legal and political thought. The scholastic theory of the soul and the human person remains a major feature of Catholic theology.

The scholastic synthesis of faith and reason was a major contribution to the development of Western thought, and it shaped the method of inquiry in law, medicine, science, and theology for centuries. The scholastic encounter with Aristotle was a major factor in the recovery of the classical tradition in the West, and it prepared the way for the Renaissance and the Reformation. The scholastic tradition was challenged by the Reformation and the Enlightenment, but it remains a major force in Catholic thought to the present day.

Sources

Principal sources used in this article:

R. W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages (Yale, 1953).

Further reading:

Étienne Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas (Random, 1956).

For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).