Medieval theology and its value?

[jwright82]

Is there any value in medieval theology and scholasticism? Also how much did medieval theology influence the Reformers positively? I know that they influenced them negatively by inciting the Reformation.

 

[Claudiu]

I think there is value for a number of reasons. A simple one is that we can see the history of thought which led to the Reformation. As Reformed, we can see our Western heritage. In the West theology progressed after the Ecumenical Councils. We see more development in regards to the atonement of Christ, and so on, while in the East we don't really. The Reformation, in many ways, uses the language and categories developed during this time.

 

[arapahoepark]

Just a question on a side note. Why didn't theology develop anymore in the east? What are the pros and cons of it not developing?

 

[Rufus]

We can how/why/when doctrine went astray.

 

[py3ak]

Is there any value in medieval theology and scholasticism? Also how much did medieval theology influence the Reformers positively? I know that they influenced them negatively by inciting the Reformation.

Yes.
Extensively and profoundly, in subtle and obvious ways.

Apart from the actual content of medieval theology, the clarity and order they brought to theological discussion, as well as the whole method of teaching academic theology provided invaluable service. How do you think Luther learned to write theses suitable for debate?
And the content of their theology is also valuable in many instances. To give a somewhat unusual example, I know someone who was helped in depression by Aquinas' teaching on how an irrational animal may be said to hope because of God's activity.

 

[Philip]

I think it useful to see Reformation theology as, in many ways, an extension of medieval theology.

 

[jwright82]

I think it useful to see Reformation theology as, in many ways, an extension of medieval theology.

In what ways? That idea intrigues me; we often make a lot of the differences but what about the similarities?

 

[Philip]

In what ways?

The whole of reformation soteriology, for instance, builds on Anselm's Cur Deus Homo, where Anselm connects Christology with soteriology, arguing in favour of a substitutionary view of the atonement. Similarly, the view of human freedom aspoused by the reformers is markedly similar to Anselm's On Free Will.

 

[jwright82]

I guess there is always Huss and Wycliffe too.

 

[Loopie]

There is no doubt that there will be SOME continuity between the medieval period and the reformation period. Just like there is indeed continuity between the early church period and the medieval period.

I agree that Anselm was very influential, but keep in mind that Anselm also worked out a formulation for transubstantiation (Letter 54). Furthermore, even though Anselm did not hold to the immaculate conception of mary, he certainly helped lay the foundation for that doctrine.

We should certainly study the medieval theologians with the understanding that there will be both areas where the Reformation derives many of its concepts from, and areas where the Reformation seeks to change or avoid certain concepts.

 

[Philip]

I agree that Anselm was very influential, but keep in mind that Anselm also worked out a formulation for transubstantiation (Letter 54). Furthermore, even though Anselm did not hold to the immaculate conception of mary, he certainly helped lay the foundation for that doctrine.

So? That makes the reformation no less indebted to him. All of our theological heroes have problems and sin---none of them are consistent and none of them are perfect.

 

[Loopie]

So? That makes the reformation no less indebted to him. All of our theological heroes have problems and sin---none of them are consistent and none of them are perfect.

I agree, that is exactly why I would suggest that we study those theologians and take from them those things that are biblical and true, while sifting out those things that are unbiblical and untrue.

James already mentioned in his original post that medieval theologians influenced the Reformation negatively my motivating them to try and 'reform' the church. This is true of Anselm, as well as many other medieval theologians. But I do indeed recognize the positive influence as well, and we should seek to find those positive influences.

 

[R. Scott Clark]

Anyone who really wants to understand the Reformation deeply needs to get to know the patristic and medieval theologies that preceded them. Think of it this way, if you want to understand your parents, it's very helpful to know your grandparents and even your great grandparents. We're shaped by those who preceded us, who formed and shaped us. So it is in the church. Luther was a trained theologian in one of the prominence schools of late medieval theology. He was essentially a medieval (not a "modern"!) man. Calvin was influenced by a variety of medieval and Renaissance writers. That's true for Bucer, Bullinger, and others.

The Reformation was not a wholesale rejection of everything the medieval theologians taught but it was a significant reorganization of received ideas and doctrines. In that sense "Reformation" is distinct from revolution. The Anabaptists (which is arguably the greatest influence on American evangelicalism since the 1820s) has a revolutionary spirit. It isn't Protestant and it isn't connected to the broader Christian tradition (though it retained the worst of medieval moralism and mysticism). The Protestants, by contrast, criticized the Fathers and the medievals by using Scripture as a measure. Nevertheless, much of our theological vocabulary comes the Fathers and medievals.

Finally, it's important to know the medieval theologies, pieties, and practices in order to keep from returning to them unwittingly. In the modern period many Reformed folk have resurrected medieval worship (on the same principles that the medievals did what they did) and a variety of movements (e.g., the NPP and FV) have attempted to take us back to the predominant medieval doctrine of justification by grace and cooperation with grace.

We've been susceptible to all this because we've not always recognized the uncritical reintroduction of medieval ideas when it has happened right before our eyes.

 

[J. Dean]

Just remember, like anything else, make sure you "eat the meat and spit out the bones."

 

[yeutter]

Anselm was certainly influential; as was Aquinas. The framework Peter Lombard laid in his Sentences is evident in almost all of the Reformer's. The Internet Guide to Master Peter Lombard