B.—The Mediæval or Scholastic Epoch
During the so-called Dark Ages, Theology was cultivated chiefly in the cathedral and monastic schools. It was for the most part merely a reproduction of what had been handed down by the Fathers. The most valuable writings of these ages are: Venerable Bede’s commentaries on Holy Scripture; Paschasius Radbert’s treatises on the Holy Eucharist, and those directed against Berengarius by Lanfranc and Guitmundus. Scotus Erigena created a sort of theological system in his celebrated work De Divisione Naturæ, but he can in no way be looked upon as the Father of Scholasticism, as he is sometimes styled in modern times; in fact, the Schoolmen completely ignore him.
I. The title of Father of Scholasticism rightly belongs to St. Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109). He did not indeed supply a complete treatment of theology, but he dealt with the most important and difficult dogmas in such a way that it became easy to reduce them to a system. “Faith seeking understanding” was his motto. It was his severe and strictly logical method which set the fashion to those who came after him. His Monologium treats of God as one in Nature, and three in Persons; the Proslogium further develops the treatment of the unity of God, while the treatise De Processione Spiritus Sancti adversus Græcos develops his teaching on the Trinity; De Casu Diaboli and De Conceptu Virginali et Originali Peccato deal with sin; Cur Deus Homo contains his celebrated theory of Redemption. He also wrote on Grace and Free Will: De Libero Arbitrio and De Concordia Præscientiæ et Prædestinationis nec non Gratiæ Dei cum Libero Arbitrio.
The rationalistic tendencies of Abelard were successfully combated by St. Bernard (1153), Hugh of St. Victor (Summa Sententiarum and De Sacramentis Fidei), and Robert Pulleyn. Peter Lombard (Archbishop of Paris, 1104) was the author of the great mediaeval text-book, Sententiarum libri quattuor, in which the materials supplied by the Fathers are worked up into a complete system of Theology. William of Auxerre (Altissiodorensis), Richard
