Reason and Belief in the Age of Roscelin and Abelard

The papers in this volume explore the issues of reason and belief in the age of Peter Abelard (1079-1142), focusing on the achievement both of his peers and of his little-known teacher, Roscelin of Compiegne. They synthesize the author's research into the dynamism of thinking at that time.

The previous collection by Constant J. Mews focused on the work and thought of Peter Abelard (1079-1142); the present volume looks more broadly at Abelard''s intellectual and religious context in the Latin West, and at his teacher, the controversial nominalist philosopher and theologian, Roscelin of Compiègne. It opens with surveys of educational theory and practice in the 12th-century schools. Mews next explores the widespread movement in the period which sought to explain religious belief in terms accessible to reason, and the background to accusations of heresy made by monks troubled by new attempts to interpret Christian belief, both within and outside a school environment. Five related studies then deal with previously unedited texts by Roscelin of Compiègne and St Anselm that throw new light on the importance of the philosopher and theologian who exercised a major influence on Peter Abelard.