In 1241/4 the theology masters at the university at Paris, their chancellor, Odo of Châteauroux, and bishop, William of Auvergne, condemned ten propositions against theological truth. Unlike other such condemnations, particularly at Paris in 1277, modern scholars have largely ignored it. This study attempts to remedy this neglect. It aims to view the condemnation in its contemporary context, concentrating on contemporary texts or those available in the period. The study's main focus is not the condemnation itself. Instead it seeks to set it against the background of wider doctrinal, intellectual, institutional and historical developments within the emerging 'university'. The study's conclusions are three-fold. First, the period 1200-1240 combined a developing focus of Paris theologians on using their learning for preaching (fostered by their faculty's inclusion of the mendicant orders) with a rapid and sometimes divergent development of doctrine. This latter was based on long-term biblical enigmas and patristic discussions, now sharpened by external 'threats', including from newly-translated Aristotelian texts and the views of groups deemed heretical. There were also increasing concerns over Greek theology and the Jews. Second, while no single influence appears dominant in the choice of articles, they follow closely the major statement of catholic principles in the first canon of Lateran IV in 1215. The content and order of the propositions is too close to be coincidental. Read in this light, the condemnation served to cement Lateran IV within the theology faculty. Third, however, this was not just for internal self-discipline. 1241/4 was the point when the faculty itself 'came of age' - it aspired to leadership in catholic doctrine according to Lateran IV's principles, seeing its role as external as much as internal. For this, it needed 'to cast the beam from its own eye before seeing clearly to remove the mote from its brother's'.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:729844 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Grice, Deborah |
| Contributors | Kempshall, Matthew |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fa98cafa-5c58-4dfa-836b-937bcf1a26c1 |
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