Between reason and faith ( Part II)
What
is most striking, however, is the starting point for the development of the
study of philosophy and culture in general, the Christian faith. In fact, the
medieval Christian did not conceive faith as a private matter, to be hidden, but
as the connecting matter of their society, their culture and their life. Thus
apart from some extreme examples, they expressed in their culture the great
ideals to which they professed. They believed in the essential goodness of human
reason and thought that it has, beyond revelation, a natural capability of truth.
Truth itself, however, has a fundamental reference point, that being faith in
God as revealed in Jesus Christ. The different personalities, which continued
research into reason and faith during the medieval centuries, were often of
exceptional intelligence. Beginning with St. Gregory the Great, the movement
continued through the Venerable Bede, Alcuino, John Scotus Eriugena, St. Anselm
of Aosta, Peter Lombard, Abelard, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Bonaventure of Bagnorea, Johan Duns Scotus, William of Occam. These are only
some of the better-known names among the many intellectuals, who based their
research on the Christian faith. Study of the Bible (sacra pagina), or of the
ancient philosophical and theological sources (auctoritates), reflection (meditatio),
debates between professors and students (quaestiones), or only between
professors (quaestiones disputatae o quodilibet): this vivid intellectual labour
formed the base of the wonderful development of the philosophical and
theological sciences. And these, in turn, were based on a substratum of a
profound faith, to be lived in harmony with the reason and with the heart.
