ISBN: 9781868880980
University of South Africa, 1998
First Edition
Paperback, 98 pages
The purpose of this title is to introduce undergraduate students to the most significant phases of the development of theology as a discipline in medieval times: the revival of learning in the eighth to the tenth centuries; the older, monastic type of theology (focusing on the crucial role played by love in enlightening the theologian's mind); the tensions caused by the emerging scholastic form of theology in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the rise of scholasticism, and an examination of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century debates about the nature of theological knowledge. The title also examines the procedural methods proper to theology, the 'scientific' character of theology and the sort of activities that can be regarded as truly 'theological'. The causes of the decline of theological creativity in the fifteenth century are discussed briefly.
