As noted above Leo XIII called for a renewed study
of Scholasticism at a particular point in history and with reference to particular threats to the integrity of the Church's teachings: St. Thomas» thought was singled out as the adequate response to these threats.
Although he first worked in
medieval scholasticism, by 1919 he wrote to his earlier Catholic mentor that he no longer found «the system of Catholicism» acceptable.
For all his warnings about the hubris of theological systems, his dogmatic theology looked like a massive
new scholasticism.
This is why post-Reformation
Protestant scholasticism, according to Willem van Asselt, was «much broader and more diverse in its use of materials of the Christian tradition, particularly the medieval scholastic doctors,» than were the Reformers themselves.
Instead, several of the authors take up the heritage of
Reformed scholasticism (figures such as Francis Turretin, Girolamo Zanchi, Amandus Polanus, and Johannes Wollebius) as well as that of Aquinas.
In that way prehension comprises that highest form of natural process ascribed by Aristotle to living beings and
which Scholasticism conceived as motus sui, as actualization of itself through itself.15 Whitehead matches Aristotle in so many main points not least because both are mainly concerned with living beings and their self - development.
An old adage of
Catholic scholasticism says: whatever is received is received according to the mode of the recipient.
The enormous philosophical reliance of theology can be noted in the dependence of Augustine on neo-platonism, Aquinas on Aristotle, Luther on nominalism, Lutheran confessionalism
on scholasticism, and, since 1800, liberal theology on Kant.
It is fashionable at present, among some theologians, to attempt precise genealogies of modernity, which in general I would rather avoid doing; but it does seem clear to me that the special preoccupations and perversities of modern philosophy were incubated in the age of
late Scholasticism, with the rise of nominalism and voluntarism.
Generations of Catholics, including priests, learned
[scholasticism] almost by rote, often ending with a set of abstract propositions which they could not easily relate to the world or to history.
[
Scholasticism] is a highly technical, subtle discipline, not easily grasped or assimilated.
In the Middle Ages Catholic scholars
developed Scholasticism, the reconciling of Greek thought (Aristotle) with Christian thought.
To be heard carping
at scholasticism was a ground for dismissing faculty and administrators at ecclesiastical schools.
He was unsparing in his criticisms of the
dry scholasticism taught in the seminaries of his day because it ignored how modern science had changed philosophy.
We may bring cartoon critiques of
arid Scholasticism to our reading of Trapani's account of Maritain, but they will not come out alive.
Perspectives in Philosophy Volume 1: A Critique of an
abstract Scholasticism and principles towards replacement
In Isaacson's opinion, da Vinci attained greatness by avoiding the Church's «authorized creed» of «
dusty Scholasticism.»
It is just this scholastic ground of the Catholic doctrine of analogy which I attempted to oppose, and my opposition was intended to be based upon a theological ground far more fundamental than any that is present in either medieval or
modern scholasticism.
I would suggest, rather, that
scholasticism apprehends the abstract potency of the Godhead, while a radical and dialectical theology is in quest of the meaning of the final actualization and realization of that potency, and therefore in quest of the meaning of the ultimate victory of Christ.
Most of those «theories» were pre-scientific and / or based on
religious scholasticism (e.g., «the earth is the center of the universe»).
But
once Scholasticism - gone - mad had been reined in, those words would have a different ring.
But to avoid this we should not and do not need, we suggest in this piece, to deny in any way Christ's actual physical identity to the intrinsic bread - like properties of the Blessed Sacrament, as
prominent scholasticism seems to do.
Where, after all, did Aristotle and
scholasticism get their concept of «form» if not from (relatively accurate) observation of the natural world?
A discussion concerning the necessity of finding a way of reconciling Christian theism with the truth of Aristotle and the world of Muslim scholars
concerning scholasticism, and the continuing problem that develops where the dynamic interactions between the Gospel and cultures inevitable raise the question of syncretism.
But we claim to have that greater respect
for scholasticism which R. R. Reno, the editor of First Things, calls for.
So Pope Francis retreats to weasel words such as «accompaniment» and in his own way recapitulates the
super-subtle scholasticism of the theorists of exceptions who came to prominence after Vatican II.
The greatest Catholic theologian of our times, Hans Urs von Balthasar, turned in his magisterial Herrlichkeit (The Glory of the Lord), to the theme of beauty as a way of reviving a theology sterilised by rationalism and
narrow scholasticism.
The most enjoyable essay in this collection is Lawrence's appreciation of Fortin, which chronicles Fortin's contributions to theology against the backdrop of
declining scholasticism and rising relativism.
Scholasticism argued that this truth about the soul could be rationally inferred from the characteristic activity of «abstract thought».