Peter Abelard

Philosopher and Teacher · 1079–1142

Peter Abelard was a philosopher, theologian, and teacher whose lectures drew students to Paris and made him a pioneer of medieval scholasticism. He is known also for his tragic love affair with Heloise.1

Abelard gave reason a large place in determining truth. “It is by doubting that we come to inquire,” he wrote, “and by inquiring that we reach truth.” Timothy George notes that the effort to apply the tools of reason to the data of revelation “was advanced significantly” by Abelard and his pupil Peter Lombard.2

Abelard rejected both the ransom theory and Anselm’s satisfaction theory. He suggested, in Mark Galli’s words, “that Christ died not to pay a penalty but merely to demonstrate God’s love,” an example so powerful that it moves us to love God in return. Bernard of Clairvaux was scandalized, and in 1139 he wrote to the pope against him:3

I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of Christ and not by Christ’s ‘words and example.’4 Bernard of Clairvauxagainst Abelard, 1139

Abelard’s teaching was condemned in 1141, and he was forced to retire to a monastery.5

His Legacy

Abelard’s method of setting authorities side by side and resolving them by reason became the method of the schools, carried on by Lombard and perfected by Aquinas. Sam Storms notes that Abelard added confirmation and extreme unction to the sacraments, an early step toward the seven of Lombard and Trent, and yet he also said no justification could be found for the pope’s claim to grant indulgences for the dead. His moral influence theory, which leaves God’s justice in the background, was set aside by the Reformers and reappeared in modern liberal theology.6

Medieval Theologians

Notes

  1. Michael J. Vlach, “Historical Theology I: A.D. 100–1600” (course notes, TH 507, The Master’s Seminary, Fall 2007), “Peter Abelard.” Summarized. ↩
  2. Mark Galli and Ted Olsen, eds., 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), “Bernard of Clairvaux.” Timothy George, Theology of the Reformers, rev. ed. (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2013), introduction. ↩
  3. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Bernard of Clairvaux.” Summarized. ↩
  4. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Bernard of Clairvaux.” ↩
  5. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Bernard of Clairvaux.” “The 100 Most Important Events in Church History,” Christian History 28 (1990), “Timeline.,” for the date. ↩
  6. George, Theology of the Reformers, introduction; Sam Storms, Studies in Roman Catholicism (n.p., n.d.), on the sacraments, and quoting Garry Wills, Why I Am a Catholic, 134, on indulgences; Vlach, “Historical Theology I,” “Christ’s Atonement.” Summarized. ↩