William of Ockham
William of Ockham was an English Franciscan philosopher known for four things: his nominalism, his “razor,” his voluntarism, and his clashes with the pope. He denied that universals have real existence, cut away needless hypotheses from philosophy and theology, and taught that God is absolutely free to do as he wills, bound by neither necessity nor human reason.1
Ockham lived in poverty and challenged the luxury of the church, especially of Pope John XXII, who declared belief in the poverty of Christ and the apostles heretical. He also declared that the Bible was the only infallible authority in matters of faith, and that in an emergency any Christian could call a general council. He was reconciled to the church before his death.2
His followers formed the via moderna, the “modern way.” Timothy George explains its teaching on grace:
by “doing one’s very best” (facere quod in se est…), it was possible to earn a semimerit (meritum de congruo). By his ordained power God had committed himself to bestow grace on everyone who does the best one can.3 Timothy Georgeon the nominalist theology of grace
His Legacy
Ockham’s legacy cut both ways. His insistence on the sole infallibility of Scripture, and his challenge to papal power, were taken up by Luther and the Reformers. But the nominalist call to “do one’s best” for grace, taught at Erfurt by Gabriel Biel’s school, was the very teaching that left the young Luther in anguish, and against which he discovered justification by faith alone.4
