Aspectus and Affectus in the Theology of Robert Grosseteste
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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Aspectus and Affectus in the Theology of Robert Grosseteste A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Brett W. Smith Washington, D.C. 2018 Aspectus and Affectus in the Theology of Robert Grosseteste Brett W. Smith, Ph.D. Director: Joshua Benson, Ph.D. This study offers the first full historical and systematic exposition of the aspectus/affectus distinction in the thought of Robert Grosseteste (c.1168-1253). Grosseteste used aspectus (vision) to name the cognitive power of the soul and affectus (feeling or desire) for the appetitive power. This study finds that the aspectus/affectus distinction is an important key to understanding a web of interrelated themes in Grosseteste’s thought. Not only are the doctrines accompanying these terms fundamental to his psychology, but they also have important connections to his metaphysics, his doctrine of salvation, his view of spiritual formation, and his theory of knowledge. The study finds that three themes consistently accompany Grosseteste’s use of this distinction: the priority of the aspectus, the primacy of the affectus, and the inseparability of knowledge and love. The priority of the aspectus describes Grosseteste’s belief that knowledge (or perception and judgment) must come before love or desire, at least logically. The primacy of the affectus refers to the ability of the affectus either to contract or to expand the range of things knowable to the aspectus, as well as its prerogative to govern the operation of the aspectus. The inseparability of knowledge and love describes the dynamic between aspectus and affectus according to which the powers are mutually dependent in performing their proper actions. The study contains two parts, in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The first part, containing chapters one and two, provides the context in which one can understand Grosseteste’s use of aspectus and affectus. Chapter one provides an overview of relevant secondary literature, and chapter two investigates the sources of Grosseteste’s thought related to aspectus and affectus. Part two explains the meaning and significance of the aspectus/affectus distinction, and it is divided into two sections. The first section, encompassing chapters three, four, and five, treats primarily the meaning of the distinction but also addresses questions of development and consistency through the course of Grosseteste’s career. The second section of the second part contains chapters six through eight and explores the significance of aspectus and affectus to diverse areas of Grosseteste’s thought. This dissertation by Brett W. Smith fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Historical Theology approved by Joshua Benson, Ph.D., as Director, and by Mark Clark, Ph.D., and John Grabowski, Ph.D., as Readers. __________________________________ Joshua Benson, Ph.D., Director __________________________________ Mark Clark, Ph.D., Reader __________________________________ John Grabowski, Ph.D., Reader ii To Melissa, who shares equally in this achievement. iii “Ipse amor est ipsa veritatis noticia.” Love itself is the very knowledge of truth. --Robert Grossteste, Dictum 91 “Tantum autem amatur, quantum fide aut intelligentia comprehenditur.” But [the Trinity] is loved to the degree that It is comprehended by faith or understanding. -- Robert Grosseteste, Hexaëmeron 8.4.1 iv Table of Contents List of Tables not in Appendices………………………………………………………………...vii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..viii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Part 1: The Aspectus/Affectus Distinction in Context Ch. 1: The Secondary Literature………………………………………………....32 Ch. 2: Sources of the Aspectus/Affectus Distinction……………………………..55 Appendix 2: A textual comparison showing that Philip the Chancellor does not attribute the De Spiritu et Anima to Isaac of Stella……………………...…..100 Part 2: The Meaning and Significance of the Aspectus/Affectus Distinction Section 1: Aspectus and Affectus as the Basic Powers of the Rational Soul Ch. 3: A “Theme Song of His Life”: The endurance and basic meaning of the Aspectus/Affectus distinction…………………………………………...………102 Appendix 3A: Is there freedom in the De Artibus Liberalibus ?.....................143 Appendix 3B: The occurrence of aspectus and affectus in Dictum 100 according to five manuscripts………………………...……………………...147 Appendix 3C: Working edition of an important passage in Dictum 71 ……..149 Appendix 3D: Working edition of an important passage in Dictum 51 ……..152 Appendix 3E: Aspectus, Affectus, and Related Concepts Chronologically Considered………………………………………………………………...…152 Ch. 4: Questions of Consistency and Continuity……………………………….154 Appendix 4A: Grosseteste’s schemata of the rational soul………………….194 Appendix 4B: Schema of the soul in Ecclesia Sancta Celebrat displayed in four charts……………………………………………………………………195 Ch. 5: The Metaphysical Questions…………………………………………….198 Appendix 5A: Working edition of Dictum 32 ……………………………….255 Appendix 5B: Working edition of a sentence in Dictum 36 ………………...256 v Section 2: The Influence of Aspectus and Affectus in Grosseteste’s Theology and Philosophy Ch. 6: Aspectus and Affectus in Grosseteste’s Doctrine of Salvation…………..258 Ch. 7: Aspectus, Affectus and Grosseteste’s Doctrine of Reforming the Divine Image in Man…………………………………………………………………...281 Appendix 7: The Problem of the Disordered Affectus ………………………310 Ch. 8: Aspectus and Affectus in Grosseteste’s Epistemology…………………..315 Appendix 8A: Some texts in Grosseteste that suggest a degree of special illumination in this life………………………………………………………364 Appendix 8B: Working edition and translation of the conformity account in Dictum 91 ……………………………………………………………………366 Conclusion………………………………………...……………………………………………372 List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………...390 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………391 vi List of Tables not in Appendices Works of Robert Grosseteste……………………………………………………………………………………..9-10 The Representative Basis of this Study Across the Time Periods and Genres of Grosseteste’s Works…………………………………………………………………………………………….13 vii Acknowledgments Any project of this magnitude and scope is necessarily collaborative. While I owe a general debt of gratitude to all of my professors and colleagues at the Catholic University of America and to the broader circle of scholars working on Robert Grosseteste, including the investigators of the Ordered Universe Project, a few individuals (at least) merit special mention. My director, Joshua Benson, and my readers, John Grabowski and Mark Clark, have been great. Their suggestions and questions have significantly improved the quality of this study. Dr. Benson, in particular, has been a wonderful director. I actually enjoyed writing this thing, and that is thanks in large part to him. I also owe Dr. Benson thanks for having sparked my interest in Grosseteste. Neil Lewis has looked at parts of the study and offered helpful and generous feedback at various points. In fact, significant sections are deeply indebted to his input, as I indicate in the footnotes. Others who have shared helpful information in response to my queries include Joseph Goering, F.A.C. Mantello, James Ginther, Andrew Whitmore, and Andrew Cuff. I am further indebted to Dr. Mantello for teaching me the paleographical skills without which this study would have been quite impoverished. Finally, Adrian Walker and Zachary Keith generously checked some of my Italian translations and interpretations. Any mistakes, of course, are purely my own. viii Introduction Robert Grosseteste (c.1168-1253) was the first lecturer in the Franciscan studium at Oxford (c.1229-1235) and later the bishop of Lincoln (1235-1253), a very large and important diocese in England. He was a polymath. In the first half of the thirteenth century, he was the only individual, as far as we know, who was both a serious theologian and a competent translator from Greek into Latin. He wrote about the origin of the universe and advanced scientific knowledge concerning the nature of the rainbow. He commented on Aristotle and on Scripture. He lectured, preached, translated, and wrote over a span of forty years (and probably more) during his long and active life. Scholars who study Robert Grosseteste are well aware of the fact that he liked to use the terms aspectus (lit. “vision”) and affectus (lit. “desire” or “affection”) in reference to the soul. 1 Beyond this basic observation scholars have scarcely investigated the meaning Grosseteste attaches to these terms, and the summaries they have offered have not provided a conclusive synthesis of what the aspectus/affectus distinction really means for Grosseteste. All accounts agree, however, that it is important. 2 A study of aspectus and affectus is indispensable, therefore, for reaching a greater understanding of Grosseteste’s theological anthropology, which in turn undergirds his highly significant pastoral writings3 and influences later thinkers. 4 I offer the present study in response to this need. 1 This awareness is manifest in the title of the volume Aspectus et Affectus: Essays and Editions in Grosseteste and Medieval Intellectual Life in Honor of Richard C. Dales, ed. Gunar Freibergs (New York: AMS Press, 1993). Even in this volume, however, only the introduction by Richard Southern actually deals with the