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Home , Augustine of Hippo, Duns Scotus, Gregory of Rimini

The Role of Schools of in the Councils of the Late Medieval and Renaissance Periods: Konstanz to Lateran V

NELSON H. MINNICH / WASHINGTON, D.C.

1. Introduction The topic of the role of the schools of theology in the six councils of the late medieval and Renaissance periods is vast and can be dealt with in the confines of this presentation only in a cursory manner. The term "school of theology" usually means a group of theologians who adhere to the particular theological perspective of a major theological writer, such as the who followed not only Augustine of (354-430) but also the Augustinian [Egidio Colonna] (c. 1247-1316) and Gregory of (d. 1358), Thomists who followed the Domini-can (c. 1225-74), Scotists the Franciscan John (c. 1264-1308), and the Occamists or Nominalists the Franciscan (c. 1300-49). To prevent this study from spinning out of control, the "schools" of the Victorines (12th century), (1090-1153), (1221- 74), Albert the Great (c. 1200-80), and others which were not so prominent at this not be considered. The revival of the • nist School with the coming to the West of Byzantine scholars such as George Gemistos Plethon (c.1355-c.1450) and John Basil Bessarion (c. 1400-72) who both attended the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-45) will be treated. While humanists did engage in a form of poetic and rhetorical theology and applied philology and historical contextuali• zation to Sacred Scripture and the Fathers, they did not constitute a "school" under the leadership of a particular thinker - a school of humanist-theo-Iogian disciples did not form around Lorenzo Valla (c. 1406-57). Positive theology was only coming into during this period and had not formed a "school".

iAHC 35 (2003j Schools of Theology from the Council of Konstanz to Lateran V 51

Even when one limits oneself to the Augustinian, Thomist, Scotist, Nominalist, and Platonist schools, problems arise because research has not been done to determine to which school many theologians belonged. Because someone was a member of one of the religious order or had studied under a leading theologian who belonged to a known school does not by itself guarantee that the or students always followed the lead of his mentor. In general Dominicans and were Thomists, Scotists, and Augustinians either Augusti• nian or Scotistl • Other problems also arise. Many of the noted theologians at the councils were somewhat eclectic in their theology depending on the topic under consideration, e.g., the eminent Thomist Tom-maso de Vio, OP (1468-1533) did not follow Aquinas in claiming that provided philosophically demonstrable proofs for the immortality of the , while the leading Scotist Antonio Trombetta, OFM (1436-1517) borrowed from Aquinas when dealing with the topic2• Some theological positions, such as those of Wyclif and Hus, were readily recognized as heretical by members of various schools who quickly came to a consensus since their differences were irrelevant in these cases and did not influence the conciliar decision. Schools of theology were represented only indirectly at the councils. Unlike the universities of the which had distinctive chairs of

1 P. F. GRENDLER, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance, Baltimore 2002,373. D. GUTIERREZ, The Augustinians in the , 1357-1517, trans. T. MARTIN, Villanova, PA 1983 (= of the Order of St. Augustine 112),128-29: according to the legislation of the general chapters of 1465 and 1491, Giles of Rome, as interpreted by , was the official theologian of the Augustinian Hermits who followed the theological of St. . B. ROESf, A History of Franciscan Education (c. 1210- 1517), Leiden 2000 (= Education and in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 11), 189- 96: the general chapters of the Franciscan order tried to make John Duns Scotus and his disciples the masters to be followed in the order's studia, but local studia in Northern Europe often followed the doctrinal position of the local university and less talented students were trained according to the of as interpreted by Bonaventura and ; strictly speaking, there was no "Franciscan School" that followed a single, coherent Scotist doctrinal position. 2 C. V ASOLI, The Crisis of Late and Expectations of Reform in at the End of the Fifteenth and Beginning of the Sixteenth Centuries, in: , III: The Renaissance, ed. G. D'ONOFRIO, trans. M. J. O'CONNELL, Collegeville, MN 1998, 371-457, here 388-91; IDEM, Italian and Ecclesiastical Culture in the Fifteenth Century: Continuity and Innovation, in: History of Theology, III, ed. D'ONOFRIO, 75-154, here 112.