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Roscelin
Nominalism
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
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2000
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© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information)
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Nominalism. The theory of language which emphasizes the nature of universal concepts as names given by humans. In the controversy on
universals in the 11th and 12th cents., a form of Nominalism was evolved by
Roscelin and P.
Abelard. It was directed against the
Realists who held that universals, such as genus and species, had a separate existence apart from the individuals in which they were embodied. Roscelin carried the denial of the unity of species to the point where he was accused of Tritheism. Abelard described universals as ‘names’ (nomina) as opposed to ‘things’ (res), but he does not seem to have denied that the resemblances among individual things justified the use of universals for establishing knowledge.
A different form of Nominalism appeared in the 14th cent.; it is usually associated with
William of Ockham. He asserted that the universal is not found at all in reality, but only in the human mind; universals are only a way of knowing individual things. In its application to theology Nominalism simplifies God's Being to such a degree that the reality of the Three Persons, which depends on formal distinctions and relations, can be accepted only on authority of faith. Nor can reason demonstrate that the First Cause of the Universe is the One God. It thus withdrew almost all the data of faith from the realm of reason and so paved the way for the disintegration of
Scholasticism.
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Schools of Asceticism: Ideology and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities.
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History; 8/1/1999; ; 700+ words
; ...efforts to establish this doctrine on a rational footing that Roscelin, William of Conches, Gilbert of Poitiers, and, most famously...their propositions in the twelfth century, several, like Roscelin, Abelard, and Gilbert were subjected to humiliating show...
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Heretics and Scholars in the High Middle Ages, 1000-1200.(Review)
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History; 8/1/1999; ; 700+ words
; ...efforts to establish this doctrine on a rational footing that Roscelin, William of Conches, Gilbert of Poitiers, and, most famously...their propositions in the twelfth century, several, like Roscelin, Abelard, and Gilbert were subjected to humiliating show...
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The Philosophy of Peter Abelard.(Review) (book reviews)
Magazine article from: The Review of Metaphysics; 3/1/1999; ; 700+ words
; ...as well a stupendous collection of secondary literature, Marenbon traces Abelard's life from his earliest studies with Roscelin and William of Champeaux to his appearances before the Councils of Soissons (1121) and Sens (1140) to his death outside...
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Complete Philosophical and Theological Treatises of Anselm of Canterbury. (Shorter Notices).
Magazine article from: Medium Aevum; 3/22/2002; 508 words
; ...the Debate with Gaunilo, De grammatico, De veritate, De libertate arbitrii, De casu diaboli, two letters concerning Roscelin, the Epistola de incarnatione verbi, Cur Deus homo, the so-called `Philosophical fragments', the Meditatio redemptionis...
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The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period
Magazine article from: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society; 3/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...controversies of the eleventh century (Berengar of Tours on "symbolic" communion; Peter Damien on the power of God; and Roscelin of Compiegne on the Trinity) brought about by strides in medieval scholarship and political controversy. Also, in the following...
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Papal metaphysics. (Pope John Paul II's emphasis on metaphysics in Catholic education) (editorial)
Magazine article from: The Nation; 9/26/1987; ; 700+ words
; ...was barred from teaching theology at Catholic University and exiled to secular Cornell University because his views, like Roscelin's and Abelard's, annoyed the hierarchy. The Pope in his homily laid equal stress on the teaching of the Gospels. It...
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Roscelin
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Roscelin , c.1045-c.1120, French scholastic philosopher, also called Roscellinus, Johannes Roscellinus, and Jean Roscelin. Roscelin was one of the first thinkers of the Middle Ages to deal with the problem...
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Abailard, Pierre
Dictionary entry from: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
...was the background of Abailard ’ s career. He was an uneasy pupil at the school of Roscelin in Loches ( ca . 1094 – 1096). Roscelin ’ s doctrines on significant words being merely words had appeared to endanger traditional...
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Nominalism
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
...11th and 12th cents., a form of Nominalism was evolved by Roscelin and P. Abelard . It was directed against the Realists who...existence apart from the individuals in which they were embodied. Roscelin carried the denial of the unity of species to the point where...
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Tritheism
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
...or natures and are distinct in their properties. This teaching was condemned as tritheism at the Council of Constantinople (680–81). Roscelin and Gilbert de la Porrée were both accused of tritheism and condemned.
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Soissons, Councils of
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Soissons, Councils of. The two chief Councils were those of c. 1092, which condemned Roscelin for teaching Tritheism , and 1121, which condemned Peter Abelard's Theologia Summi Boni .
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