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Roscelin
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 of universals, or general concepts (see realism ). Although very little of his writing has survived, he seems to have been an extreme nominalist, teaching that universals were nothing more than words. Roscelin's position was attacked by his pupil, Peter Abelard , but Abelard's own viewpoint on this question showed a considerable debt to Roscelin. Accused of the heresy of tritheism (teaching that the Three Persons of the Trinity are separate individuals), Roscelin was ordered (1092) by the Synod of Soissons to recant, but he escaped condemnation. |
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"Roscelin." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Roscelin." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Roscelin.html "Roscelin." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Roscelin.html |
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Roscelin
Roscelin (d. 1125), Scholastic philosopher and theologian. He was accused of Tritheism at a Council of Soissons, c.1092, but denied having taught it. An early and outstanding defender of Nominalism, Roscelin stressed that universal terms were voces (voices), and claimed to establish that a being can have no parts. These philosophical tenets led him to identify the three Persons of the Trinity as distinct things (res), on the ground that if they were identical in substance, the Father and the Holy Spirit would have become incarnate together with the Son.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Roscelin." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Roscelin." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Roscelin.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Roscelin." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Roscelin.html |
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