Roscelin

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Roscelin

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

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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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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	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...
	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...
	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...
	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...
	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...
	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...