"Scholastic heresy": a phenomenon in the eleventh and twelfth centuries?

• Grant number: 16/04026-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Neri de Barros Almeida
• Grantee: Rafael Bosch Batista
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/14919-7 - "Scholastic heresy": a phenomenon in the eleventh and twelfth centuries?, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research aims to systematically study the charges and convictions for heresies suffered by school teachers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is a theme sidelined by historians who preferred to focus their attention on large heretical groups or the "popular heresies." We question whether this "scholastic heresy", understood here as that produced in schools, differed from that privileged by the historiography. We seek to determine whether the historical actors, in particular the accusers, dealt with this kind of heresy differently in relation to others. Therefore, we will conduct a double analysis. Firstly the view of the accusers will be analyzedseeking to understand what content were reprehensible and how the charges were built. Secondly will be the object of investigation works of four accused masters - Berengar of Tours (c 999 -. 1088), Roscellin of Compiègne (1050-1125), Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Gilbert of Poitiers (1076-1154 ) - so that we can determine to what extent the allegations found support in their works. This double analysis will be articulated in order to meet the similarities and differences between the cases, aiming to understand how and why these masters have been accused, tried and, where applicable, convicted. Based on Scholastic anthropology, it is assumed that the reading of the works of these masters and the other writers on similar topics will help us understand the boundaries between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Moreover, it is essential to establish the social relationships of those involved because we believe that the anti-heretical texts were more an ecclesiastical discursive construction that answered to very particular political aspirations than a reflection of the accused's thoughts.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BATISTA, Rafael Bosch. Dialectical heretics: a study on scholasticism in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 2021. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas Campinas, SP.