The Medieval world knew Aristotle from the translations of Boethius and the Muslim commentators, all of which interpreted the Stagarite through the lens of his Neoplatonic commentators. Aquinas realized that the Liber de Causis was written by Proclus, not Aristotle as tradition claimed. Yet, he continued commenting on that book and was influenced by it, [...]
Archive for June, 2009
Plato’s Theism and Martyr’s Humanism
Posted in Ancient Philosophers, Aristotle, Doctrine of God, Epistemology, Ethics, John Calvin, Neo-Platonism, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Philosophy, Philosophy/Theology, Plato, Reason/Revelation, Reformation, Reformed Scholastics, Theology, tagged Divine Ideas, humanism, natural theology, Nicomachean Ethics, renaissance, summum bonum on June 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Aristotle’s Method as Promethean Fire: Melanchthon’s Opinion
Posted in Ancient Philosophers, Aristotle, Doctrine of God, Education, Ethics, Law/Gospel, Natural Law, Nature/Supernatural, Philip Melanchthon, Philosophy, Philosophy/Theology, Politics, Reformation, Theology, tagged dialectics, humanism, Peter Ramus, Prometheus, renaissance, Rudolf Agricola, Wittenburg on June 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The old view that the Renaissance humanists exchanged Aristotle for Plato in toto has been discredited for a long time now (see Kristeller). Sure, philosophers of the 16th century steered away from Aristotle’s metaphysics but at the same time they took up his writings on Logic and Rhetoric with renewed gusto. Philip Melanchthon’s opinion of [...]
On the Difference Between Philosophy and Theology from Philip Melanchthon’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics
Posted in Ancient Philosophers, Aristotle, Ethics, History, Natural Law, Philip Melanchthon, Philosophy/Theology, Reason/Revelation, Reformation, tagged civic virtues, law/gospel, natural law, Nicomachean Ethics on June 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When Peter Martyr Vermigli gave his lectures on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics to the students at the Strasbourg Academy in the year 1553, he undoubtedly had a commentary upon the same Aristotelian text in mind, one published by Philip Melanchthon in 1535 (which may be found here). Like Vermigli’s lectures-turned-commentary, Melancthon’s commentary does not go beyond [...]
Vermigli on the Contemplative Life
Posted in Ancient Philosophers, Anthropology, Aristotle, Ethics, History, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Philosophy, Philosophy/Theology, Politics, Reformation, Reformed Scholastics, tagged asceticism, church/state, Nicomachean Ethics, perfection, summum bonum on June 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Reformers did not believe that true perfection, as it may be had in this life, comes by living the purely contemplative life. Rather they saw a necessity of living both a contemplative and an active life, a supposition that falls in the same vein as that of the Renaissance humanists who sought a more practical [...]
Calvin on Original Justice as Donum Pulcherrum
Posted in Anthropology, Hamartiology, John Calvin, Nature/Supernatural, Philosophy/Theology, Reformation, Theology, tagged concupiscence, imago dei, Interim Adultero-Germanum, original justice, original sin on June 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I ran across John Calvin’s tract against the German Interim and discovered a more Medieval explanation of original sin than what he sets forth in his Institutes. I call Calvin’s demonstration in this tract “Medieval” because it mirrors the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, who taught that original sin was a privation of original justice formally [...]
Johann Sturm: Calvinist, Humanist, and Educator
Posted in Education, History, Johann Sturm, Philosophy, Reformation, tagged Classical Education, Germany, Strasbourg on June 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We should all know more about Johann Sturm, and I hope to devote another post to his legacy. For now it will be sufficient to give a very brief account of who this man was. He was responsible for the Classical curriculum at the Stasbourg Gymnasium (academy) founded by Martin Bucer, and through his lifelong service [...]
Theodore Beza’s Poetic Ode to Queen Elizabeth
Posted in Aesthetics, History, Philosophy, Reformation, Theodore Beza, tagged England, Queen Elizabeth I, Spanish Armada on June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Reformers are not usually known for their poetry or their appreciation for aesthetics. Yet, church Reformers such as Peter Martyr Vermigli were reared hearing the poems of Ovid and Cicero, often knowing them by heart. Calvin went on to produce a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia and Theodore Beza wrote his Iuvenilia, a collection [...]
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