Topic > Analysis of Peter Abelard's Approach to Religious Matters

IndexIntroductionTopic AnalysisConclusionBibliographyIntroductionPeter Abelard had been a well-known French teacher and philosopher who was punished to live as a monk in his life. This was due to the fact that he had gotten his student, Heloise, pregnant. During his life as a monk he practiced scholasticism, which questions religious questions based on logic and reason, so much so that Saint Bernard of Clairvaux harshly condemned him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn this essay I will argue that Abelard's approach to religious matters is heavily influenced by the authority of the Bible and Greek philosophy, which is the main reason why he is resolving religious content while ignoring the authority of the Church. Consequently, this gives rise to Bernard's antagonism as Abelard is boldly questioning the Church's writings based on human logic. Analysis of the Argument First, Abelard uses Greek logic or philosophy as the highest authority in resolving the writings of the Church because he claims based on Greek philosophy. “Aristotle, the most insightful philosopher of all, advised his students to embrace this question with complete willingness” so that we could perceive the truth after questioning. It is clearly mentioned that Abelard has a high opinion of Aristotle by praising him and using Aristotle's wisdom as a principle in his life. He insists that we must question and doubt to be better readers and better Christians, so we must decipher our conclusions based on the evidence. Therefore, Abelard judges the writings of the Church based on Greek philosophy and suggests that the key to better Christians is to follow the wisdom of Aristotle. Furthermore, Abelard believes that when the writings of the saints contradict each other, then there is an error in the translation or the text has been corrupted. Simply put, Abelard uses Greek philosophy by saying that if things cannot be understood logically, then they are caused by human error. However, if Abelard thought the Church had a superior authority, he would not dare question it, much less argue about the writings in the first place. Instead, he would judge Greek philosophy based on the writings of the Church. Furthermore, Clanchy (1997, p.229) states that “Abelard's Theologia, however, is written in a debated style”. This shows how Abelard intensively uses Greek philosophy when arguing since the style of debate, which is argumentative to stimulate critical thinking, is widely used in the Socrates Method. Therefore, by having Greek philosophy as the foundation of his arguments, he demonstrates how significant his authority is in Abelard's arguments. Furthermore, the second highest authority on Abelard's approach is the Bible as he uses biblical quotes as part of his arguments and practices the teachings of the Bible. For example, Abelard uses biblical verses from Wisdom and Matthew, such as “the saints will judge the nations” and “it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you.” Based on this, Abelard then makes the hypothesis that it is the writer who lacks wit that causes the reader's misunderstanding. Therefore, Abelard still holds to the teaching of the Bible and attributes the error to human error. He still believes in the Spirit of the Father. Furthermore, Murray (1997, p.151) states that according to Abelard we must use knowledge because it is a gift from God. Furthermore, Abelard believes that “the testimony of the Fathers must be true, but we must examine the evidence we have” (Radice 1974 , p.37). Belief in Knowledge is God-given..9-55.