Blog 2

Any well known school of thought will have influence on future schools of thought just as their predecessors influenced them. Even when schools of thought seem completely wrong or ridiculous, they have an impact if only to teach society never to think that way again. The Scholastics were within a school of thought that seemed to reject many of the ideas that their present society seemed to force upon them. Instead the Scholastics chose to find middle ground between the old ways of thinking from Aristotle and the Greeks and from their contemporaries. This foundation of a middle ground has influenced and affected many societies throughout history.

Thomas Aquinas for instance sought to marry the ideas of Aristotle and the ideas of the church. As a theologian and monk, Aquinas is asked to teach against the ideas of Aristotle which inspires Aquinas to prove that Faith can be explained through science. This is an idea that we often consider in today’s society. We often see astronomers trying to explain the phenomenon of the star of Bethlehem and the practice of psychology no longer shunned from the church but encouraged. Because Aquinas chose to deviate from the church’s ideas, he helped to create a religion where we feel freer to express our doubts in miracles and sciences and where we can practice the act of marrying faith and reason together in order to enhance our Christian lives.

Peter Abelard, another scholastic, was also known for deviating from the church. One of his teaching methods was debating both sides of an argument so that bias could be revealed and new ideas could form. While some of his actions as a professor or theologian are questionable, Abelard was able to teach us that no one is infallible. We all fall prey to our flesh or sins. This is a lesson that many who work in a people profession could learn from, even psychologists. It can be hard to counsel someone and not become emotionally attached. It is a fine line when counseling because one does not want to be too clinical but they also do not want to be too emotional. While Abelard may not show us the correct way in acting in such situations, he helps to raise the questions that we need to ask ourselves.