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[German Version] (born in Eisenach – May 9, 1519, Erfurt). As an M.A. (1484) Trutvetter was Luther’s teacher in Erfurt from 1501 to 1505, before Luther began his theological studies. He was a canon of Sankt Severin in Erfurt. In 1501 he became rector of the University of Erfurt, where he received is doctorate in theology in 1504. In 1507 he became a professor in Wittenberg and an archdeacon at the Allerheiligenstift. He served as rector of the University of Wittenberg in 1507/1508 and as dean of t…

[German Version] (d. Feb 11, 1141, Paris). Possibly born in Saxony, Hugh received his early education from the Augustinians at Halberstadt, but soon went to Paris to attend the school of St. Victor, whose most influential teacher he was to become. Before 1125 he wrote his Didascalion de studio legendi, a normative but also historically based theory of the sciences, of which he distinguishes four types: theoretical, practical, mechanical, and logical. Following Boethius, he divides the theoretical sciences into theology, mathematics, and physic…

[German Version] The University of Leuven (Lovanium, Louvain), established by a bull of Martin V dated Dec 9, 1425, was opened on 7 Sep. 1426 by Duke John IV; the theological faculty was set up by Eugenius IV on Mar 3, 1432. The faculty of arts was organized in 1435 as four nationes (Brabant, Gaul, Flanders, Holland). In 1428 there was conflict between the university and the town over exemption from taxes. The university was dominated by the via antiqua (Universals controversy in the Middle Ages). In 1446 there was a dispute between Henry of Zomeren and Peter of Rivo over …

[German Version] (or Peter of Portugal; 13th cent.). Long identified with Pope John XXI, the author of the widely disseminated Summulae logicales (c. 1240) is now recognized as a different person. His treatise on dialectics expanded the logica vetus, based on Porphyry together with Aristotle’s work on categories and his De interpretatione, and the logica nova, which included Aristotle’s Analytica and Elenchi sophistici together with the topics and syllogistics of Boethius, by adding the logica modernorum, the terministic logic that discusses the properties of terms, es…

[German Version] Alanus ab Insulis (1116/1130 near Lille– 1202/1203 as a Cistercian). Alain probably studied in Paris and Chartres around 1140/50 with Gilbert of Poitiers, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Thierry of Chartres. He then taught liberal arts and theology in Paris and Montpellier. On the one hand, he wrote poetical-philosophical pieces such as De planctu naturae and Anticlaudianus de Antirufino portraying his philosophy of nature and ethical views in allegorical form. On the other, his Regulae Theologicae or Regulae caelestis iuris initiated a new type of theology based…

[German Version] (c. 1180, Aurillac – Mar 30, 1249, Paris). After receiving his master’s in theology and becoming a canon in Paris in 1225, William was ordained to the priesthood and became bishop of Paris in 1228. In 1229 he created a university chair for Roland of Cremona, the first Dominican to come to Paris; when Alexander of Hales joined the Franciscans in 1236, he occupied his first chair at the same university. In his own theology, William stood in the Augustinian tradition and criticized the growing favor of Aristotelianism, mediated through Arab scholars. His most important work, Ma…

[German Version] (c. 1100 – Feb 2, 1167, Hereford), pupil of Abelard and Hugh of St. Victor in Paris; 1137, M.A. in Paris. Robert’s pupils included Thomas Becket and John of Salisbury. Robert was a theologian in Melun; he was an opponent of Gilbert of Poitiers and Peter Lombard. In 1160 he became arch-¶ deacon of Oxford and in 1163 bishop of Hereford. His magnum opus, the Sententiae, deals in its first book with the salvific events of the Old Testament, with the doctrine of God and the Trinity, and anthropology. Its second book deals with the salvific events of…

[German Version] (Lurkäs; 1540, Trarbach/Mosel – Sep 29, 1612, Freiburg im Breisgau), began his studies in Freiburg in 1562 and received his master's degree in 1566. From 1568, he studied theology, earned his doctorate in 1574, and became professor in 1575. Lorichius participated in the revision of the statutes of the faculty of theology and of the university of Freiburg (1578/1586, 1581/1583). He was dean of the faculty of theology and rector of the university several times. His lectures, Lectiones de casibus conscientiae (1595–1598), and his principal work, Thesaurus novus utrius…

[German Version] The abbey of Monte Cassino was founded in 539 by Benedict of Nursia in the area of the Roman Casinum. After its destruction by the ¶ Lombards in 577, its monks fled to Rome. In 718, Monte Cassino was refounded by Abbot Petronax from Brescia. In 744, the duke of Benevento, Gisulf II, donated land to the abbey, which was later extended. In 787, Charlemagne confirmed the abbey's possession. By papal privileges, Monte Cassino was made exempt from episcopal influence (Exemption). Abbot Girulf…

[German Version] (1155, 1165, Langton, Lincolnshire – Jul 9, 1228, Slindon, Sussex), studied in Paris c. 1170, 1180; he may have been a canon at Notre Dame. In 1206 he became a cardinal priest in Rome and was elected archbishop of Canterbury in 1207 despite the objections of King John Lackland. He remained in exile in Pontigny, near Auxerre, until 1213. In England he mediated between the king and the barons (Magna Carta). He was suspended from office by Innocent III. He took part in the fourth Lat…

[German Version] (Jacques Masson; around 1475, Cambron, Belgium – May 29, 1544, Leuven), studied the artes liberales in Paris and earned his master's after 1500 in Leuven. Awarded the Dr. theol. in 1519, he became rector of the University of Leuven in 1537. Latomus participated as a theological adviser in the ¶ proceedings of the Inquisition against Jacobus Praepositus and W. Tyndale. In his De trium linguarum et studii theologici ratione dialogus (1518), he attacked the philological method of Erasmus of Rotterdam and opposed it with the ecclesial tradition. In 152…

[German Version] (c. 1240 – c. 1318/1320) studied in German Dominican colleges and in Paris from 1272 to 1274. In 1280, he became a lecturer in Trier, from 1293 to 1296 the provincial prior of the order's German province, and from 1294 to 1296 its vicar general. In 1297, he became magister of theology in Paris. In 1310, he temporarily governed the German sub-province of Teutonia. Dietrich primarily concerned himself with epistemology and the theory of the intellect, but also…

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences and Psychology – II. Religious Studies – III. Philosophy – IV. Old Testament – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Dogmatics and Ethics – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Natural Sciences and Psychology 1. Evolution From the perspective of the natural sciences, the theory of evolution offers the most comprehensive framework for understanding human beings. It views the human species as a late product of a biogenetic process that began with the origin of life (VI) on earth some 3.8 billion …

[German Version] (Abailardus, Baiolardus; “Peripateticus Palatinus”) was born in 1079 in Le Pallet near Nantes, and died on Apr 21, 1142 in St-Marcel near Chalon-sur-Saône. In order to devote himself to scholarship, he renounced his rights as firstborn in his equestrian family. From 1095 to 1102, he studied logic under Roscelin of Compiègne and under …

[German Version] (died c. 870), monk at Corbie Abbey. He intervened in the first Eucharistic controversy with his writing De corpore et sanguine Domini (843), directed against Paschasius Radbertus; using dialectical method he opposed a sensory understanding of the Lord’s Supper, showing that the sacrament was always hidden as a mystery beneath a figura, and rejecting identification of the historical with the sacramental body of Christ. In this he influenced Berengar of Tours. In the books De praedestinatione (849/850), also commissioned by Charles the Bald, he opposed Hi…

[German Version] (died c. 1133, abbey of St. Gilles-les-Boucheries) was initially a priest in the French Alps but was removed from office in 1119. As an itinerant preacher in southern France, he criticized the church, rejected infant baptism, rebaptized adults, denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and rejected the mass, along with veneration of the cross and building churches. He acknowledged the authority of the Gospels alone, not other biblical books or the church fathers. During…

[German Version] (c. 1275, St. Pourçain-sur-Sioule – Sep 10, 1334, Meaux), Dominican, possibly a student of James of Metz and Hervaeus Natalis c. 1300. In 1307/08 he lectured on the Sentences at St. Jacques, Paris; in 1312 M.Theol. in Paris; in 1313 lector sacri palatii in Avignon; in 1317 bishop of Limoux; in 1318 bishop of Le-Puy-en-Velay; in 1326 bishop of Meaux. His Commentary on the Sentences of 1308 called forth vehement criticism for its anti-Thomist tendencies (condemned several times by his order, esp. i…

[German Version] (Theodoricus Brito; died c. 1156). Thierry taught the artes liberales and theology in Paris c. 1130/1140 and for some time in Chartres. His students included Petrus Helias, Ivo of Chartres, John of Salisbury, and Clarembald of Arras. He wrote primarily commentaries on Cicero’s De inventione, the Rhetorica ad Herennium (c. 1130), and Boethius’s De trinitate (after 1148). His glosses and lectures on the latter have also survived. His doctrine of the Trinity was influenced by the Neoplatonic question of the relationship between one and many. His Tractatus de sex dieru…

[German Version] (1115/1120, Old Sarum – Oct 25, 1180, Salisbury). John studied in Paris (1136–1147) with Abelard, William of Conches, Gilbert of Poitiers, Robert of Melun, Thierry of Chartres, and ¶ Robert Pullus. In 1154, he entered the service of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, and in 1162 that of Theobald's successor, Thomas Becket. Because of Becket's conflict with Henry II, John was banished to Reims (1163–1170). In 1176, he became bishop of Chartres. His writings are marked by his classical education. The Entheticus (1155) is a didactic poem on philosophy. The Metalogicon (1…

[German Version] (1040, Chartres? – Dec 23, 1115/1116, Chartres). Following studies in Le Bec (near Lanfranc) and in Paris, Ivo became canon in Nesle, then provost of the canons regular of St. Quentin in Beauvais, and finally bishop of Chartres in 1090. He contributed to the resolution of the Investiture Controversy by distinguishing between ecclesial and royal, unalterable and alterable, spiritual and wordly law. He supported the canons regular (Regulated clergy), whom he placed above the monks. …