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    Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception
    Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception
    Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception
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    Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception

    By M. James Ziccardi

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    History has confirmed that Blessed John Duns Scotus was one of the most gifted and influential philosophers ever to come out of the Middle Ages. But while Scotus’ philosophy has been universally esteemed by scholars for centuries, little is known of his theological teachings outside of the Christian faith, and even there, little of it is known beyond the Church’s innermost ecclesiastic circles. This is truly unfortunate, because in order to fully appreciate Scotus’ spiritual and intellectual contributions, one must see each of these contributions in light of the other. Therefore, in an effort to help remedy this state of affairs, this book will examine the critical points where Scotus’ philosophy and his theology converge most significantly into one cohesive doctrine of thought which serves the purposes of both human understanding and Christian spirituality. As it will be shown throughout the book, this convergence of thought, as it were, reveals itself most strikingly in Scotus’ proof of the existence of God. Following this, the book takes a look at much of what Scotus has to say concerning the immortality of the human soul, as well as his successful defense of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - a defense which would eventually become an official dogma of faith within the Roman Catholic Church.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherM. James Ziccardi
    Release dateSep 14, 2013
    ISBN9781301556496
    Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception
    Author

    M. James Ziccardi

    M. James Ziccardi lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter and has been a software analyst for over twenty-five years. Reading and writing about philosophy is his passion.

    Read more from M. James Ziccardi

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      Book preview

      Blessed John Duns Scotus - M. James Ziccardi

      Blessed John Duns Scotus: The Case for the Existence of God and the Immaculate Conception

      Copyright © 2013 by M. James Ziccardi

      Smashwords Edition

      Section 1 - Preface

      History has confirmed that Blessed John Duns Scotus was one of the most gifted and influential philosophers ever to come out of the Middle Ages. But while Scotus’ philosophy has been universally esteemed by scholars for centuries, little is known of his theological teachings outside of the Christian faith, and even there, little of it is known beyond the Church’s innermost ecclesiastic circles. This is truly unfortunate, because in order to fully appreciate Scotus’ spiritual and intellectual contributions, one must see each of these contributions in light of the other. Therefore, in an effort to help remedy this state of affairs, this book will examine the critical points where Scotus’ philosophy and his theology converge most significantly into one cohesive doctrine of thought which serves the purposes of both human understanding and Christian spirituality. As it will be shown throughout the book, this convergence of thought, as it were, reveals itself most strikingly in Scotus’ proof of the existence of God. Following this, the book takes a look at much of what Scotus has to say concerning the immortality of the human soul, as well as his successful defense of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - a defense which would eventually become an official dogma of faith within the Roman Catholic Church.

      Section 2 - Biography of Blessed John Duns Scotus

      (Blessed John Duns Scotus: 1265-66 - November 8, 1308)

      Introduction

      Concerning the legacy of Blessed John Duns Scotus, it is difficult to say with certainty exactly which of his two major contributions to Western life is the more important: his philosophy or his theology. What is certain, however, is that the two are so intimately connected that one cannot separate the one from the other without diminishing each. It is the object of this book, therefore, to present the most significant aspects of Scotus’ philosophy and theology in such a way that the reader is left not only with a fuller understanding of Scotus’ overall teachings, but with a better appreciation of just how instrumental Scotus’ views concerning the constant give and take between philosophy and theology were to the shaping of the Church during the Middle Ages.

      To begin with, John Duns Scotus was one of the most important and influential Christian scholastic philosophers of Medieval Europe. Like his scholastic counterparts, which include the likes of St. Anselm of Canterbury (the acknowledged founder of the scholastic movement), Peter Abelard, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, and William of Ockham, Scotus attempted to reconcile the theological teachings of the early Church with the newly discovered Aristotelian philosophy of Ancient Greece. During the first several centuries following Christianity’s arrival in Rome, the writings of Plato had been well known and even influential to such early Church Fathers as St. Augustine, Origen, and St. John Damascene. However, as a result of Rome’s fall and the subsequent growing divisions between the Eastern and Western influences in the Church, many of the more important works of Aristotle, most notably his Physics and Metaphysics, had been essentially cut off from the West. Over time, however, these works would make their way from Greece to the Persian Empire, and from there across the Northern Coast of Africa to Morocco, and finally up into Spain and the rest of Western Europe during a period known as the Islamic caliphate of the Middle Ages. As the works of Aristotle seemed to pose a threat not only to Christian doctrine, but to the prevailing scientific and philosophic of the day - so much so that for a time they were actually banned by the Church - the job of the scholastics was seen not so much in suppressing Aristotelian knowledge, but rather in reconciling it to the teachings of the West. In the end, the works of Aristotle would remain Europe’s source for all scientific knowledge throughout the whole of the Middle Ages.

      The Life of John Duns Scotus

      Despite his great contributions to both theology and philosophy, it is regrettable that relatively little information exists concerning the early life of Blessed John Duns Scotus, or the Subtle Doctor, as he was commonly referred to. In fact, beyond his own written works there exists scarcely more than half a dozen historical records which can offer any insights at all into his early life. Of these few surviving records, the most reliable comes to us from the Scottish philosopher John Major (John Mair), who in 1521 included a brief biography of Scotus in his history of native Scotland. (While Scotus is frequently hailed with pride as a son of Scotland, he is also revered in Ireland as one of their own. This is because the word scotia is the Roman term for Ireland. As a point of interest, the word duns is the term used to describe a medieval castle or fortress; and to this day there remains the ruins of such castles in and around the town of Duns, Scotland.)

      From what has been pieced together from existing manuscripts, it is believed that John Duns Scotus was born in the medieval kingdom of Northumbria in or around the year 1265 near the village of Duns, which is located not far from the southern border with England in what is now the County of Berwick (Berwickshire) Scotland. According to Major’s account, When he was no more than a boy, but had already been grounded in grammar, he was taken by two Scottish Minorite friars [Franciscans] to Oxford, for at that time there existed no university in Scotland. By the favor of those friars he lived in the convent of the Minorites at Oxford, and he made his profession in the religion of Blessed Francis. According to other accounts, at an early age Scotus was deeply influenced by the legends concerning the courage and devotion expressed by the seventh-century Irish princess, St. Bega (St. Bee of Egremont).

      On March 17, 1291, Duns Scotus was ordained a Franciscan priest in the priory of St. Andrew in Northampton, England. (The Franciscans are a religious order dedicated to the teachings and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, c.1181-1226.) As a result of the highly esteemed work he had done at Oxford in both theology and philosophy, Scotus was summoned by the Franciscans to lecture at the University of Paris on the Sentences. (The Sentences, or The Four Books of Sentences, was a collection of Christian principles written around the year 1150 by the Italian theologian and bishop, Peter Lombard. So influential was Lombard’s work that every student of theology throughout Medieval Europe was required to write a passing commentary on it before obtaining a master’s degree. Along with Scotus, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, and William of Ockham would all write successful and influential commentaries on the Sentences.)

      In 1302, while he was lecturing at Paris, Scotus became involved in a bitter dispute between Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1301) and King Philip the Fair of France (Philip IV; 1268–1314). Seeking to expand the power and influence of his empire, Philip began to set in motion measures by which the wealth of the Church could be confiscated. Not surprisingly, Pope Boniface staunchly opposed all efforts to levy taxes upon the Church. When Scotus sided with the Pope on the matter, Philip had him expelled from Paris. This incident helped earn Scotus the reputation for being a loyal defender against all political forces which he believed were not in keeping with the true teachings of the Church.

      Within two years of Boniface’s death, Scotus was able to make his way back to Paris. However, for reasons that are still unclear, he was sent to the Franciscan stadium (a regional university) at Cologne, Germany in 1307;

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