In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Historical Dictionary of Medieval Philosophy and Theology
  • P. S. Eardley
Stephen F. Brown and Juan Carlos Flores. Historical Dictionary of Medieval Philosophy and Theology. Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophers, and Movements, 76. Lanham, MD—Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, 2007. Pp. lxxii + 338. Cloth, $99.00.

Medieval philosophy and theology are complex fields to negotiate even for specialists, not to mention beginners. Crucial texts from important figures of the period have yet to be edited, much less translated into the modern vernacular, and philosophical and theological arguments are often so highly technical and conceptually difficult as to be inscrutable to all but the most experienced scholar. Even referencing original sources can be challenging if one does not know that to find a work by, say, Giles of Rome (ca. 1243/47–1316) sometimes requires searching under the heading ‘Aegidius Colonna’, Solomon Ibn Gabirol (ca. 1021–58) under ‘Avicebron’, and Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd (ca. 1126–98) under ‘Averröes’. To specialize in the field therefore frequently requires advanced training in Latin (and, ideally, Greek and Arabic), palaeography, and—because it is very much a trans-Atlantic discipline—a reading knowledge of the major modern European languages. Still, one must learn to walk before one can run, and this volume provides a reliable and useful guide for students seeking entry into the discipline.

The volume is divided into a number of sections. It is anchored, as one might expect, by the dictionary proper. However, the authors have also included other substantial sections such as an extensive introduction, a chronology that runs from the sixth century to the death of Suárez in 1617, and a set of appendices on primary and secondary works relevant to the discipline. These serve to make the volume both convenient to use and, occasionally, frustrating. Take the “Introduction” (xxv–lxxii). Treating such topics as the relationship between faith and reason; the nature and development of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic philosophy and theology; the methods of study in the medieval university; and the demise of scholastic thought—and running to just under fifty pages—the authors provide the reader with a useful and comprehensive overview of the subject matter of medieval speculative thought. The problem with this is that many topics taken up in the “Introduction” do not find their way into “The Dictionary.” This leads to some surprising results, e.g., despite the importance of final causality to medieval scientific thought, there is no lemma for teleology. Rather, one finds a discussion of this topic buried in the broader treatment of modern criticisms of medieval philosophy and theology in the “Introduction” (lxvi). Likewise, one searches in vain for entries on providence and even God. The explanation for such lacunae was obviously to avoid repetition. The potential problem is that, if one uses the volume [End Page 636] the way that most students use dictionaries, that is, as works that are consulted selectively for basic information on a specific topic, one will likely skip the “Introduction” and turn directly to “The Dictionary.” And here they will occasionally be disappointed to find that the heading for which they were searching is nowhere to be found. Needless to say, none of this is to imply that the volume is without significant merit; only that a bit more editorial cross-referencing would have been helpful.

Of the volume’s many virtues, the greatest by far is its deliberate decision to give, wherever possible, equal billing to the Jewish and Islamic traditions in medieval philosophy and theology. The book therefore has comparatively detailed entries on such topics as kalam or the science of theology in Islam, and such personalities as Avicenna, Averröes, and Maimonides. So great is the desire to do justice to these traditions that the entry on Avicenna, to give a single example, is twice the length of the entry on Thomas Aquinas, four times that of Duns Scotus, and almost eight times that of Anselm, one of the most influential Christian theologians in the period prior to the reintroduction of Aristotle into the West and the author of the single most famous argument for the existence of God in the Middle Ages.

Those who...

pdf

Share