God and Reason in the Middle Ages

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title God and Reason in the Middle Ages
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Edward Grant
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:408
Dimensions(mm): Height 228,Width 152
Category/GenreWorld history - c 500 to C 1500
World history - c 1500 to c 1750
History of science
ISBN/Barcode 9780521003377
ClassificationsDewey:001.20940902
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations 2 Line drawings, unspecified

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 30 July 2001
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Between 1100 and 1600, the emphasis on reason in the learning and intellectual life of Western Europe became more pervasive and widespread than ever before in the history of human civilization. Of crucial significance was the invention of the university around 1200, within which reason was institutionalized and where it became a deeply embedded, permanent feature of Western thought and culture. It is therefore appropriate to speak of an Age of Reason in the Middle Ages, and to view it as a forerunner and herald of the Age of Reason that was to come in the seventeenth century. The object of this study is twofold: to describe how reason was manifested in the curriculum of medieval universities, especially in the subjects of logic, natural philosophy and theology; and to explain how the Middle Ages acquired an undeserved reputation as an age of superstition, barbarism, and unreason.

Reviews

'This is a most stimulating study and one that should become required reading for all historians.' Contemporary Review '... this book provides a good introduction to the uses of logic and reason in the medieval university as well as a strong corrective to the still current view of the middle ages as a period of intellectual sterility.' History