Here, Abélard posed 158 theological questions, gathered
statements from the tradition favoring each side of the
question, but offered no solution (sententia) of the dif-
ferences in position.
In ethics, Abélard taught a doctrine of intentional-
ity and disinterested love. In Scito te ipsum, Abélard
argues that the actual deed is morally indifferent; the
key to ethical behavior is the intention with which the
deed is carried out.
Concerning the doctrine of Christ’s atonement, Abé-
lard set forth in his commentary on the Epistle to the
Romans a distinctive teaching, often called a “subjec-
tive” theory. Abélard argued that the effect of Christ’s
death was not an “objective” change in the relation of
God and humanity (in light of human sin) as presented
in Anselm of Bee’s Cur Deus homo. Rather, Christ’s
death reveals self-sacrifi ce and absolute self-giving
love, which evokes in the believer a response of total
sacrifi ce and love and effects not a cosmic transaction
involving divine justice but a personal and individual
transformation of love and intention.
Among Abélard’s other writings are an unfi nished
Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum, et Christianum,
the Confessio fi dei universalis, letters, poems, forty-
three sermons for use at the Paraclete, an Apologia, and
Hexaemeron (a commentary on the six days of creation
in Genesis). Abélard left disciples but no established
school. Though he infl uenced the development of the
scholastic method, especially the quaestio, in general
his contributions to theology were topical and not sys-
tematic.
Abélard’s poetry reveals exceptional emotional
power in lyrics on biblical and religious themes, such as
the lament (planctus) of David on the death of Jonathan,
which he invests with a notable sensibility of personal
pain and loss. He wrote other laments, liturgical poems,
and a collection of hymns for Héloïse and the nuns at
the Paraclete. In a letter, Héloïse remarks that Abélard
wrote popular love poems that were the talk of Paris
when he and Héloïse were lovers; none survives.
Peter the Venerable transferred Abélard’s body to
the Paraclete, where it was buried in the church. When
Héloïse died in 1163/64, she was buried beside him.
Their remains were taken to Paris when the Paraclete
was destroyed after the Revolution, and they now rest
in a tomb in the cemetery of Pere-La chaise.See also Anselm of Bec; Anselm of Laon;
Bernard of ClairvauxFurther Reading
Abélard, Peter. Opera omnia. PL 178.
——. Petri Abélardi opera, ed. Victor Cousin. 2 vols. Paris:
Durand, 1849–59.——. Opera theologica, ed. Eloi M. Buytaert. 3 vols. CCCM,
11, 12, 13. Turnhout: Brepols, 1969.
——. Sic et non: A Critical Edition, ed. Blanche B. Boyer and
Richard P. McKeon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1976–77.
——. Philosophische Schriften, ed. Bernhard Geyer. 1 vol. in 4
parts. Münster: Aschendorff, 1919–33.
——. Ethics, ed. and trans. David E, Luscombe. Oxford: Clar-
endon, 1971.
——. Historia calamitatum: texte critique avec introduction, ed.
Jacques Monfrin. 2nd ed. Paris: Vrin, 1962.
——. The Story of Abélard’s Adversities, trans. Joseph T.
Muckle. Toronto: Pontifi cal Institute of Mediaeval Studies,
1964.
——. A Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian,
trans. Pierre J. Payer. Toronto: Pontifi cal Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1979.
——. The Hymns of Abélard in English Verse, trans. Sister Joseph
Patricia. Lanham: University Press of America, 1986.
——. Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum et, Christianum,
ed. Rudolf Thomas. Stuttgart: Fromann, 1970.
Radice, Betty, trans. The Letters of Abélard and Heloise. Har-
mondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
Luscombe, David E. The School of Peter Abélard: The Infl uence of
Abelard’s Thought in the Early Scholastic Period. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1969.
Weingart, Richard E. The Logic of Divine Love: A Critical
Analysis of the Soteriology of Peter Abailard. Oxford: Clar-
endon, 1970.
Grover A. ZinnABRAHAM BAR HIYYA (. HAYYA).
(ca. 1070–1136)
Mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, philosopher,
astrologer and translator Abraham bar Hiyya lived in.
Barcelona. He was known by the honorifi c titles Ha-Nasi
(Hebrew: “the prince”) and Savasorda (Latin corruption
of the Arabic: .sā.hib al-shur.ta (“master of the guard”),
which indicate that he held high offi ces in both the Jew-
ish and the Catalonian communities.
Nine works by him are known, all written in Hebrew.
He was the fi rst medieval author to write major philo-
sophic and scientifi c works in Hebrew, and many of his
termina technica are still used in modern Hebrew (e.g.,
qeshet = arc, ma ̔alah = degree, merkaz = center, shoq
= side of an isoceles triangle). His works:
(1) Hibbur ha-meshi. .hah ve-ha-tishboret (On
Measuring), a comprehensive introduction to
surveying. Translated into Latin (1145?) by
Plato of Tivoli, it played an important role in
transmitting Arabic geometry and trigonometry
to the West. Hebrew text, ed. M. Guttmann,
1912–13, Catalan translation, J. M. Millás Val-
licrosa, 1931.
(2) Yesode ha-tebunah u-migdal ha-emunah (The
Foundations of Reason and the Tower of Faith),
an encyclopedia of science; parts are lost.ABÉLARD, PETER