Dunstan, Saint 227Duns Scotus, John, Blessed(Doctor subtibilis)
(1265/66–1308)Scottish philosopher, theologian
John Duns Scotus was born at Duns in SCOTLAND in
March of 1265 or 1266 into a landowning family in the
southeastern corner of the country. His father was proba-
bly Ninian Duns, who held an estate near Maxton-on-
Tweed in Roxburghshire. After receiving his early
education, possibly at Haddington, John Duns entered
the FRANCISCANconvent at Dumfries about 1277–80.
Shortly before 1290 John Duns was sent to OXFORD,
probably to continue his study in the liberal arts. While
at Oxford he was ordained to the priesthood on March
17, 1291, perhaps by Oliver Sutton (d. 1299), Bishop of
Lincoln.
Scotus seems to have completed his study in the arts
before 1293, for in that year he began his study for a
higher degree in THEOLOGYat PARIS. Returning to Oxford
in 1296, Scotus continued his study and commented on
the Book of Sentencesby Peter LOMBARD. Having read the
Sentencesat Oxford and possibly at CAMBRIDGE, Scotus
returned to Paris in 1302 and read the Sentencesfor a sec-
ond or third time.
Because of his opposition to King PHILIPIV’s call for
a general council against Pope BONIFACEVIII, Scotus was
exiled from France in 1303 and returned to Oxford for a
year. In 1304 he returned to Paris, and he completed the
requirements for the degree of master of theology in
- For the next two years, he held the Franciscan
chair of theology at the University of Paris. One of his
most important works, Quaestiones quodlibetales (The
quodlibetal questions), contained Scotus’s version of
many of his debates. Scotus was unexpectedly transferred
in 1307 to the Franciscan house of study at COLOGNE,
where he lectured until his death on November 8, 1308.
He was buried in the chapel of that convent. In the mean-
time, some scholars in Paris were calling some of his
ideas heretical.
PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHTScotus contributed to a more specific understanding of
the relation between PHILOSOPHY and theology. He
emphasized the practical nature of theology, denying
it the rigorous demonstrative quality of an Aristotelian
science. Scotus shared with Thomas AQUINASthe belief
that theology and philosophy did not contradict each
other but represented different approaches to a single
truth. The relation of philosophy and theology, for
Scotus, was based on the nature of their respective and
distinct sources, reason and revelation.
Scotus understood metaphysics as the aspect of
philosophy that studied the nature of being itself rather
than any particular object existing in an external reality.
Being was thus a concept common to GODand humans.
Scotus shared with Aquinas a belief in the primacy of
sense experience in the process of human knowledge.
Scotus allowed the human intellect a more active role in
cognition than was usual in the late 13th century. In
opposition to the customary Aristotelian epistemology,
he argued that the intellect could have direct contact
with the object to be known. The main feature of Sco-
tus’s theology was the importance he assigned to the pri-
macy of the will in both God and humans. In contrast to
Thomas Aquinas, Scotus stressed the freedom of the
divine will and the freedom of the human will within an
order freely chosen by God. This absolute power of God
was limited by his own free decision to allow freedom to
humans and to award eternal life on the basis of human
merit. Humans have the freedom to meet God’s demands
and thus obtain salvation. The last important area of
Scotus’s thought concerns his teaching on MARY, the
mother of Jesus. Scotus taught that Mary was born with-
out the stain of original SIN, a doctrine known as the
Immaculate Conception. That was eventually recognized
as dogmatic and infallible teaching in the Roman
Catholic Church.
Further reading:Duns Scotus, Duns Scotus on the
Will and Morality,trans. Allan B. Wolter (Washington,
D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1986); Fred-
erick Copleston, A History of Philosophy,3 vols. (New
York: Image Books, 1950), especially 2.476–551; Allan B.
Wolter, The Philosophical Theology of John Duns Scotus
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990).Dunstan, Saint (ca. 909–988)abbot of Glastonbury, arch-
bishop of Canterbury, reformer of Benedictine monasticism
Born in the west of England about 909, Dunstan served
in the household of his uncle the archbishop of CANTER-
BURYand of King Æthelstan (r. 924–939) before being
ordained and appointed the abbot of GLASTONBURY in
940, then the only Benedictine monastery in England.
From there Dunstan launched the reform of Benedictine
monasticism according to reformed continental models.
This was later implemented with the support of King
Edgar (r. 959–975) and bishops such as Æthelwold (ca.
904–984) and Oswald of Worcester and York (d. 992).
With Edgar’s backing, Dunstan was recalled from exile at
a reformed abbey in GHENTand appointed bishop of
Worcester in 957, bishop of London in 959, and arch-
bishop of Canterbury later that year. Dunstan was an aus-
tere man who then successfully reformed discipline in the
newly founded Benedictine monasteries of England. He
was also a scholar, as was clear from his surviving letters
and poems. After his death on May 19, 988 he was soon
venerated as a saint with a feast day on May 19. His cult
was sponsored by CANUTEII.
Further reading:Douglas Dales, Dunstan: Saint and
Statesman(Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1988); Eleanor
Shipley Duckett, Saint Dunstan of Canterbury: A Study of
Monastic Reform in the Tenth Century(New York: Norton,
1955); David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England: A
History of Its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to