Lecture 33: Universities and Theology
doctorate in Paris and became a master there in 1305 before his life
ended in Cologne.
o Dying even younger than Thomas (at 42), his main work is
his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, as well
as a set of commentaries on the Greek philosophers Aristotle
and Porphyry.o Scotus, known as the “Subtle Doctor,” sought a middle
ground between Aristotelianism and Augustinian thought,
distinguishing himself from Thomas in a number of important
ways. Overall, he placed more emphasis on the human will and
its freedom than he did on the intellect.o Scotus placed particular emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ,
arguing that it would have happened even if humans had fallen
into sin. His thought was influential particularly within the
Franciscan order.The Divine Comedy
• The suffusion of Christian
theology in all the arts is
illustrated brilliantly by the
magnificent poem The Divine
Comedy, written by Dante
Alighieri (1265–1321); its
three parts (the Inferno, the
Purgatorio, and the Paradiso)
encompassed the entire
medieval worldview.• Inspired by a Florentine woman
(his “Beatrice”), Dante dedicated
to her “a poem such as had been
written for no lady before” and
spent the years from her death in
1290 to his own in 1321 in the
completion of his masterpiece.Born in Florence, Dante sided
with antipapal forces within Italy
and then with Emperor Henry VII,
and his opposition to the papacy
led to several exiles from his
native city.© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.