Abstract
Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253, a theologian and a scientist was one of the most important bishops of England and probably of the whole of Europe. In this paper I have tried to examine whether or not it is possible to ‘classify’ the origins of his knowledge. My guiding principle has been trying to understand whether Grosseteste belonged to one of the two main schools of thought of the middle ages: was he a philosopher whose great knowledge (intelligo) allowed him to understand the secrets behind faith and the mysteries of God (ut credam); or was he rather a strong believer (credo), who simply needed faith to enhance his knowledge (ut intelligam) and to make progress on scientific understanding? In this article I have reflected over some of Grosseteste’s literary works, and examined the main philosophers and ideas influencing him. I have tried to demonstrate that it is possible to prove that Grosseteste was a scientist who needed to understand in order to believe, and a religious man who needed to believe in order to understand, but especially that Grosseteste went beyond classical theology because he applied his methodology of science to theology and, in my view, represented a synthesis of medieval thinking.
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Notes
- 1.
McEvoy for instance wrote the following in the introduction to his book: ‘I have suggested that without Grosseteste there might not have been mathematical-scientific tradition at Oxford’ (James McEvoy 1982).
- 2.
- 3.
Especially (Callus 1969). Harrison Thomson in 1940 had catalogued Grosseteste’s works with great accuracy. According to his research, 129 sermons could be ascribed to Grosseteste. However, in a more recent work, Susan Paul has challenged Thompson’s theory, advancing the hypothesis that only about 40 complete items, 19 summarized and 33 fragments or sermons notes could be clearly identified. See (Harrison 1940; Paul 2002).
- 4.
This would include De Cometis 1200, the commentary on Posterior Analytics 1220–5, and the commentary on Physics 1220–5. See (Southern 1986).
- 5.
Therefore according to his theory the commentary on Posterior Analytics is to be dated around 1228–30, and the commentary on Physics about 1228–32.
- 6.
- 7.
Being is what makes things what they are: a man, a horse etc. Substance is, for instance, when one generates a son, he/she is going to have the same substance as the generator, whereas matter is when one fabricates things, one is going to use matter coming from this world.
- 8.
As underlined by David Knowles, ‘A substance is the individual thing regarding which assertions can be made, but which cannot itself be asserted of a subject’ (1963).
- 9.
See the example of horned animals in (Crombie 1953).
- 10.
Amongst others we can mention: De Colore, De Lineis Angulis et Figuris, De Iride, and De Cometis.
- 11.
In the Republic, Plato used the metaphor of the vessel which one uses to sail through a rough sea, for him the vessel is the equivalent of what we can call ‘a divine revelation’. See (Bloom 1968).
- 12.
Surely You [God] dwell in light inaccessible […]; How shall I approach unto a light inaccessible? See (Hopkins and Richardson 1974).
- 13.
Ontological as free or independent from experience, but rather based on concepts; in fact its proof requires nothing besides itself. See (Herrera 1979).
- 14.
The Proslogion is written, ‘from the point of view of one trying to raise his mind to contemplate God and seeking to understand what he believes’. See (Herrera 1979).
- 15.
The expression is related to God’s free will, understood as God’s free decision. God exerts free will, but things are right anyway because He wants them to be like that (so that implicitly freedom and will coincide) and it cannot be different as God is all perfections and love.
- 16.
Certainly in his commentary on the Psalms Grosseteste quoted a number of Greek sources which were not available in Latin at the time and this fact led M. R. James to write that most likely Grosseteste had a Greek Psalter before him when he was writing his commentary. See (Montague 1922).
- 17.
‘One may suppose that what is true for other fields of learning (law, medicine, science) is equally valid for theology…’ (Hassenauer 2012).
- 18.
Particula III seems to suggest the use of Avicenna’s De caelo et mundo and Alpetrangius’ de motibus celorum. See (Dales and Gieben 1982).
- 19.
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Silvestri, A. (2016). Intelligo ut credam, credo ut intelligam: Robert Grosseteste Between Faith and Reason. In: Cunningham, J.P., Hocknull, M. (eds) Robert Grosseteste and the pursuit of Religious and Scientific Learning in the Middle Ages. Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33468-4_13
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