This chapter contains sections titled: Hugh's overall vision Sources Division of the sciences Biblical interpretation God Creation Providence and evil Human nature and ethics Salvation Spiritual teachings Influence and importance.

Hugh of St. Victor’s De arrha animae, the spiritual classic by one described as the ‘second Augustine’, needs no commendation; any work which brings it to the notice of a wider public is to be welcomed. Dr. Herbert has given us a clear translation which reads easily, though certain phrases betray its American origin. The introduction is a competent compilation of the available material on the author, his doctrine, and his work. There are occasional notes to the text (...) itself, which is based on the critical edition. The work is pleasantly produced and well printed. (shrink)

Hugh of St. Victor’s De arrha animae, the spiritual classic by one described as the ‘second Augustine’, needs no commendation; any work which brings it to the notice of a wider public is to be welcomed. Dr. Herbert has given us a clear translation which reads easily, though certain phrases betray its American origin. The introduction is a competent compilation of the available material on the author, his doctrine, and his work. There are occasional notes to the text (...) itself, which is based on the critical edition. The work is pleasantly produced and well printed. (shrink)

Cette contribution s’intéresse à la position problématique des arts mécaniques dans les systèmes médiévaux du savoir. Remplaçant la position secondaire assignée aux arts mécaniques du début du Moyen Âge, les solutions proposées par Hugues de Saint-Victor et Gundissalinus eurent une influence forte durant le XIIIe s. Alors que l’intégration des arts mécaniques dans le système de connaissance de Saint-Victor trahit leurs positions encore accessoires vis-à-vis de la considération des arts libéraux, Gundissalinus propose deux principales nouveautés. D’un côté il (...) place les arts mécaniques aux côtés de l’alchimie et des arts de prédiction et de magie. D’un autre côté cependant, utilisant la théorie avancée par Avicenne, il subordonne ces « sciences naturelles » à la philosophie naturelle elle-même, établissant ainsi une architecture du savoir plus vaste et plus organisée hiérarchiquement. Notre contribution examine les implications découlant de ces développements ainsi que leur réception à Paris durant le XIIIe s., soulignant la pertinence des solutions proposées par Gundissalinus dans les discussions qui ont suivi, concernant la structure de la connaissance humaine. (shrink)

It might be surprising to find in a journal of contemporary philosophy a text that is mostly about Hugh of St. Victor. The hermeneutic question, however, did not begin only yesterday. While this question has its actual sources in Origen and Saint Augustine, it is in the Didascalicon or The Art of Reading by Hugh of St. Victor that it first finds its clearest formulation and its most methodical development. This “hidden source of hermeneutics” allows for (...) a questioning of the foundations of the hermeneutics of the text from its outset, and also for a return of hermeneutics, or better to turn it, to its primordial origin: a hermeneutics of the “world” or of “creation” [ liber mundi ], rather than of the “text” and of “Scripture” [ liber Scripturae ]. A “Catholic” hermeneutics of “the body and the voice” should, in my opinion, take the place of the “Protestant” hermeneutics of “the meaning of the text” and the “Jewish” hermeneutics of the “body of the letter”. This thesis, which is stated and developed in my book Crossing the Rubicon, has its roots and justification in this historical essay on Hugh of St. Victor. (shrink)

This is a discussion of self-knowledge in Hugh of St. Victor. It will yield the following three systematic results. First, it will be shown that there is a clear sense in which human self-knowledge is knowledge of one’s own rationality, and therefore knowledge of the proper object of one’s rational capacities (dunameis meta logou). Second, a distinction will be drawn between perfect and imperfect self-knowledge. Third, it will turn out that under conditions of perfect self-knowledge, all our rational (...) capacities would work like our capacity for perceptual knowledge. (shrink)

The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor encourages the study of many disciplines in order for the soul to acquire knowledge that aids in the restoration of human nature. However, according to Hugh's epistemology much of the acquired knowledge depends upon sensory qualities internalized as images which distract the soul and cause it to degenerate from its original unity. This essay explores the tension between Hugh's educational optimism and Hugh's epistemological pessimism. After considering and rejecting (...) two unsuccessful strategies the soul might pursue for avoiding degeneration and distraction, we shall utilize Hugh's non-representational conception of cognition to develop a plausible intellectual strategy. We shall also build upon some of Hugh's remarks about music to sketch a model of self-knowledge as a kind of proportionality in the soul. (shrink)

Hugh of Saint Victor was an incredibly influential philosopher and theologian in 10th century France-his eloquence and writing earning him fame exceeding even that of St. Bernard. Yet despite his medieval celebrity, Hugh remains incredibly understudied in contemporary academica. Paul Rorem offers a basic introduction to Hugh's theology, through a comprehensive survey of his works. Drawing his evidence not only from Hugh's own descriptions of his work but from the earliest manuscript traditions of his writings, (...) Rorem organizes and presents his corpus within a tri-part framework, treating each of Hugh's major works in its appropriate place, and orienting the reader to its contents, as well as its location in Hugh's overarching program of theological pedagogy. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that Søren Kierkegaard's prefatory editorial remark in Practice in Christianity about resorting to and making use of grace has a medieval inheritance, which stems from his reading of Hugh of St Victor (1096–1142). Rather than grounding Kierkegaard's remark exclusively within the Lutheran tradition, I suggest that the medieval inheritance of the relationship between operative and cooperative grace contributed to a theological development in Kierkegaard's view of sanctification. Moreover, Kierkegaard's journal entries prior to the (...) publication of Practice in Christianity provide the connection to Hugh of St Victor's theology of sanctification. I briefly survey the development of Kierkegaard's view of grace and examine Kierkegaard's commentary on Hugh of St Victor's Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then, I survey Hugh's distinction between restorative and cooperative grace against the wider backdrop of his theology of sanctification to highlight a structural affinity with Kierkegaard's writings. My aim is to identify and illuminate this unexplored Catholic source of Kierkegaard's distinction between grace and works that indicates a non-competitive relationship between divine and human agency. (shrink)

In this paper, I will argue that the Twelfth Century spiritually -oriented texts present an important, but often neglected instance of natural theology. My analysis will show that in the texts of Hugh of St. Victor and his student Richard of St. Victor we find a Christian Neo-Platonist variant of natural theology. The elements of natural theology form a central part of their larger spiritual programmes, which in turn are meant to guide the human being in her (...) ascent into divine realities and thereby offer immediate experience of the presence of God. I will give special attention to Hugh’s treatise _De Tribus Diebus_, as it explores both the manifestations of the Trinity in the created world as well as the beauty of all created objects. Hugh’s account will be supplemented by an exposition of Richard’s idea of experience as a vital means for all knowing. (shrink)

_From Knowledge to Beatitude _is a collection of original essays on the intersection between Christian theology and spiritual life primarily in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, especially in the Parisian School of St. Victor, which honors the influential work of Grover A. Zinn, Jr. Written by distinguished scholars from various fields of medieval studies, these essays range from the study of the exegetical school of twelfth-century St. Victor and medieval glossed Bibles to the medieval cultural reception of women (...) visionaries, preachers, and crusaders. Although focused on St. Victor, they provide analyses of Christian themes up to the modern period. A common thread is Zinn’s careful attention to the connections between medieval spirituality and biblical studies, the origin of these ideas, and their lasting influence in Christian culture. The essays take us from Hugh of St. Victor’s foundation—material culture—to the “beatitude” of a wider understanding of Victorine culture and its lasting legacy. This volume is a fitting tribute to a generous scholar, teacher, and mentor. It will appeal to historians, scholars of religion and theology, and art historians. "_From Knowledge to Beatitude_ serves a need and fills an important gap in the Victorine tradition, the history of medieval exegesis, and medieval studies. The volume also honors the contributions of Grover Zinn, an important medieval scholar and teacher. It serves as a model for doing research and generalizing in the field of medieval studies and demonstrates how the last generation and the current generation of medieval scholars have plowed through difficult primary and secondary sources to make the medieval traditions clear." —_Philip Krey, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia_. (shrink)

In Hugh of St Victor the pleasure of knowledge is seen as an ‘intellectual emotion’, in that it exists at the intersection between affectivity and rationality. This is clear from various texts: from the De fructibus carnis et spiritus to the De quinque septenis and the Sententiae de divinitate, gaudium is seen as the intellectual emotion par excellence, as it is an ‘inner’ joy, a jucunditas spiritalis that produces happiness. From an anthropological point of view, joy and pleasure (...) combine with knowledge to help men abandon the pleasures of the body and devote themselves to those of the spirit. This is linked to Hugh of St Victor’s ‘hedonistic’ pedagogy, which holds that docet quod scire delectet, in that one learns more easily what is pleasant. Similarly, limited, restricted knowledge does not produce as much pleasure as extensive, wide-ranging knowledge. The essay sets these analyses in a table of Hugh’s terminology that is organized in four semantic poles: 1) pleasure and desire (delectatio, voluptas, o... (shrink)

Richard of St. Victor is an important figure in the history of scholasticism. In this paper, we will analyze his idea of the person, which he developed for the needs of Triadology. The peculiarity of Richard's point of view is reflected in the attempt to establish the relationship as a key ontological definition of the person. In his thinking, Richard relies on his predecessors, primarily Tertullian, Augustine and to some extent Anselm. Despite the limitations arising from such a background, (...) Richard's insights were a novelty in the thought of the Western Christianity, and the consequences of his teachings have never been fully grasped. (shrink)

An overview of Hugh’s thought, focusing on philosophical issues. Specifically it gives a summary of his overall vision; the sources he worked from; his understanding of: the division of the science, biblical interpretation, God, creation, providence and evil, human nature and ethics, salvation; and his spiritual teachings.

Early in the 1240s the University of Paris hired a recent graduate from Oxford, Roger Bacon by name, to teach the arts and introduce Aristotle to its curriculum. Along with eight sets of questions on Aristotle's natural works and the Metaphysics he claims to have authored another eight books before he returned to Oxford around 1247. Within the prodigious output of this period we find a treatise on logic titled Summulae dialectices, and it is this that is here annotated and (...) presented in translation. The book is unique in several respects. First, there is the breadth of its sources. Not only do we find explicit reference to the usual authors such as Aristotle, Plato, Boethius, Porphyry, Cicero, and Priscian, we also find unexpected reference to Augustine, Bernardus Silvestris, Donatus, Terence, and Themistius, along with mention of the Muslim philosophers Algazel and Ibn Rushd. Second, it is clear that Bacon is drawing on or reacting to an extraordinarily wide variety of medieval sources: Garland the Computist, Hugh of St. Victor, Master Hugo, Hugutius of Pisa, Isidore of Seville, Nicholas of Damas, Nicholas of Paris, Richard of Cornwall, Robert Kilwardby, Robert of Lincoln, and Robert the Englishman. Third, it unexpectedly presents a full-blown treatment of Aristotle's theory of demonstration. And finally, Bacon reveals a highly unorthodox view of the signification of common terms. Bacon, here, takes his students and us deeper into medieval sources and controversy than any of his rivals do. (shrink)

Clarembald of Arras, a twelfth-century ecclesiastical official and schoolmaster, composed glosses on two of the Boethian Opuscula Sacra and a commentary on the hexameron. While he acknowledged his study of Boethius under his masters Thierry of Chartres and Hugh of St. Victor, his dependence on the former is significant: he borrowed heavily from Thierry, following not only his basic doctrinal interpretation of the Boethian treatises but also repeating entire passages from Thierry's glosses. ;The question arises then: is Clarembald (...) to be considered as nothing more than an imitator of the thought of Thierry? Is he to be understood simply as a "typical Chartrian"? Is his interest in the Boethian opuscula confined to restatements of Thierry's interpretations and entirely lacking in any other purposes or qualities that are peculiarly his own? ;A careful reading of the Clarembaldian corpus does indeed present a strong case for the dependence of Clarembald upon Thierry in thought and expression. Yet he composed his De Trinitate gloss at the request of others, even though Thierry's was available, indicating something of Clarembald's standing in the academic community. Further there is substantial evidence in his writings of a distinct measure of independence from Thierry. This is to be found in part in Clarembald's careful contextualization of each work and again in his utilization of sources unknown to Thierry. The most prominent feature of independence is found in Clarembald's intention or purpose in writing his own glosses and the hexameron: Clarembald's works have a certain polemical and apologetic orientation, particularly in regard to Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard and the Cathars, an orientation not found as such in Thierry's works. ;A careful examination of the texts shows Clarembald to be indeed a scholar of some merit in his research and in the expression of his thought. His intentions and purposes in writing go beyond an imitation of Thierry: he used the glosses to confront dogmatic issues of the day, giving him his own unique place in the tradition of Boethian commentators and in the intellectual history of the middle ages. (shrink)

Munich, Bayerische Staadtsbibliothek Ms. C.L.M. 4643 contains a curious commentary on Boethius's Arithmetica, which deals very fully with some passages in the work and totally neglects a great many others. The principal interest of the piece lies in the fact that the parts of the Arithmetica it selects for consideration are exactly those which were of special interest to twelfth- and early-thirteenth-century students, and in particular to the successors of Hugh of St. Victor who continued to draw on (...) the Victorine tradition. (shrink)

English summary: Gilduin (1155) was, from 1113, the first abbot of the community of the Canons Regular of St Augustine, soon to become an abbey, under the auspices of St Victor of Marseille, on the left bank of the river Seine. After the death of his confrere Hugh, who was of German descent and the leading figure of the Victorines, on 11 February 1141, abbot Gilduin took care that the writings of Hugh were collected and compiled in (...) a representative complete edition. This 'Gilduin-edition' - as it is called in Medieval scholarship - comprises four volumes, the first of which is reconstructed herewith and presented in print. This volume follows the 2008 edition of Hugh's theological summa, De sacramentis christiane fidei. Then as now we are dealing with a critical albeit historical text. This new volume contains nine works, among which the first ever complete edition of Hugh's Cronica surely stands out. German description: Gilduin (+ 1155) war ab 1113 der erste Abt der einige Jahre zuvor gegrundeten und bald zur Abtei erhobenen Gemeinschaft von Augustinerchorherren unter dem Patronat des hl. Victor von Marseille, auf dem linken Ufer der Seine. Nach dem Tode seines Mitbruders Hugo, des aus Deutschland stammenden fuhrenden Kopfes der Viktoriner, am 11. Februar 1141 hat Abt Gilduin dafur gesorgt, daa die Schriften Hugos gesammelt und in einer reprasentativen Gesamtausgabe zusammengestellt werden. Diese in der internationalen mediavistischen Forschung so genannte,Gilduin-Ausgabe' der Werke Hugos von Saint-Victor umfaat vier Bande, deren erster hiermit rekonstruiert und im Druck vorgelegt wird. Dieser Band folgt somit auf unsere im Jahre 2008 besorgte Ausgabe der theologischen Summe Hugos, De sacramentis christiane fidei. Damals wie heute handelt es sich um einen kritischen, wenngleich historischen Text. Dieser neue Band umfaat neun Werke, unter denen insbesondere die uberhaupt erste vollstandige Ausgabe von Hugos Cronica hervorzuheben ist. (shrink)

The author presents the role of nature in our knowledge and love of God in the Greek Fathers and one major medieval theologian, Hugh of St. Victor. There is a very rich literature on the contemplative use of nature but a lesser known one that is an active spirituality. It focuses on technology and commerce and how their improvement is part of our restoration from the Fall. It thus connects earthly pursuits to religious motives and goals. It is (...) non-Aristotelian, free of an anti-intellectual prejudice toward the mechanical arts and commerce. It distinguishes between the proper aim and the misuse of technology and commerce. The loss of this tradition was so complete that Francis Bacon is still regarded by most people as the origin of the notion that science and technology are part of our spiritual restoration after the Fall. (shrink)

Natural law is a crucial subject in the twelfth-century debates among Roman and canon lawyers, but also among the exegetes and theologians. Starting from two verses of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, the masters debated the natural capability of human being to achieve a moral knowledge and the features of the universal moral principle, that is the lex naturalis, which natural reason can understand. Through the analysis of Gilbert of La Porrée’s Glossa in epistolas Beati Pauli and of Ps. (...) class='Hi'>Hugh of St. Victor’s Quaestiones in epistolas Beati Pauli, this essay examines the exegetical developments in the Parisian milieu of the mid-twelfth century. It shows how the doctrinal positions of Gilbert and the Ps. Hugh stand in their intellectual landscape and which influence they have in the development of the theological debate on natural law. (shrink)

The Speculum Ecclesie, by which title it is commonly known, of St Edmund of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury, has come down in various versions in Latin, Anglo-Norman, and English. The present edition comprises the original Latin text, which has never before been printed, and for comparison, printed en face, the vulgate Latin text, which is a translation of one of the Anglo-Norman versions.Manuscript evidence suggests that the Speculum must almost certainly have been written before Edmund became archbishop in 1234, and (...) even before the 1220s. The chief authority for the treatise, apart from the scriptures, is High of St Victor, and the Speculum is, in fact, a skilful summa of Hugh's teaching on the life of meditation and contemplation which should be the ideal of the religious. Edmund has drawn together and systemized advice and instruction scattered in many places in Hugh's ascetical and theological writings. (shrink)

In Book 3 of his Politics, and again in Book 7, Aristotle makes explicit his disdain for the banausos (often translated ‘mechanic’) as an occupation qualified for full civic life. Where modern admirers of Aristotle, such as Alasdair MacIntyre, have taken him at face value concerning this topic and thus felt a need to distance themselves from him, I claim that the grounds that Aristotle offers for the exclusion of banausoi from citizenship are not consistent with other important teachings (found (...) in the eighth book of the Politics as well as in several of his other writings) about the nature of poesis (‘productive science’, which is the form of knowledge characteristic of the so-called ‘mechanical arts’). I further support this claim with reference to the role played by the mechanical arts within the Aristotelian framework of knowledge that one encounters in medieval European thought between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, with particular reference to Hugh of St. Victor, John of Salisbury, and Marsiglio of Padua. (shrink)

The history of philosophical hermeneutics is one of expanding scope—moving from the interpretation of religious texts, to all texts, to understanding in the human sciences, to all understanding. As its scope expands it intersects with a wider range of philosophical traditions; only by making these intersections explicit can the key themes of philosophical hermeneutics come forward. I consider two central hermeneutic claims—that nature can be thought of as a text and that insights drawn from understanding texts illuminate all understanding. These (...) ideas have roots in the Liber Naturae, especially in the writings of Hugh of St. Victor and of Robert Boyle. Understanding how they each see nature as a text enables us to clarify how Hans-Georg Gadamer must see it and draws our attention to his neglected phenomenology of reading. (shrink)

Clarembald of Arras is recognized primarily as a capable but uncreative alumnus of the school of Chartres, and not without some reason, as George and Fortin note in the opening of their introduction. Clarembald was a student of Thierry of Chartres and Hugh of St. Victor in a rather thoroughgoing sense—his written work often relies heavily on his teachers and focuses exclusively on topics on which Thierry had already written. Nonetheless, George and Fortin suggest that a closer reading (...) of Clarembald’s texts will reveal him to be a more careful and important thinker than is presently appreciated. (shrink)

Contents I Introduction II Subalternation and Theology III Theology and Dogmatic Declarations IV The Mixed Principles of Theology V Virtual Revelation: The Unity of Theology VI Theology as a Natural Science VII Theology’s Certitude VIII Conclusion Notes Bibliography All the contents are fully attributable to the author, Doctor Victor Salas. Should you wish to get this text republished, get in touch with the author or the editorial committee of the Studia Poinsotiana. Insofar as possible, we will be happy to (...) broker your contact. (shrink)

Seeking to provide a richer alternative to both the contemporary cult of beauty and appearance and the concomitant decline of real beauty, this book offers a systematic treatment of the relationship between beauty and the good by drawing from ancient (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, and others) and medieval (e.g., Aquinas, Bonaventure, Hugh of St. Victor, and others) thought in such a way as to bring together scholars in these traditions.