Dialectic and Theology in the Eleventh Century

The study provides a reappraisal of the controversy over the value of logic in theology in the eleventh century, which has for a long time been a theme central to the historiography of early medieval thought.In the four chapters of the work the author gives close exegesis of the central texts by Peter Damian, Lanfranc of Bec, Berengar of Tours and Anselm of Canterbury respectively and argues that the familiar ways of describing the theme are thoroughly misleading. Damian's 'anti-dialectical' attitude is less extreme than often claimed. Lanfranc's reputation as a dialectician is largely based on misunderstanding, whereas Berengar is a sophisticated thinker and a forerunner of scholasticism. Of particular interest is the author's discussion of Anselm's ontological argument against the background of the Boethian theory of argument.