On Two Friars

Showing the change in Christianity is Aquinas’ argument in the 13th century C.E. He argues against being

Giovanni Bernardone, more widely known as Francis of Assisi, was a Catholic friar that founded the Franciscan Order in the early thirteenth century. The Franciscan Order, under the spiritual guidance and teachings of Francis and his disciples, became one of the largest sects of the Catholic church today. Francis’ teachings brought about a reform in the Catholic church that changed ideas on grace and salvation of the Christian

In this paper, I will discuss how three influential scholars in this order: Augustine, Aquinas, Galileo, delimit science or the bible and the ways their beliefs overlapped or didn’t.

Francis spent his early years as the spoiled son of a merchant from the nouveau rich class. He was accustomed to violence and even went to war in a battle between Assisi and Perugia. This all changed later, as he become truly selfless. One of his friends noticed this sudden change in Francis and asked him, “Francis are you going to take a wife?” In response he said, “I will marry a nobler and fairer bride than you ever saw, who shall surpass all others in beauty and excel them in wisdom.” The lady he was referring to was Lady Poverty. He would go on to sell off all his possessions including his own horse and attempted to give the money to the decaying St. Damian Church which the priest would not accept. It is worth noting that the priest did not take the money because he found the change of heart within Francis startling. “The priest was amazed, and wondering at a change of circumstances incredibly sudden, refused to believe what he heard; and, thinking he was being hoaxed, he would not keep the offered money.” The skeptical reaction of the priest shows how radical and revolutionary Saint Francis’ generosity was, but also how rare a man like Francis was at a this point in

However, the rediscovery of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers had a profound effect on European thought. This caused the Catholic Church to become deeply concerned. Those whose ideas strayed too far from Christianity were accused of heresy. Scholars tried to defend themselves by arguing that there was no contradiction between philosophical reasoning and religious faith. The most influential scholar of the time was an Italian monk who became known as Saint Thomas Aquinas. His writings helped to ease the growing conflict between faith and reason. Aquinas believed that although observation and rational thinking

While St. Thomas Aquinas established himself as the New Aristotle of the 13th century, Dante Alighieri established himself the new Virgil. The two men made an immense impact in their respective fields (poetry and philosophy). Yet surprisingly, the two share common ideals. In each of their respective literary and philosophical views, they establish the importance of the relationship between nature and grace. In Dante’s Inferno the unique relationship of grace and nature is made apparent and reflects the writings of Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica”. Dante’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise exhibit and reflect St. Thomas’ understanding of the relationship of nature and grace. Dante

The rise of literacy towards the end of the Middle Ages brought with it a torrent of individuals ready to think fro themselves and formulate their own theories and ideas regarding God and the Christian faith. For a long time, the church held a near monopoly on literacy and used this to maintain control over people’s lives and beliefs. While some of these new intellectuals created ideas that would forever change the way people envision themselves and their relation to God and the universe, some simply patched together tidbits of ideas that were not born out of deep philosophical inquiry, but had more of an instinctive type of logical grounding. This was the line of thinking that made up Domenico

St. Thomas combined, as I mentioned before, Aristotle's teachings with Christian doctrine. For example, Thomas argued that no conflict exists between reason and faith. Philosophy is based on reason, he declared, and theology comes from faith in divine revelation, yet both come from God. So Thomas believed that any differences between divine

St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican professor that began teaching at the University of Paris in the year 1256, in theology. His works in the field of theology were greatly influenced by Aristotle as well as Plato. His main goal in the section of his writing, Summa Contra Gentiles, was to explain how magic was portrayed in the “natural world”. He was trying to show non-Christians, especially Muslims, how Catholic beliefs could be rationalized. All the documents of St. Aquinas’s that were paired together in the section of the book by the editors were detailed works that were seen as controversial back when they were first published. One of the works in this section, titled Commentary on the Four Books of Sentences: Sorcery and Exorcism, in

Scientific reasoning has brought humanity to incredibly high levels of sophistication in all realms of knowledge. For Saint Thomas Aquinas, his passion involved the scientific reasoning of God. The existence, simplicity and will of God are simply a few topics which Aquinas explores in the Summa Theologica. Through arguments entailing these particular topics, Aquinas forms an argument that God has the ability of knowing and willing this particular world of contingent beings. The contrasting nature of necessary beings and contingent beings is at the heart of this debate.

St. Francis of Assisi was born in Umbria in the year 1182. He was a child every father hoped for, he was filled with life, a determined and courageous individual. He was gifted with rather good looks, qualities that attracted friends and a gift of leadership. His father was an extremely wealthy merchant in Assisi. But this son, his favourite, was the one who broke Peter Bernardone’s heart. The boy turned on his father, and in a vicious event that eventually resulted into a public scene. St. Francis of Assisi stepped away from his father, his business and left his father in a state of immense emotional suffering.

Saint Francis of Assisi had a great childhood, but as he got older his father began to beat him. He lived the life of luxury, and was the the son of a very rich cloth merchant. He was born in Circa, Italy in 1181. He abandoned the life of luxury, for a life devoted to Christianity, and God. He was very devoted into living in poverty, and he rebuilt the Christian church. He is the patron Saint of ecology and animals. He wanted to go to the Christian church reportedly after hearing God’s voice. He insisted that this was his calling and his adulthood confirmed it.

Another issue with Aquinas argument leads to a discussion that John Dewey brought up in “The Process of Scientific Thinking" of the possibility of indemonstrable knowledge being mistaken or misinterpreted. Even if Scripture is absolute, people’s perception of the doctrine can be fallible.

Francis, was cautious about education such as his protégé possessed. He had seen too many theologians taking pride in their sophisticated knowledge. Still, if the friars had to hit the roads and preach to all sorts of people, they needed a firm grounding in Scripture and theology. So, when he heard the glowing report of Anthony’s debut at the ordinations, Francis wrote in 1224, “;It pleases me that you should teach the friars sacred theology, provided that in such studies they do not destroy the spirit of holy prayer and devotedness, as contained in the Rule.”

The Friar is a man of many traits, but trickery is one of his best traits. The Friar is a character in the poem The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Friar was in a religious Order, and he was loved by many people. He is a character that appears to be graceful and elegant, but he abuses his power as a clergyman, which was a common theme in the church during this time. The author, Geoffrey Chaucer, uses this poem to inform his audience of the practices in the Middle Ages. He uses the characters of the stories to show some of these practices. The Friar is one of the characters in which Geoffrey Chaucer shows the corruption of the church during the Middle Ages. The Friar is a prime example of one who used his position to get