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Theological Directions in the West.I n the 9th and 10th centuries, the governing direction in spiritual enlightenment in the West was based on the Biblical-practical teachings. The whole theological interest consisted of studying the Holy Gospel, according to the interpretations of the ancient teachers. Apart from the Holy Writings, studies of Church dogmas didn’t exist and therefore, there were no theological disciplines. However, in the 11th and 12th centuries, a love to pursue the study of abstract theological questions and aspirations to bring together all the components of the Church and its religious doctrines into a scientific system, arose in the West. This tendency coincided with the political elevation of the Pope and Church, together with the spread of philosophies by Plato and especially Aristotle. The result of the commencement of the “thinking movement” in the West was the appearance of theological studies, developed in two directional forms — scholastic and mystic. The essence of these theological studies, known under the term scholastic (from the word school, “schola”), was the drive to unite Revelation and philosophy, faith and learning within its confines. The amalgamation of Revelation and philosophy was presented in the following manner. Revelation gave the material for theology, while philosophy — its form. The truth of the Revelation had to always remain inviolable as this was the characteristic feature of scholasticism, in that it never concerned itself with the nature of the Church’s teachings, and everything the Church believed in (correctly or incorrectly), was accepted as the absolute truth. Philosophy on the other hand (proper dialectics), had to fashion, explain, prove and orderly arrange all the material provided by Revelation. It was from this — as they used to say in the middle ages — philosophy was the servant of theology. For example: in examining the Church’s teachings that everyone has sin through Adam, or that God became human, or that Christ is always present at Eucharist — scholasticism had always accepted all this as immutable truths. However, at the same time, it was involved in investigating questions as to how could everybody have sinned through Adam, why did God become human, how can Christ be present at every Eucharist. This initiation provided a full spectrum for dialectic conclusions and all possible types of intellectual reasoning. Here indeed was a matter of philosophy and its dialectics. And indeed, the scholastic theologians were always outstanding for their plethora of thoughts and subtle dialectic intelligence. Furthermore, the philosophical issue was to bring about into a unified whole — all the different points in the religious doctrine, examine the pro and contra, explained and approved from all sides — and outline their unique totality, i.e. create a theological system. The various points in the religious doctrine that were initially proven by reason, were becoming a subject of learning and not of faith. Thus the purpose of scholasticism was to elevate faith to the level of learning. In its endeavors to achieve its tasks and aspirations, scholasticism created much good and at the same time, made many errors. Scholasticism’s main accomplishment is found in its research and contentions, which gave clarity, accuracy and definition to the Church’s teachings on faith, and brought it systematic order. The ugly side of scholasticism is found in the following — in substantiating theological truths, scholastics often cited meaningless and petty forms of evidence, regarding them as being important; presented many preposterous and curious questions, and resolved them in a likewise ridiculous manner; indulged in dialectical arguments, placing agility and expediency of proof ahead of substance of the religious doctrine. Its theological system was presented as a collection of truths in a connected outline, but because of its divisions and subdivisions that were not pertinent to the subject, it was entangled. In short, scholastic theologians were paying exclusive attention to the formal side of the matter: to them, it wasn’t the religious doctrine itself that was important, but its presentation. It is from this that the scholastics elevated as dogmas, many incorrect teachings that existed in the Roman Church, either in their infancy or in the form of detached opinions. With the passing of time and scholastics being in full control, all the Roman Church’s theology was contained in one form only, and all her dogma’s could be accepted only in the form that it was presented by the scholastics. Live and active faith, as well as intelligent study within the realms of religion but not suitable to scholastic thinking, were totally eradicated by scholasticism. Running parallel with the scholastic direction in theology was mysticism (from the word to close your eyes). Scholasticism strove to comprehend religious doctrines of the Church, by way of reason and through logical conclusions. The theologians on the contrary, wanted to understand the dogmas through feelings, by way of inner contemplation and immersion into one’s self. Mysticism, asserted that a person can get to know God and all the revealed teachings, not through dialectical proof, but by spiritual elevation toward God in the form of direct contemplation. Being in a state of meditation and ecstasy, a person will be able to perceive the presence of God in his soul and feel fulfilled and enlightened. It is this condition that entails the direct, inner understanding of God. It is the feeble level that will have a place in the next world. In order to attain a vision and awareness of God here on earth, said the mystics, one needs to have passed through a number of stages of self-improvement. In essence, they offered three stages. The first is cleansing i.e. the release of the spirit — with the aid of asceticism — from all of the ties of nature’s feelings. The second is enlightenment i.e. the inner, purely spiritual life, when the spirit lives and functions absolutely free of the influences of the sentient world. The third is realization i.e. fulfillment in God, Who fills the whole essence of a human being. Being filled with the presence of God, a person is in a state of enlightenment and ecstasy, which manifests itself — here on earth — in acts that have divine characteristics (miracles, prophesies etc.). The scholastic direction of theology in the West was consolidated by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1109), while the mystical aspect — by the renowned Bernard Klervosski (died 1153). In the thirteenth century, scholasticism attained its full maturity in the person of Thomas Aquina (died 1274). The 15th century saw the darker sides of scholastic directions, empty formalism and casuistry, come into overwhelming importance. In practice, the scholastic directions with its attestations of for and anti — in a moral sense — proved to be harmful. With the aid of casuistry, attempts materialized to justify crime, and it was because of this that scholasticism exhausted itself. In the beginning of the 16th century it disappeared completely, although traces of it remained for a long time in theological teachings. In the 15th century, mysticism assumed a more practical direction, expressed in sermons on genuinely pious living. The most outstanding representative of practical mysticism was Thomas a` Kempis (died 1471), having written “Imitation of Christ,” which received world renown. To this day, it enjoys universal respect throughout the west.
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