Navigating Medieval Thought

I’ve just finished reading Rémi Brague’s The Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Like other compilations of essays from a single author, some passages and some articles shine out much more than others.  The most important point, over the course of the entire book, is a point similar to the one he makes in Eccentric Culture, that the intellectual mode of Europeans was always one of appropriation and “inclusion”(via commentary), while other cultures “digested” (paraphrased and absorbed) other cultures, thereby eliminating the need original sources.  So what the medieval European “includes” remains entirely other, and a measure against which the European thinker may judge himself.

The essays in which Brague develops this point tend to be a little less impressive, and I look forward to reading Eccentric Culture to get a better idea of what Brague would have us learn from the philosophical developments of the Middle Ages.  But as far as Legend goes, my favorite essays discussed the “value” of an idea (a kind of cultural weight) in the different medieval cultures, the importance of flesh for molding medieval self-understanding, and the justifications for jihad by Muslim philosophers.  Another great essay centers on the concept that medieval geocentrism was, in reality, a humble view of the world, with some philosophers going so far as to describe the earth as a kind of cosmic dung heap.  Read a bit more about Brague on geocentrism on Wedgewords and a little about Calvin’s Aristotelian cosmology at Epistole.

I’ve also learned to avoid plowing through a book of essays in their consecutive order.  The amount of mental gear-shifting one has to do can be pretty painful.  I’ve got a few more essay compilations lined up for the summer, including Heiko A. Oberman’s The Dawn of the Reformation, so I’ll be sure to space that one out over a couple of weeks.

P.S.  Summer reading list coming soon.  In other words, nerd alert.

Angels and Persons

Rémi Brague writes:

Which creature was better, the angel or the man, remained an open question throughout the Middle Ages.  Moreover, the most commonly admitted response to it varied both according to religious tradition and within each tradition.  Among Jewish thinkers, a majority of them pronounced in favor of the angels.  In Islam, the Qur’an opted quite decidedly in favor of man.  In the Christian world, one hears a discreet but novel tone, with a decided emphasis on the historicity of man.  The latter is a consequence of man’s carnal nature.  Human love needs to mature into charity, which implies the passage of time.  The angel decides outside of time what he will be, a good angel or a demon, and once he has chosen, he will remain so for eternity.  Man can of course fall, but he can also be redeemed.  From this point of view, man is worth more than an angel.  That is why angels have something to learn from men, because what happens within human history is not accessible to the angelic mind (Ephesians 3:10).  This is one of the reasons that led medieval authors to recognize that man has certain advantages of over the angel.

Rémi Brague, The Legend of the Middle Ages:  Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, trans.  Lydia G. Chocrane, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2009), 98.

A few things to note.  Man’s finitude here is a good thing.  It’s good to be a creature.  And his historicity gives him an advantage over the angels in that the experience of redemption gives an insight into how God loves and why God would love a thing.  A believer is like a celebrated defector from a terrible regime, who has not only already embraced his new country in his heart and mind, but crosses over with a peculiar kind of knowledge and a sadness that frames a new joy.

General Update #1

It seems I’ve spent the last week experiencing half-posts; there are a lot of observations I might try to force into a full piece, but those never work out.  Instead, I’m going to go with bullet points.

• The Pixies. I think I’ve listened to Doolittle at least a half dozen times in the past week, partly because I watched the documentary loudQUIETloud on Hulu.  It’s not the best documentary, but it does present some of the dynamics of one of the most important bands of the late 80s/early 90s on their reunion tour.  Their music is as weird and split-personalitied as the band members are;  it’s allegedly depressing but it’s so catchy that I move right past it and have a good time.  David Lovering, the drummer, has to be one of the most underrated of that group.  I’d put him in a top 5 with Topper Headon and John Bonham as one of those drummers whose abilities destroy any limits that might be placed on the songwriters.
• Garden Update. I added two lavender plants, another mint plant, two aloes, and a Lady Bird Johnson rose bush.  I also built a rough compost pile, although next summer I’d like to replace it with something a little bit more efficient.  I don’t know how effective turning a giant heap will be, but I’ve got one.
• SXSW. It’s Spring Break and SXSW in Austin.  Tomorrow I’m heading down to Hotel San Jose at noon to sell some new shirts from Sanctuary Printshop, but be on the lookout for our fully modified ’79 El Camino cruising the streets and printing posters on site.  Downtown needs a quadruple bypass during SXSW so I’m prepping the Brava tonight for some serious street action.
• Latin. I’ve been teaching myself Latin with L.A. Wilding’s Latin Course for Schools, which I hadn’t heard of before I purchased it.  I’m just starting the Second Conjugation and Second Declension, and I’m really enjoying the material.  The lessons are strictly grammar and vocabulary followed by Latin-to-English and English-to-Latin translation exercises.  All languages should be taught this way – I haven’t learned to count or name objects in my bathroom yet, and so I’m actually interested in continuing the study.  Besides, who wouldn’t want to study the book of someone with this academic title: “L.A. Wilding, M.A.  Senior Classical Master, Dragon School, Oxford.  Formerly Scholar of Oriel College, Oxford.”  Loeb Classical Library, here I come!
• Two new books. I received Rémi Brague’s The Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and Heiko A. Oberman’s The Dawn of the Reformation.  Thanks to Wedgewords for the suggestions.  I’ve already read the preface and first essay in Oberman’s text and I can’t wait to work through more of it.  There are a pair of great quotations worth sharing:

“Each of these articles [in the book] testifies to the need and value of placing the Reformation movement in its medieval context and bridging the ideological gaps between late medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation studies.”

“The legitimation for turning [to big picture narratives] nevertheless — from time to time — to such a comprehensive theme lies rather in the need to counterbalance the atomizing tendencies of our specialized inquiries, which afford a scholarly shelter against critique while obscuring the coordinates and shape of the puzzle.”

I knew medievalists got to claim the Renaissance, but I hadn’t thought yet that medievalists would get to claim the Reformation as well.  Quite exciting.

I’ve been thinking lately about the relationship between philosophy and history, and receiving the Brague and Oberman books only made me think about that tension even more.  Brague, Oberman, and earlier scholars like Etienne Gilson exemplify great historians whose works are crucial for philosophers (and almost raise them to that level themeselves).  Other historians, like Michel Foucault and other researchers who distill their method from Nietzsche, preach the end (or perhaps the irrelevance) of philosophy.  My experience has been that more of the latter category exist currently, while the former are the ones who inspire me to keep reading.  More reflections on that topic might be coming soon.