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Reason and Faith: Philosophy in the Middle Ages
(24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture) 12 Audio CDs.
CD's come 12 per Volume (2 Volumes) in hardcase with Course Guidebooks.
Taught by Thomas Williams of University of South Florida, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
Are philosophy and religionreason and faithfundamentally at odds? From today's strict division between questions of logic and questions of belief, one might think so. But for 1,000 years during a pivotal era of Western thought, reason and faith went hand-in-hand in the search for answers to the most profound issues investigated by Christianity's most committed scholars:
* Can God's existence and attributes be established by reason alone?
* Are there Christian doctrines that are beyond the scope of logical demonstration?
* How can Christian beliefs be defended against objections and made internally consistent?
These questions posed by the great philosophers of the Middle Ages bear no resemblance to the stereotypical medieval dispute about how many angels can dance on the head of a pina problem that apparently no one in the Middle Ages discussed. Instead, they are emblematic of an extraordinarily rich period of intellectual ferment, when the best minds of the age participated in a common struggle with transcendent questions, using reasoning in the service of faith.
CD's come 12 per Volume (2 Volumes) in hardcase with Course Guidebooks.
Taught by Thomas Williams of University of South Florida, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
Are philosophy and religionreason and faithfundamentally at odds? From today's strict division between questions of logic and questions of belief, one might think so. But for 1,000 years during a pivotal era of Western thought, reason and faith went hand-in-hand in the search for answers to the most profound issues investigated by Christianity's most committed scholars:
* Can God's existence and attributes be established by reason alone?
* Are there Christian doctrines that are beyond the scope of logical demonstration?
* How can Christian beliefs be defended against objections and made internally consistent?
These questions posed by the great philosophers of the Middle Ages bear no resemblance to the stereotypical medieval dispute about how many angels can dance on the head of a pina problem that apparently no one in the Middle Ages discussed. Instead, they are emblematic of an extraordinarily rich period of intellectual ferment, when the best minds of the age participated in a common struggle with transcendent questions, using reasoning in the service of faith.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Thomas Williams
14 books23 followersThe Reverend Canon Dr. Thomas Williams is an Episcopal priest of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida, and Canon Theologian at the Cathedral Church of St Peter in St Petersburg.
He received a BA in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1994.
His academic specialty is medieval Christian thought, focusing especially on St Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) and John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308).
He received a BA in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1994.
His academic specialty is medieval Christian thought, focusing especially on St Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) and John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 31, 2022
A lot to think about and a great place to start. One of the best from the Great Courses.
April 26, 2022
In this course Dr. Williams surveys the major philosophical advances of the Middle Ages, with a focus on six major philosopher-theologians: Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Williams’ teaching is very lively and one can tell he has a passion for his subject. The fact that Williams comes from within the Christian faith makes this course all the more helpful. This is an advanced course I’ll want to return to at a later point as I grow in my ability to understand all the history and the philosophical concepts presented. I recommend this for anyone interested in stretching their ability to think theologically and philosophically.
April 4, 2025
I completed 80% of this last year, but came back to finish this spring. These are excellent. Not only are the surprisingly engaging, but Williams does a remarkable job of showing the connectedness and development of thought between Medieval thinkers, as well as how their thought impacted later Modernity. I don't share William's special affinity for Duns Scotus, but on the whole, this was really well done.
January 12, 2019
It is just what it claims to be: a solid introduction to the topic.
October 9, 2022
Middle Ages is considered by many people as a black hole of intellectual endeavors, with Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine as exceptions. The lectures “reason and faith,” however, presents a continuous philosophical thread through the Middle Ages in reconciling two approaches to knowledge: revelation and human comprehension. These lectures address how we should understand God, what we know about God, and our relationship with God. Although the lectures follow the customary format of focusing on one thinker at a time, they uniquely emphasize connections between the schools of thought and the legacy of Middle Age thinking for later thinkers.
The 24 lectures cover several Middle Ages thinkers in chronicle order. They include Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Augustine started the project of “faith seeking understanding,” or uniting God with human reasoning. This project reaches its apex with the reintroduction of Aristotle into Western thinking and Aquinas’s systematic teaching of religion and reason. This trend was turned by Ockham with his famous “Ockham’s razor,” which excludes the idea of God from reasoning. Unlike most other courses, this one devotes multiple lectures to a thinker and thus going more profound and with a broader context.
The first question contemplated by many thinkers is how to prove God’s existence. A general approach is realizing that our reasoning inevitably reaches its limit without logical closing. We trace a chain of “creators” or “causes” to no end. We cannot explain where the original knowledge (or “ideal” in Plato’s terms) comes from. And we struggle to envision a reality without any defects. Therefore, we must “backstop” our infinite quest with an ultimate creator, cause, wisdom, and perfection. That is God.
However, this “God of necessity” is too abstract. It makes our reasoning complete, but it is not satisfying. We want to be able to say more about God. The thinkers contemplated questions such as whether God is omnipotent (it cannot violate logic, such as making a stone that he cannot move) and whether God can know the future, which is influenced by our free will. Various thinkers propose several theories. While these theories portray different visions of God, they share a common principle: our reasons cannot reach all necessary conclusions. Some knowledge must originate from faith and be obtained through revelation. However, knowledge from faith and reason should not and do not contradict each other.
So far, we may accept the idea of God as an idealized, even personified, creator and master. However, he is not necessarily the God described by the Christian teaching. The next task is to examine the relationship between God and human beings. What are God’s roles in our moral standards, justice, and security? How do we understand Trinity, redemption, good and evil, and other Christian tenets? Much of the Middle Ages' philosophical work attempted to answer these questions based on reason.
Another primary task of the Middle Ages philosophers was reconciling Aristotle’s thinking with Christianity. Aristotle established a comprehensive framework for reasoning, including epistemology, metaphysics, and logical rules. However, Aristotle did not accept the existence of God, and he believed that human reasoning is self-complete without the need for divine assistance. The Middle Ages thinkers, especially Aquinas, examined and explained the relationship between philosophy (reasoning) and theology (faith).
The perfect harmony created by Aquinas was disrupted by Ockham, who argues that reasoning can be self-complete and does not need the a priori assumption of God. Therefore, he argues, God is redundant and should not be included in the reasoning process. At the same time, social changes make other issues more prominent. People’s attention shifted away from the Middle Age philosophy to, for example, the emergence of science and the Catholic reformation. Actually, the reformist Luther drew from Aquinas and Ockham’s thoughts.
Nonetheless, social issues trump philosophical quests, and the project of uniting reason with faith receded to oblivion. However, it does not mean the Middle Age philosophy has lost its value, and we can still pick up and continue the project today.
The lectures are outstanding in similar courses because they not only delve into each philosopher’s works but also discuss their connection. The lectures also discussed the social conditions and the broader trends in thoughts, especially the roles of Platonism, Aristotelianism, and pagan philosophies. It provides a great context for studying western philosophy. For example, another course, “Skeptics and Believers” by Tyler Roberts, traces the evolution of Christian religious thoughts from the enlightenment period. That course provided a brief summary of Aquinas and went from there. Understanding of Middle Ages philosophical works, as provided by this course, is valuable in following the thread of thoughts.
On the other hand, a study of later philosophies, such as imperialism and rationalism, reveals the limit of the Middle Ages' understanding of reason and epistemology. These limitations explain some of the confusion Middle Ages philosophers struggled with. Therefore, these lectures are worth taking.
The 24 lectures cover several Middle Ages thinkers in chronicle order. They include Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Augustine started the project of “faith seeking understanding,” or uniting God with human reasoning. This project reaches its apex with the reintroduction of Aristotle into Western thinking and Aquinas’s systematic teaching of religion and reason. This trend was turned by Ockham with his famous “Ockham’s razor,” which excludes the idea of God from reasoning. Unlike most other courses, this one devotes multiple lectures to a thinker and thus going more profound and with a broader context.
The first question contemplated by many thinkers is how to prove God’s existence. A general approach is realizing that our reasoning inevitably reaches its limit without logical closing. We trace a chain of “creators” or “causes” to no end. We cannot explain where the original knowledge (or “ideal” in Plato’s terms) comes from. And we struggle to envision a reality without any defects. Therefore, we must “backstop” our infinite quest with an ultimate creator, cause, wisdom, and perfection. That is God.
However, this “God of necessity” is too abstract. It makes our reasoning complete, but it is not satisfying. We want to be able to say more about God. The thinkers contemplated questions such as whether God is omnipotent (it cannot violate logic, such as making a stone that he cannot move) and whether God can know the future, which is influenced by our free will. Various thinkers propose several theories. While these theories portray different visions of God, they share a common principle: our reasons cannot reach all necessary conclusions. Some knowledge must originate from faith and be obtained through revelation. However, knowledge from faith and reason should not and do not contradict each other.
So far, we may accept the idea of God as an idealized, even personified, creator and master. However, he is not necessarily the God described by the Christian teaching. The next task is to examine the relationship between God and human beings. What are God’s roles in our moral standards, justice, and security? How do we understand Trinity, redemption, good and evil, and other Christian tenets? Much of the Middle Ages' philosophical work attempted to answer these questions based on reason.
Another primary task of the Middle Ages philosophers was reconciling Aristotle’s thinking with Christianity. Aristotle established a comprehensive framework for reasoning, including epistemology, metaphysics, and logical rules. However, Aristotle did not accept the existence of God, and he believed that human reasoning is self-complete without the need for divine assistance. The Middle Ages thinkers, especially Aquinas, examined and explained the relationship between philosophy (reasoning) and theology (faith).
The perfect harmony created by Aquinas was disrupted by Ockham, who argues that reasoning can be self-complete and does not need the a priori assumption of God. Therefore, he argues, God is redundant and should not be included in the reasoning process. At the same time, social changes make other issues more prominent. People’s attention shifted away from the Middle Age philosophy to, for example, the emergence of science and the Catholic reformation. Actually, the reformist Luther drew from Aquinas and Ockham’s thoughts.
Nonetheless, social issues trump philosophical quests, and the project of uniting reason with faith receded to oblivion. However, it does not mean the Middle Age philosophy has lost its value, and we can still pick up and continue the project today.
The lectures are outstanding in similar courses because they not only delve into each philosopher’s works but also discuss their connection. The lectures also discussed the social conditions and the broader trends in thoughts, especially the roles of Platonism, Aristotelianism, and pagan philosophies. It provides a great context for studying western philosophy. For example, another course, “Skeptics and Believers” by Tyler Roberts, traces the evolution of Christian religious thoughts from the enlightenment period. That course provided a brief summary of Aquinas and went from there. Understanding of Middle Ages philosophical works, as provided by this course, is valuable in following the thread of thoughts.
On the other hand, a study of later philosophies, such as imperialism and rationalism, reveals the limit of the Middle Ages' understanding of reason and epistemology. These limitations explain some of the confusion Middle Ages philosophers struggled with. Therefore, these lectures are worth taking.
May 27, 2023
I really enjoyed Professor's Williams 24 lectures on the relationship between reason and faith during the Middle Ages. Professor Williams speaks very clearly with no speech distractions, his lectures are as clear as a bell. The topic that he is speaking on is one that is very interesting to me. How can a person use their reason to help them understand their faith in God? Professor Williams gives between 2-5 lectures to each of the following philosophers in the Middle Ages; Augustine, Boethius, Anslem, Abelard, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Ockham.
Professor Williams is passionate and knowledgeable about his topic. I listened to the audio version of this course while driving. His lectures are deep, and depending on what was happening while I was on the road, I occasionally missed something, so it is nice to have the course guidebook to go back and refer to it to check a statement, or get further reading on the topic discussed. I think I liked the lectures on Anslem and Duns Scotus the most, but this was a course I really enjoyed and will return to again in the future.
Professor Williams is passionate and knowledgeable about his topic. I listened to the audio version of this course while driving. His lectures are deep, and depending on what was happening while I was on the road, I occasionally missed something, so it is nice to have the course guidebook to go back and refer to it to check a statement, or get further reading on the topic discussed. I think I liked the lectures on Anslem and Duns Scotus the most, but this was a course I really enjoyed and will return to again in the future.
December 14, 2024
Maybe closer to 4? Not sure. I am sure that I personally would recommend knowledge of Plato, Aristotle, St Augustine on a minimum. Other than Boethius there is zero backstory or information of the men (it is all men) discussed here. If I hadn't read quite a bit on those three I think I would be lost. Also I have read Dante and there are quite a few references to him. In my humble opinion this is not a beginners lecture (this is a Jr. or Sr. level class-for those with some experience). My favorites were Augustine, Boethius, Scotts, Occam. Anselm and Abelard sections are okay. I kind of found myself spacing off a bit and re-listening to the Aquinas section. Some lectures are really entertaining and I felt like I learned a lot but others I found myself lost in the mental weeds.
June 3, 2021
Can't get more efficient than this at conveying information. It is admitedly a bit dry to present content in footnotes this way but if you are someone who is curious who doesn't want the stuff to go around it, this is the best thing that you can read. Part 1 is about Augustine, Boethius, Anselm and Abelard. Part 2 has Aquinas, Scotus and Ockham. I didn't read through the whole thing in detail but I went in quick, got what I wanted from the figures that most interested me and got out. This is an absolute must for anybody wishing to understand theology in a concise way.
January 11, 2022
This Great Courses course is a bit uneven. Some of the lectures are approachable and informative, and even sometimes enterataining. Other lectures are so dense with logical arguments that I found it hard to follow in audio format. Prof. Williams certainly is a master of the subject matter, and I definitely want to listen over again to try to glean more from this course, but it was a challenge for sure, particularly in some of the later lectures in this course.
It did get me to find a copy of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy to read, though, so it had an impact.
It did get me to find a copy of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy to read, though, so it had an impact.
July 8, 2021
also yknow I listened to the lectures too which should count as a book/audiobook. loved the ones on Scotus and Ockham as I didn't know much about that, as well as the concluding lecture explaining why the medieval project for seeking understanding between faith and reason was eventually abandoned in favor of natural science or political philosophy, as people lost interest in what we can know through pure reason.
July 22, 2019
This one was a bit of a grab bag. I got more out his discussion of Some thinkers than others. High points of the course for me were his discussions of Boethius and Anselm. And Augustine lecture on authority, reason and truth was fantastic!
I hoped to get more out of his Aquinas lectures than I did, but I think that is more the fault of Aquinas than of the teacher.
I hoped to get more out of his Aquinas lectures than I did, but I think that is more the fault of Aquinas than of the teacher.
October 24, 2022
A little dry in some spots but overall a solid intro/quick look/study guide/ reading list for a lot of very complicated topics. Recommend reading or re reading Plato and Aristotle before diving in to this. Otherwise the Augustine and Aquinas bits are going to lose you
March 6, 2017
In short, this is amazing. The lecturer outlines a the arguments of the major philosophers of the Middle Ages on topics of God. I highly recommend this.
April 5, 2020
A great overview of medieval theology and philosophy that was both easy to listen to and interesting.
October 20, 2021
Worth it. He will make you work. But it’s worth it.
February 21, 2023
Listened rather than read. Highly informative and engaging lectures.
May 23, 2012
A superlative series of lectures by Notre Dame-trained philosopher Thomas Williams. No mere "lecture" could ever hope to convey the fulness of some great genius' corpus, but Williams does a fine job of covering the "big names" (Augustine, Aquinas) while also providing neat introductions to the "lesser" philosophical systems developed by the likes of Bonaventura and Boethius. Williams' treatment of Abelard and Anselm--two "great" philosophers lost in the post-Thomistic shuffle--is especially good, which makes sense given that the latter is Williams' primary research interest and the former looms large in the period with which he is most familiar (i.e., the period immediately prior to the big "Aristotelian boom" in European philosophy). Note: Williams is a theist, a fact which may be off-putting to some listeners but which actually seems to enhance the quality of his presentation (i.e., he's really excited about teaching this subject).
November 6, 2011
Quite possibly the most frustrating audio book experience of my life. The author/narrator sounds as if he had a yen to go into sermonizing, and the tone of his lecturing ended up shutting my ears down every time. I must have listened to this set 5 times and STILL i came away with barely anything to show from it. Apparently if im going to study how ancient theologians measured god, then i will need a set of cliffs notes and a flow chart. Either way, Mr. Williams is not the one who is going to teach it to me.
October 6, 2023
This is one of the best surveys of philosophy I have listened to, worth multiple passes.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews