Reason & Faith: Philosophy in the Middle Ages

By: Thomas Williams, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Thomas Williams

Today we tend to separate questions of logic from questions of belief, philosophy from religion, reason from faith. 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. In 24 ambitious lectures, Professor Williams examines the great Christian philosophers from Augustine to Ockham, following their efforts to illuminate the full scope of Christian doctrine using philosophical tools inherited, in large part, from the ancient Greeks.

Far from being a "dark" age, this was an era when faith was not blind and reason was not godless, when the great philosophers and the great theologians were the very same people, and no one saw anything surprising about that.

Building on the work of Plato and Aristotle, medieval philosophers worked diligently to show how the Christian faith is consistent with what can be demonstrated by reason, asking such questions as: 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 and shown to be internally consistent?

During this extraordinarily rich period of intellectual ferment, philosophers participated in a common struggle with transcendent questions, using reasoning in the service of faith. This course serves as a fascinating philosophical backdrop to illuminate the stimulating debates that occupied many of the greatest minds of the era.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2007 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2007 The Great Courses

Excellent course

excellent lecturer, excellent content. clear and interesting. very informative about medieval philosophy. I thoroughly enjoyed this course.

An excellent course!

It was a well laid out course. My only regret is that it could have be more thorough -- eg an overview of Aristotle, and perhaps more on how Thomism continued to the present day.

Excellent walk through Med. Philosophy

Short but informative series of lectures about the Med. Christianity and the greatest philosophers of the era.

Fascinating!

I loved it all!
It made me feel I truly was in the middle of those debates 😃

Not exactly what I expected but...

As a person who both loves history and philosophy I rate this 5 star however must admit this lecture series is MUCH more focused on philosophy on history.

That being said it is an amazing break down of various Middle Age philosophers ideas but it still very focused on the ideas more than how it pertains to the time period. Very useful if you are deeply interested in various points of view on religious thoughts. Also, and I must say this to be fair, it will be great if you already have a deep interest in a collaboration of secular and spiritual thought.