Medieval Theology I

Abstract

The argument of this chapter is that the descriptive regime of tensional motion rises to historical dominance during the period from around the fifth century CE to around the end of the seventeenth century—roughly the long medieval and early modern periods. The rise of this new regime occurs alongside the rising predominance of a new theological description of being as force. The theological description of force took two historical forms during this period: the physics of force and the doctrine of the Trinity. Together, these form the tradition of natural theology, the theory of relation between divine and natural being.