The Summa Halensis and Augustine

Abstract

: Augustine of Hippo is, without a doubt, the authority that the Summa Halensis invokes most frequently. This has led the editors of the Summa and many other scholars subsequently to conclude that this text and the early Franciscan tradition more generally is little but an effort to systematize the tradition of Augustine that had prevailed for most of the earlier Middle Ages. In turn, that assumption has led to a tendency to downplay the significance of early Franciscan thought and to its ne-glect in scholarship. This chapter will highlight some significant ways in which the Summa departs from Augustine in the process of innovation. In the first of three case studies, I will show how the Summa employs a methodology, in fact, scholastic methodology, which invokes invoking authorities like Augustine with a view to advancing its own opinions which are not necessarily found in Augustine himself. In two further studies, I will examine how the Summa departs from Augustine on two of its most fundamental theological doctrines concerning the nature of God as one and as Triune. explicit