Thomas Bradwardine: A View of Time and a Vision of Eternity in Fourteenth-Century Thought

Description

This volume evaluates Thomas Bradwardine's view of time as a mathematical, philosophical and theological concept within the context of ancient and medieval discussions concerning the problem of time and eternity. The book begins with an assessment of his career as a natural philosopher and theologian in order to establish the factors which influenced his treatment of time. Two succeeding chapters examine the sources of his temporal theory in classical, early medieval and thirteenth-century texts. Next, a series of chapters surveys his view of time as it related to proportionality, continuity, contingency and predestination. The final chapter establishes his place among fourteenth-century natural philosophers and theologians. Because this study traces the issue of time through several major works, it demonstrates how the mathematical, philosophical and theological ideas of one prominent scholar converged within a setting of lively academic discourse. Thus it illuminates a fascinating dimension of one of the most important debates in late medieval thought. Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: Classical and Early Medieval Views of Time Chapter Three: Thirteenth-Century Approaches to Time Chapter Four: Mathematics, Proportionality and Time Chapter Five: Time and Continuity Chapter Six: Time and Contingency Chapter Seven: Time in the De causa Dei Chapter Eight: The Historiographical Setting of Bradwardine’s View of Time Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Indexes Index of Persons and Places Index of Subjects Studies in the History of Christian Thought