This chapter considers how, between the mid twelfth and the mid thirteenth century, the theme of free will was addressed according to two major lines of investigation: on the one hand, that of the relationship between free will and the different powers of the soul; and on the other hand, the idea that free will should be understood as a process divided into several steps.

The Origins of Scholasticism provides the first systematic account of the theological and philosophical ideas that were debated and developed by the scholars who flourished during the years immediately before and after the founding of the first official university in Paris. The period from 1150 to 1250 has traditionally been neglected in favour of the next century (1250–1350), which witnessed the rise of intellectual giants like Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, and John Duns Scotus, who famously popularized the major works of Aristotle. As this volume demonstrates, however, earlier scholastic thinkers laid the groundwork for the emergence of theology as a discipline that evolved subsequently. Although they relied heavily on traditional theological sources, this volume highlights the extent to which they also made use of philosophy not only from the Greek but also the Arabic traditions in ways that defined the role it would play in theological contexts for generations to follow.

This chapter will examine the notion of theology as a science in some summae from the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century, exploring the works written both by secular masters and members of the religious orders.

This chapter traces basic contours of early scholastic Atonement theories from 1150 to 1250, which integrated insights from Augustine and Anselm on the objective work of Atonement with Abelard's attention to the subjective dimensions of Atonement.

This chapter explores the development of debates on the moral among theologians from the mid twelfth century to the first half of the thirteenth century. It identifies a crucial turning point in the early decades of the thirteenth century, when interest in understanding the very nature of the human being and its faculties paved the way for a general reassessment of the issue of the different kinds of law.

The twelfth century witnessed an unprecedented scholarly effort to access and assimilate new corpora of knowledge by translating Greek as well as Arabic sources into Latin. This chapter surveys the various translations, discusses the role of those who mediated them to the Latin tradition, and finally focuses on the reception of the texts at the University of Paris during the first decades of the thirteenth century.

This chapter considers how a representative sample of early scholastic thinkers grappled with a range of questions around the creation and nature of angels, on the one hand, and angelic powers and operations, on the other.

This chapter discusses the work of twelfth-century theologians in Paris who laid the foundations for the development of theology as a discipline in the university. These thinkers explored the characteristics and limits of the discourse on God in theological treatises and summae, which employed increasingly sophisticated technical terminology drawn in part from grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

This chapter discusses the definitions of the virtues employed by early scholastic authors and examines their systems for classifying the virtues, as well as their accounts of specific virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This chapter traces the development of a number of Trinitarian issues throughout the second half of the twelfth century - the classification of theological language, the debate about why we can say 'God begot God' but not 'essence begot essence', and the definition of the personal properties - and show how they shape Lateran IV and continue thereafter. Finally, the chapter indicates some new approaches and areas of focus among theologians writing after the council.

This chapter focuses on the core issues concerning the doctrine of creation that were debated by early scholastic theologians. These include the view that God brought the world into being from nothing; that God created everything, all at once; and that creation occurred at the beginning of time.

This chapter consists of two parts. The brief first part provides an overview of some of the main issues connected with sin that were discussed by early scholastic theologians. The second part focuses on the problem of the source of evil actions: are they 'from God' or 'from humans or the devil'?

This chapter addresses the doctrine of the Incarnation from the time of Peter Lombard until Bonaventure and Albert the Great. In particular, it discusses the early scholastic reception of Lombard's famous three Christological theories.