Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages

"A superb storyteller who breathes new life into such fascinating figures as Peter Abelard, Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, William of Ockham and Aristotle himself." --Los Angeles Times

The intellectual explosion that transformed Europe in the Middle Ages and coursed through the Western world, triggered student riots and heresy trials, and set the stage for today's rift between reason and religion. The ideas came from Aristotle. His work, like the rest of Greek culture, had been lost in the centuries after the fall of Rome, when the Greek language was forgotten. But in the Muslim world, the wisdom of the Greeks was never lost and contributed to the flowering of Islamic culture.

When scholars in the twelfth century collaborated on translating the ancient classics, they resurrected ideas that turned Western thinking away from the supernatural world and toward the world of nature. With their optimistic view of human nature, these ideas sparked fierce controversies in the universities and caused major changes in the Catholic Church. Rubenstein shows how the Church adopted these new ideas and struggled to reconcile science and religion and how Western thinking was set on the path it has followed ever since.

This is a feast for readers who are fascinated by medieval history, and a treat for all who want to understand the ideas that are fundamental to modern thought.

Richard E. Rubenstein, a professor of conflict resolution and public affairs at George Mason University, is the author of When Jesus Became God, a Publishers Weekly Best Religion Book. A graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), and Harvard Law School, he lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas sparked riots and heresy trials, caused major upheavals in the Catholic Church, and also set the stage for today's rift between reason and religion.

In Aristotle's Children, Richard Rubenstein transports us back in history, rendering the controversies of the Middle Ages lively and accessible-and allowing us to understand the philosophical ideas that are fundamental to modern thought.

RICHARD E. RUBENSTEIN is professor of conflict resolution and public affairs at George Mason University and an expert on religious conflict. A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, he was a Rhodes Scholar and studied at Oxford University. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

PREFACE

PROLOGUE: The Medieval Star-Gate

ONE: "The Master of Those Who Know": ARISTOTLE REDISCOVERED

TWO: The Murder of "Lady Philosophy": HOW THE ANCIENT WISDOM WAS LOST, AND HOW IT WAS FOUND AGAIN

THREE: "His Books Have Wings": PETER ABELARD AND THE REVIVAL OF REASON

FOUR: "He Who Strikes You Dead Will Earn a Blessing": ARISTOTLE AMONG THE HERETICS

FIVE: "Hark, Hark, the Dogs Do Bark": ARISTOTLE AND THE TEACHING FRIARS

SIX: "This Man Understands": THE GREAT DEBATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS

SEVEN: "Ockham's Razor": THE DIVORCE OF FAITH AND REASON

EIGHT: "God Does Not Have to Move These Circles Anymore": ARISTOTLE AND THE MODERN WORLD

NOTES

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX