Saturday, June 16, 2012

Buried Alive!

I found another piece of information about the story of Scotus being buried alive.  This is from Ioannes Bremer, one of the 15th. c. Franciscan Scotist theologians who taught at Erfurt. The following quote is from his Sentences commentary, composed ca. 1429. So that's a little over a hundred years after Scotus' death (for background on this myth see one of my earliest posts).

L. Maier, "Der Sentenzenkommentar des Johannes Bremer," Franz. Stud.  15 (1928), p. 168:

Item, Augustinus anagogiam docet, quid appetendum sit. Et concordat cum eo evangelista Johannes, qui cognoscitur ut aquila, quia de altissimis et intimissimis Dei scribit et volando perspexit, videlicet in capitulo suo primo: In principio erat verbum. Quem subtiliter invehitur doctor subtilis, frater minor Johannes Scotus de Duns, qui multa arcana speculatus, videlicet sua multa et magna opera, sive copia librorum. Qui multoties raptus est, in Spiritu theologiam perscrutando, et ita speculando subtilia Coloniae semivivus id est sic raptus sepultus est. Cuius anima indubie requiescat in pace.

14 comments:

Edward Ockham said...

I thought we agreed that the premature burial story was a myth. But as I understand the text above, this supports the story. No?

Lee Faber said...

well, this is still after Gerson's comments about someone else that were eventually applied to Scotus. This might be close to the origins of the myth, however.

JP Chesterton said...

One way or the other, he probably deserved it. As the Catholic encyclopedia says, he was heretical more often than not.

Gaetano said...

Is JP Chesterton serious? His profile suggests that he is a huge fan of John Paul II, the pope who beatified John Duns Scotus. Perplexing.

But my main comment pertained to these great stories about medieval figures that crop up. There's the one about Gratian, Peter Comestor, and Peter Lombard all being half-brothers, sons of the same promiscuous nun...

A bit less, ahem, vivid but with significant consequences is the story of Henry of Ghent being a Servite. I'd love to know more about how that got started.

Good stuff. -- Matt Gaetano

JP Chesterton said...

Dante could put Pope St. Celestine V in his "Inferno." I see no reason why later writers couldn't do the same to Scotus, whose negative impact on the world was much, much greater.

I could go on, but it would probably be best for you to read Gregory's "Unintended Reformation."

Lee Faber said...

JP: name one heretical thesis of Duns Scotus.

Regarding Brad Gregory: his errors of interpretation of Duns Scotus are matched only by his errors in interpreting Thomas Aquinas.

JP Chesterton said...

I don't know, but if SAINT Leo XIII, von Balthasar, Chesterton, Gilson, and Gregory all agree that someone is heretical, he probably is. Plus all of my friends in Dominican seminary say so.

Lee Faber said...

You didn't answer my demand. None of these names are theses. Plus, none of them said he was a heretic, save for Gregory, but who care's about him.

I see like a good Thomist you live by authority and not by reason.

JP Chesterton said...

What's your problem with authority? You're probably a modernist. Why don't you go celebrate mass with a womanpriest or something.

Oh, and I'm not a Thomist. Unlike you, I respect the authority of the real Doctors of the Church: saints like Thomas, and the Little Flower, and (soon) John Paul THE GREAT.

It says something that Scotus hasn't been elevated to sainthood all these years, doesn't it?

Credo In Unum Deum said...

I'm pretty sure JP is pulling your leg. Nobody can seriously think like this. It's gotta be a joke. I laughed out loud when he wrote, "Plus all of my friends in Dominican seminary say so." Frickin hilarious. He must be making fun of Thomers (Thomist homers) who really don't know anything. I figure that from his protestation that he's not a Thomist, but a follower of Thomas. Too freaking funny.

JP Chesterton said...

Seriously, I wish you all would stop putting words in my mouth. I never said I was a "follower" of Thomas, either. Only that I respect his authority.

Honestly, I find it rather silly that some people are still debating points from 700 years ago. Who really cares about how many univocal angels can dance on the head of a formally distinct pin, anyway? Old wine in new wineskins, and all that. It's time to move on.

And that's why I'm not a Thomist. Like the other early doctors of the Church, I find him interesting for the ways the anticipates and foreshadows the "Theology of the Body" of the great Pope John Paul II the Great. THERE'S the philosophy for the new millennium - the rest of Catholic theology is pretty much a footnote.

I'll say this for the Thomists: they seem to get that they need to update their philosophy to keep with the times. You all could learn something from that. "Duns Scotus on the Nuptial Mystery"? Now there's a book I'd read.

Credo In Unum Deum said...

Oh, so JPs a *modern* thinker... or is it Modernist...

Lee Faber said...

Well, since JP II's followers seem to spend their time these days debating about whether or not anal sex is ok, I'll think I'll stick to irrelevant metaphysics from 700 years ago.

JP Chesterton said...

Dude, chill out. Get a milkshake or something.