Thursday, August 21, 2025

It is the 21st of August 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It would be hard to overestimate how important “scholasticism” was for Christianity- the very word can turn some off, I get it… stay with me.

It would be hard to underestimate how forgotten its founder is, the man who in his time was called Doctor Irrefragabilis- or “the irrefutable doctor”- we head back to 12th century England to meet Alexander of Hales- the father of Christian scholasticism and one of the most influential characters in the history of the church who, for various reasons (which we will see), has become one of the forgotten giants in church history.

We know very little about Alexander’s early years- his name tips us off to the fact that he was from Hales, near the Cotswolds in the east of England. He was born by 1170- likely to some wealth, perhaps studied at Oxford- he arrives on the historical record by 1201 when he is at the University of Paris and has earned at least one MA- he studied canon law and theology. By 1220, he’s on the faculty of the University of Paris, where he will stay until his death on the 21st of August in 1245. When he died, he was eulogized by a colleague with the following:

“a man in whom profound humility vied with majestic grandeur; in whose morals, as in a beautiful setting, shone the jewel of purity; whose wisdom was comparable to a magnificent flower, which, transplanted from the sun of England where it grew up, spread its perfume to Paris and became eventually the attraction of the universe”

Alexander of Hales would join the Franciscans and was thoroughly Augustinian in many of his doctrines, but it was not his appropriation of Francis and Augustine alone that made him “the attraction of the universe,” for it was Alexander who first unlocked Aristotle and the scholastic style to the Christian faith.  

Before you run with the caricature of a cold scholasticism, it was the blending of Aristotle's categories with Christian theology that led to the integration of faith and reason, forming the basis for the coming growth of the University and the scientific revolution. The world would be forever changed using the methodology of Aristotle with the content of Christian theology, and it was Alexander who was doing it first. He was reading Aristotle before he was translated into Latin. One commentator has stated that: “it is this combination of Aristotle and Augustine that is the glory of Alexander,” as he was the first to strive to bring both together.

He did so as a lecturer at Paris- he taught Bonaventure, the famous Franciscan, and while he barely overlapped with Thomas Aquinas, he is called a “teacher of Thomas” although this might be figurative. Aquinas and his “Summa Theologica” is often considered the foundational work in Christian Scholasticism, but before Aquinas wrote his, Alexander himself was writing his own “Summa Theologica” that he died before he could finish it. It would be finished posthumously by editors, and Thomas’s would become the famous text, but he was borrowing from the model of the real father of Scholasticism, Alexander of Hales.

So, what happened to him? Thomas’ Summa is considered superior, but why has Alexander been left behind? Alexander was used in the argument to restrict the cup from the laity in the Lord’s Supper. He argued against the councils in favor of the primacy of the Pope. He is also one of the first to teach the Treasury of Merit- a doctrine that caused some contention when it was linked to certain indulgences. While he can be criticized from certain corners, it is worth noting that when it came to the Jewish population, he was one of the few prominent voices arguing against forced conversion and expulsion in an age of antisemitism.

Alexander of Hales was revolutionary in his early adoption of Aristotle’s methodology, and through his use of Peter Lombard’s Sentences and creation of a Summa Theologica, would chart the course for the Medieval church in the West. No one is immune to bad ideas, and the vagaries of history lead some to be translated and others to be forgotten- it should be noted that the University of Dallas, a Classical Catholic University, is undergoing a project to get more of its work into English and for posterity.

Today we remember the forgotten giant of Christian Scholasticism on the anniversary of his death in 1245- from England- the famous teacher of Bonaventure and Aquinas at the University of Paris, Alexander of Hales.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 71:

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;

    turn your ear to me and save me.

Be my rock of refuge,

    to which I can always go;


give the command to save me,

    for you are my rock and my fortress.

Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,

    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,

    my confidence since my youth.

From birth I have relied on you;

    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.

    I will ever praise you.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of August 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by whose favorite scholastic is the weekly reader: Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.