Chenu's recovery of theology as a science.pdf

Patricia Kelly Che u s Recovery of Theology as a Science In this chapter, I shall show how the French Dominican Marie-Dominique Chenu (18951990), through his recovery of the medieval concept of theology as a science, proposes an alternative relationship between theology and science, one in which theology and science work together, to seek the truth of God s eatio , hi h a e fou d i atu e a d through divine Revelation, the normal source for theology. Chenu suggested that the new app e iatio of atu e i the t elfth e tu , hi h he li ked di e tl to the edis o e of Greek learning in the West from the ninth century onwards, influenced theology to the extent that it gradually became sacra doctrina, a science, rather than sacra pagina, the glossing or commentary on Scripture, which had dominated until this period. O hethe Theology is a “ ie e : “TIa. ad. I his a ti le o eligio a d s ie e fo the o li e Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Alvin Pla ti ga posits that i the o te po a o te t, the ost salie t uestio is whether the relation between religion and science is characterized by conflict or concord. 1 Yet, fo u h of the de elop e t of hat the West o thi ks of as s ie e , su h a relationship would simply not have been a question: from the ancient Greeks, through the Islamic scholars of the early medieval period, and up to the rise of modernity itself, holding a religious belief was not considered incompatible with exploring the boundaries of knowledge and understanding, perhaps because holding a religious belief of some kind was itself normative. Indeed, as Pla ti ga poi ts out, a of those e ega d as the ea l pioneers and heroes of modern Western science – Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Bo le, a d so o 1 e e Ch istia s, i deed, se ious Ch istia s.2 It is only with the rise of Plantinga, Alvin, "Religion and Science", in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2010 Edition), <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/religionscience/>.accessed 1 August 2013. Autho s e phasis. 2 Pla ti ga, ‘eligio a d “ ie e . Modernity, and the (French and British) Enlightenment(s)3 that there has been an everi easi g pe eptio that ‘eligio a d “ ie e should e sepa ated. But eight e tu ies ago, when scholars in the West were rediscovering Aristotle, no such separation existed: both religion and science were part of what constituted knowledge.4 Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) begins his Summa Theologiae by asking a question which is pertinent to the present hapte : [O]n what sort of teaching Christian theology is and hat it o e s ST 1a.1).5 Christian theology does not look like science [for it] advances from the articles of faith and these are not self-e ide t [p i iples] ST 1a.1 ad.2 . B selfe ide t p i iples a e ea t easu a le a d o se a le data: the o e e t of the sta s, types of rock, the growth of trees. But, he answers, theology is indeed a science, for it develops from divine Revelation (see ST 1a.1 ad. 2, ad. 3, ad. 4 ; al eit a s ie e hi h is more theoretical than practical, since it is mainly concerned with the divine things which a e ST 1a.1 ad.4). Not only is theology a science; importantly, Aquinas clarified that it is the noblest of s ie es, fo theolog takes its p i iples di e tl f o God th ough e elatio , ot f o the othe s ie es ST 1a.1 ad.5 ; othe s ie es a e su sidia Of ou se, this la gel eatu es i a d a illa ST 1a.1 ad.5). e ause the stud of theolog fo uses o God as p i ipal a d o elatio to hi , ho is thei o igi a d e d ST 1a.1 ad.3 ; i deed, i “a ed Science all things are treated of under the aspect of God: either because they are God Hi self, o e ause the efe to God as thei egi i g a d e d ST 1a.1. ad7). For Thomas, revelation offers an explanation for and understanding of God, while scientia offers an account of the world; the Scientia Sacra thus offers an account of God, the unintelligible Being to whom human existence is directed, using reason. In this way the scientific method is applied to faith, resulting in theology, faith seeking understanding, becoming a science. 3 It is worth noting that, although French and British Enlightenment thinkers sought to separate religious faith from philosophical and scientific discourse, the German Aufkläring recognised no such distinction. 4 Latin scientia, f o hi h the E glish te s ie e de i es; it should e oted that E glish has lost the sense, retained in French science and German Wissenschaft, of s ie e as the pu suit of k o ledge, hi h will lead to truth. 5 All citations from the Summa theologiae are taken from vol. 1, trans. Thomas Gilby OP (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Chenu the medievalist Chenu was at the forefront of what has become known as ressourcement theology,6 perhaps the most significant development in twentieth-century Catholic theology, which provided crucial foundations for the work of Vatican II.7 Ressourcement theology was marked by both the return to the sources of Christian doctrine – biblical, liturgical, patristic, medieval – with an additional attentiveness to their context and place within theology; and by an engagement with the world beyond the Church. In both these developments, the work of Chenu, as a historical theologian, and as a théologien engagé, was of crucial importance. Trained at the Angelicum, Chenu completed his doctoral thesis on Co te platio i A ui as , supe ised the t e tieth-century doyen of Thomism, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP (1877-1964).8 In 1920, he returned to Le Saulchoir, the Dominican novitiate then located in Belgium, where he was immediately recruited to the Institut historique des études thomistes, hose “e eta he e a e. The esea h g oup s fo us as to ead a d u de sta d Tho as i his ti e … the founding of the Institut aki g hi i telligi le fo toda ;9 ea t that the appli atio of the histo i al ethod to the stud of “t Tho as thus e a e o e of the ha a te isti s of Le “aul hoi . 10 The centre was 6 On ressourcement theology, see Gabriel Flynn & Paul D. Murray (eds), Ressourcement: A Movement for Change in twentieth-century Catholicism (Oxford: OUP, 2012); Denys Turner (Guest Ed.), IJST 7/4 (2005); Hans Boersma, Nouvelle théologie and Sacramental Ontology (Oxford: OUP, 2010); Jürgen Mettepenningen, Nouvelle Théologie New Theology (London: Continuum, 2010). 7 Flynn describes the ressourcement theologia s as the ha i ge s of the e e a of ope a d dialogue i augu ated at the “e o d Vati a Cou il Fl , I t odu tio i Fl ess, e u e is , & Mu a , Ressourcement, 1-19 (9). 8 Garrigou-Lagrange dominated Aquinas studies at the Angelicum during the twentieth century. Chenu e e e ed hi as ot o l a ge e ous supe iso , ut also a aste of spi itualit , ho had i deed esto ed i ‘o e the g eat t aditio of tea hi g spi itual theolog , as a e pe t o Joh of the C oss, a d hose le tu es e e atte ded o ds of ou g stude ts . (Jacques Duquesne, U théologie e li e té : Jacques Duquesne interroge le Père Chenu (Paris: Éditions du Centurion, 1975) 38) (All translations from foreign language sources are my own.) 9 Duquesne, Chenu 49. 10 M.-D. Chenu, Une École de Théologie: Le Saulchoir ed Giuseppe Alberigo et al. (Paris: Cerf, 1985), 113. strongly influenced by the Dominican historian, Pierre Mandonnet,11 who retired from Fribourg to Le Saulchoir; the first chapter of his “t Do i i ue l idée, l ho Ch istia it at the da of the thi tee th e tu , is the pe fe t e et l œu e, etapho its ai s, to esea h Tho as A ui as a d the Middle Ages as the ultu al lo us i hi h he li ed .12 Che u s ea liest a ti les fo us o Tho as, so e e lusi el , so e i the light of his interaction with both his Dominican contemporaries – notably the English Dominican Richard Kilwardby (1215-79)13 – and their twelfth-century predecessors, particularly Alain of Lille,14 the Chartres School,15 and the twelfth-century Victorines.16 Chenu was adamant that the e had ee a th ee-stage renaissance of Antiquity of which the Italian Quattrocento was simply the completio :17 without the Carolingian and Ottonian renaissances during the ninth and tenth centuries, on which the twelfth-century renaissance built, the fifteenthcentury renaissance simply could not have happened, for the scientific knowledge which underpinned it would not have been present in the West. 11 Pierre Mandonnet OP (1858-1936) held the Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the Dominican faculty of Fribourg from 1891 until 1918, authoring influential works on major medieval figures and their contexts including “t Do i i ue: l idée, l ho e et l œu e (posthumously published in 1938); Siger de Brabant et l A e ois e lati au XIIIe e siècle (1899); and Dante le théologien (1935). He was also the founder of the Bibliothèque thomiste, a monograph series dedicated to the study of Thomas and his precursors. 12 Duquesne, Chenu 49. 13 Kilwardby (c. 1215-79), who taught at both Paris and Oxford, was a contemporary of Thomas and an early o e tato o A istotelia logi . I his da , he as fa ous fo his k o ledge of Augusti e s o ks, a d rd shows an equally assiduous eadi g of A istotle s Che u, La Théologie comme Science au XIIe siècle, 3 edn (1969), p. 50). 14 Alain of Lille (d. 1202) was a prolific twelfth-century theologian and poet-philosopher. Probably a teacher in the Paris schools who retired to Montpellier and died at Cîteaux, his works include the Ars catholicae fidei, Ars Praedicandi, De Fide Catholicae: contra Haereticos, Valdenses, Iudaeous et Paganos, Regulae Theologicae, and the philosophical poems De planctu naturae and Anticlaudianus. 15 The “ hool of Cha t es as o e of the a athed al s hools , hose he da as i the id-twelfth century (c. 1125-1180) with notable scholars such as Bernard of Chartres, Thierry of Chartres, and Gilbert de la Porrée. 16 The School of St Victor was, Abelard recounts, re founded by his former teacher, William of Champeaux at the monastery to which he retired. The most famous scholars of this late-tenth/early-eleventh-century monastic school are Hugh of St Victor and Richard of St Victor. 17 Chenu, Nature a d Ma . The ‘e aissa e of the T elfth Ce tu , i Nature Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century MART 37 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) 1-48 (1). Two early publications18 de o st ate that al ead , the p o le i of the u it a d uta ilit of the faith 19 as at the hea t of Che u s histo i al theolog . These a ti les a e gi e o e to the disti tio hi h Thomas introduced between the object of faith considered as such, and its expression by the believer, who is conditioned by his own ultu al o te t. 20 Al e igo fu the otes that the ea s that follo ed [the pu li atio of these articles] were full of research on medieval theology, which would be brought together in La théologie comme science au XIIIe siècle in 1927,21 La Théologie au XIIe siècle in 1957, and the wonderful I t odu tio à l étude de sai t Tho as d A ui i . 22 Jolivet o se es that, while hardly 25 pages between them, [these articles] are full of meaning and p o ise ,23 addi g that f o did ot pu lish o the this poi t o a ds the e as edie al pe iod. Che u, he su edie alist, ut p a ti al u ge ies i posed thei o These p a ti al u ge ies i fo ot a si gle ea i hi h Che u ises, e e stopped ei g a de a ds. 24 ed hat has ee des i ed as Che u s i a atio al theolog ,25 the integration of theology into the world – the urgent need for the evangelisation of workers, for instance – guided o ks o a histo 18 his i siste e that the theologia … their data is events, the response to an economy .26 He could not, says Co t i utio à l histoi e du t ait de la foi. Co e tai e histo i ue de la IIa-IIae, q. , a. , Mélanges thomistes 3 (Paris: Vrin, 1923), 123-40 repr. in La Parole de Dieu I. La foi da s l i tellige e (Paris: Cerf, 1964), 31- ; La aiso ps hologi ue du d eloppe e t du dog e RSPT 13 (1924), 44-51 ; repr. in La Parole de Dieu I, 51-8. Co t i utio dis usses ot o l Tho as dis ussio of the uestio o je t of faith is so ethi g o ple a of a p opositio II.IIae. . : Whethe the ut also e a i es ho the uestio as dealt with by his immediate predecessors. 19 Chenu, Co t i utio 20 Giuseppe Al e igo, Ch istia is e e ta t ue l histoi e et «th ologie o fessa te» , i Al e igo et al., Le p. . Saulchoir, 11-34 (20). 21 rd This was initially a lengthy article, re-published as a small book in 1943, and a 3 edition in 1957. All citations rd rd are from the 3 printing of the 3 edition (1969). 22 Al e igo, Ch istia is e , 23 Joli et, Les tudes , -1. 24 Joli et, Les tudes , . 25 Claude Geff , Le . alis e de l i a atio da s la th ologie du P e M.-D. Che u , RSPT 69/3 (1985) 389- 99; Christopher Potworowski, Contemplation and Incarnation. The Theology of Marie-Dominique Chenu (Montreal : McGill-Quee s U i e sit P ess, 26 . Che u, Positio de la th ologie , RSPT 24 (1935), 232-57; repr. in Parole I, 115-38 (129). Le Goff, o ei e of a theolog , o of a histo of the so ieties i of theolog , o ki g outside of the histo hi h this theolog a ted a d e p essed itself ,27 whether in biblical studies, late antiquity, the middle ages, or modernity. Precisely part of his critique of the then dominant neo-Thomist school of theology was that it removed theology from the context – real life – in which its practitioners were living. Theology, he insisted, should not o l elate to eal life, ut also de i e f o experience of faith [was] a still- o Che u s i liog aph is o e o st u ted outside of the theolog .28 hel i gl Jolivet,29 basing himself o Du al s Mélanges,30 suggests a ou d faith; a theolog eighted to a ds the i liog aph of so e spe ifi all edie al period. titles, pu lished i edie al o ks; Pot o o ski s bibliography (which includes translations, re-editions, and even a handful of posthumous publications) lists 1396 titles, approximately half of which are medieval in theme.31 Yet Che u s a hie e e t as to de o st ate p e isel that edie al theolog as ot a arcane series of disputes in some long-distant past, but a serious engagement with a fastchanging world, which was of great relevance to, and instructive for, twentieth-century theology. The urgency for theologians was, he insisted from the earliest days of his career, to e p ese t to ou da s, just as Tho as A ui as a d Bo a e tu e e e to thei s . 32 Aquinas and the Schoolmen thus became, for Chenu, examples for modern theologians to follow, demonstrating how theologians were to be engaged (engagés) in the contemporary world. Che u s et ie al of theology as a s ie e 27 Ja ues Le Goff, Le P e Che u et la so i t 28 Che u, Positio , 118. 29 Joli et, Les tudes , 70ff. 30 A d di ale , RSPT 81/3 (1997), 371-80 (371). Du al, Bi liog aphie du P. Ma ie-Dominique Chenu (1921- , i Du al ed. , Mélanges offertes à M.-D. Chenu, Bib.Th. 37 (Paris : Vrin, 1967), 9-29 31 A sa ple, of the titles pu lished et ee a d e eals that, i additio to the for the RSPT, Chenu published 199 titles which directly deal with medieval theology. 32 Chenu, Le Saulchoir, 123-4. Bulleti s As a historical theologian, Chenu was always careful to locate theology within its intellectual context, as, for instance, in his 1950 monograph, I t odu tio à l étude de “ai t Tho as d A ui . The greatest influence on the development of scholasticism, and in turn, the thought of Aquinas, was not, he argued, Aristotle, nor the twelfth-century renaissance, but athe , the e a geli al e aissa e which took place between the mid-twelfth and early fourteenth centuries: the sea h fo the apostoli life ;33 the growth of groups such as the Humiliati and the Poor Catholics, and indeed, the mendicant orders such as the Dominicans,34 who sought to live apostolic poverty in common; and the rise of preaching and popular teaching in the vernacular.35 This etu i spi ed the pe e to the sou es 36 was, he noted, ial p o le s of atu e a d g a e , o e hi h o e f uit i a e Ch istia a a e ess of atu e a d of a ,37 as exemplified, in the thirteenth century, by the theological work of Thomas himself. In this final section, it is shown that, for Chenu, the development of theology as a science required both the use of s ie tifi tools , and a p ofou d app e iatio of the o igi al data of faith . Theolog , i othe o ds, a o l properly flourish by applying the scientific method to faith, in order to achieve its understanding. As described above, Chenu acknowledged that there were indeed three e aissa es : the Ca oli gia /Otto ia renaissance of the ninth/tenth centuries; the twelfth-century renaissance; and the fifteenth-century Renaissance, or Quattrocento. As he pointed out, theology relies on the pedagogical tools to hand in contemporary culture; and 33 The high medieval period was marked by lay Catholic groups inspired by the Gospel to live simply and preach the Good News. Waldensians, Humiliati, and Poor Catholics were all condemned for public preaching (then reserved to bishops), and in some cases heresy, but the Humiliati and Poor Catholics were reconciled by 1210. The Cathars, in southern France were notoriously put down for heresy during the late thirteenth century. 34 The Dominican Order, was founded to combat the Cathar heresy then dominating the region between Toulouse and Barcelona. Dominic adopted the apostoli life, of o odelled o Luke , as the ost p o isi g a ati g the he eti al e a geli al p ea he s “i o Tug ell OP ed , Early Dominicans (Mahwah NJ: Paulist, 1982), 16); the Order sought to preach the Gospel, lead a simple life, and earn their food and shelter eggi g he e Me di a t . App o ed by the time of Domini s death i 35 Chenu, Introduction, 38ff. 36 Chenu, Introduction, 41. 37 Mo ks, Ca o s, a d La Ho o ius III , Dominicans were present in five Provinces , i ludi g at the U i e sit of Pa is. e i sea h of the Apostoli Life , i Nature and Man, 202-38 (203). so the Ca oli gia e aissa e , the t elfth- and thirteenth- e tu the fourteenth- e tu ‘e aissa e e aissa e , a d e e all ke fa to s i its e olutio i the West. 38 By Carolingian renaissance, Chenu meant the reform of education which took place under Charlemagne: his establishment of schools across the Holy Roman Empire; his attracting to his court many of the great minds of the period, such as Alcuin of York (c.740-804);39 and the de elop e t of the se e li e al a ts ,40 hi h at that ti e , of hi h g a ade up the p og a a , o the s ie e of o ds, as the e fo theolog ost i po ta t, a d the ost used .41 Already in the ninth century, the study of the sacra pagina was influenced by the recovery of the classical arts of grammar and dialectic (logic), as demonstrated by the o aste of Co ie Pi a d , fa ous fo the s hola s ‘at a Pas hasius † c. , a d thei dispute a out the use of the te us † c.870) and Radbertus o pus refer to the Eucharist (the sacramental body of Christ), the Chu h the sti u :42 did it sti al od of Christ), or to the historical body of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ? The tenth-century pope, Sylvester II, also famous as the mathematician Gerbert of Aurillac,43 wrote his own treatise on the Eucharist, while the eleventh-century scholar, Berengarius of Tours, returned to the Corbie dispute, using dialectical tools to argue about the material presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the importance of the words of consecration. The question of how Christ was 38 La Théologie Comme Science, 16. 39 Alcuin a Northumbrian monk, was educated at York, and recruited by Charlemagne to join his court, probably by 770. Charlemagne placed Alcuin in charge of the palace school at Aachen, where he introduced the liberal arts, and produced a number of teaching manuals on them, before returning to monasticism as Abbot of the abbey of St Martin at Tours. He is widely regarded as one of the intellectual leaders of the Carolingian renaissance. 40 The trivium, grammar, dialectic (logic), and rhetoric provided the foundations from which the quadrivium, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music could be taught. 41 Chenu, La Théologie Comme Science, 18. 42 See Henri de Lubac, Corpus Mysticum. The Eucharist and the Church in the Middle Ages trans. G. Simmonds, R. Price, C. Stephes; ed. L.P. Hemming and S.F. Parsons (London: SCM Press, 2006) 28ff. 43 Gerbert (c. 946-1003; pope 999-1003) was known in his day as a mathematician and scientist, who had effectively re-introduced the study of the quadrivium into the monastic schools in France. There is some speculation that he learned these skills during his time as a young man travelling in Arabic Spain, where (as in Sicily) Islamic scholars were rediscovering and developing Ancient Greek scientific knowledge. present in the Eucha ist, a d ho a d he this p ese e e a e eal , depe ded o the use of the arts of the trivium, rediscovered in the ninth-century Carolingian schools. Chenu argued that, from the early twelfth century onwards, the arts of the trivium and quadrivium merged with the theological study of the Scriptures to begin a development into a mature theology, informed by scientific tools, which would become scholasticism. His focus on the twelfth-century pre-scholastic theologians, such as the Chartres and St Victor schools and Alan of Lille, enabled him to chart the crucial shift in medieval theology from sacra pagina to sacra doctrina, theolog as a s ie e. Ala s o Regulae theologicae – the method according to which faith-knowledge, like any other intellectual discipline, was o ga ized a d uilt upo i te al p i iples hi h ga e it a s ie tifi tu a d alue 44 – was based upon the scientific methodologies he and his contemporaries studied. As de o st ated a o e, this o e took pla e p e isel tha ks to the dis o e a d the assi ilatio of G eek easo of A istotle Ch istia theolog i the West.45 But this assimilation was not without its problems: the application of the liberal arts to theology during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was strongly contested. Pe haps i e ita l , the fa t that theolog had ee tai ted possi le he es as had happened during the Eucharistic disputes of the ninth and eleventh centuries, meant that the overt use of scientific tools such as logic and grammar in theology was highly suspect. By the early thirteenth century, there was concern at the university of Paris about the i t usio of philosoph 46 into the study of theology; of particular concern to Pope Gregory IX (pope 1227-41), in his 1228 letter to the faculty, was the entry of Aristotle – pagan philosophy, recovered through Islamic science – into the bounds of theology. Gregory as fighti g a losi g ause ho e e , as episte olog had ee the late thi tee th e tu oldl settled i the sa ed te ito A istotle s of e elatio . 47 But it was no coincidence, Chenu asserted, that this establishment of Aristotelian science as a tool for theology came about at precisely the same moment as the religious recovery of evangelicalism, one of whose fruits was the founding of the Dominican order itself. He argued that from the mid-eleventh century theology had been less concerned with the 44 Chenu, Natu e & Ma , 45 La Théologie comme Science, 101. 46 La Théologie comme Science, 31. 47 La Théologie comme Science, 101. . grammatical and dialectical disputes exemplified by the discussions about the Eucharist, and more concerned with the meaning of faith and revelation; questions of God and salvation; a recovery of the importance of the Scriptures; and a new spirituality which focused on the vita apostolica. Yet this new focus on revelation was not entirely independent of Greek learning. The t elfth e tu , suggested Che u, featu ed a esse tiall universe through the dis o e eligious dis o e of the of Natu e .48 It was the rediscovery of Aristotle during this pe iod hi h e ealed atu e a d hu a it to thi tee th- e tu i ds ;49 indeed, Chenu drew an analogy between the twelfth-century recovery (in the West) of Greek works, and what he des i es as the dis o e of atu e, e ide t i the o k of the atu alisti a tists ho [ o ] s ulpted little s e es of a i al o hu a life o the apitals of athed als ; 50 atio al p oofs i ou ts of la i stead of the sti al e pedie t of t ials o deal ;51 and theologians themselves, whose work on the Greek classics had, more often than not, led to a changing world view – o e hi h pe ei ed the u i e se as a e tit … a a di al poi t a o g the A ie ts, [ hi h] as o e i ed. 52 The recovery of ancient understandings of the workings of the universe led to disputes a o g s hola s e e ithi “ hools: [t]he eatio a ati e i Ge esis as i te p eted as e ou ti g the atu al pla of the ele e ts … God as ot a se t, ut it is the very laws of atu e that e eal his p ese e a d his a tio . 53 The praise of and search for understanding of nature was perceived as praise for God, the divine creator, and as an atte pt to u de sta d hi : the o de of life s o de ed e e gies, its i sti ts, its laws, and its f eedo s, the h th i o e e t of the seaso s … ,54 as described for instance in the De Planctu Naturae, composed at the very end of the twelfth century by the great preScholastic Alan of Lille, was in itself a way of pondering the wonder of God. 48 49 Natu e & Ma , Théologie comme Science au 13eS, 22. 50 Natu e & Ma , 51 Nature & Man, 5. 52 Nature & Man, 5. 53 Nature & Man, 16. 54 . Natu e & Ma . . The t elfth e tu as also, Che u oted, a tu i g poi t i edie al i ilizatio ; so marked was the transformation that took place in the material conditions of life that it has ee possi le to speak of a te h ologi al e olutio . tu i g poi t 55 His understanding of this as ide- a gi g: Le Goff suggests that he as the fi st o e to e phasise that the movement towards the towns and the movement towards universities, in other o ds, s holasti is as a hole, e t ha d i ha d ,56 and indeed Chenu several times oted the sig ifi a t hoi e of setti g up a p io the u i e sit of studies, ithi is o e of the i stitutio s of the e i the iddle of a it , 57 adding that, hi h these s hools g ouped the sel es spo ta eousl , it .58 Crucially, and ironically, the rediscovery of nature led to its control by knowledge, whether of the laws governing the universe, or of the te h olog hi h ight ette su due it. Fo Che u, this as su a ised the t o extremes that the twelfth century brought togethe – hu a it as si ulta eousl a i age of the o ld … a d a i age of God .59 Conclusions Chenu was an outstanding theologian, for whom theology was no intellectual exercise confined to the ivory tower, but rather, a discipline which grew from the search of faith for u de sta di g, a d hi h had a o ligatio to e p ese t to ou o ld . At the sa e ti e, he was also a respected medieval historian, and he drew on this to inform his theology. Just as the theologians of the eleventh and twelfth centuries had reflected theologically on social changes such as the growth of towns and cities, international trade, and technological changes, so it was incumbent on twentieth-century theologians to engage with the economic and social changes which had arisen out of industrialisation and internationalisation. As a theologian of work, and as a pastor, he was deeply involved in the 55 Nature & Man, 39. 56 Ja ues Le Goff, L i telle tualit dominicaine au moyen âge et sa relation au monde de la ville et de l u i e sit i Du al ed. , Moyen-âge et modernité 57-65 (57). 57 Chenu, Aquinas and his role, 15. 58 Aquinas and his role, 16. 59 Natu e & Ma , . Chu h s issio s to i dust ialised se to s of so iet , pa ti ula l ith the Christian Worker movements and the Worker Priests. Che u s recovery of medieval theology proposes two further areas in which contemporary theologians may learn from the medieval Masters. First, the controversy around integrating Aristotle into scholasti theolog as a out oth paga philosoph , and, of more contemporary import, about the contribution knowledge mediated through Islamic scholarship can make to Christian theology. In an age when Christian-Muslim dialogue is of ever-increasing importance, it is useful for theologians and scientists to remember just how much scientia we owe to Islamic scholars from the ninth century onwards. Second, Che u s e o e of theolog as a s ie e i the thi tee th e tu provides theologians and scientists with a model for theology and science to work better together to understand the world. Author info: Patricia Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Catholic Studies at Leeds Trinity University and is completing a PhD at Durham University on the ressourcement of a Catholic theology of work.