Andrews University

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT ACCORDING TO PETER ABELARD:

A LITERARY AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

A Research Paper

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements of the Course CHIS 609

The Church in the Middle Ages

by

Denis Kaiser

July 2008

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

I.

INTRODUCTION 1

Statement of the Problem 1

Purpose of the Research 2

Methodology 3

II.

PETER ABELARD: A BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY 4

The Life of Peter Abelard 4

The Years as a Student 5

The Years as a Teacher, Lover, and Monk 8

The Years with the Final Conflicts 12

The Works of Peter Abelard 14

The Early Years (1113 ­ 1118) 15

The Years of Rising Theological Interest (1119 ­ 1138) 16

The Years of Reflection and Final Conflicts (1139 ­ 1142) 19

III.

ATONEMENT THEOLOGY IN A HISTORICAL, CONTEXTUAL PERSPECTIVE...21

An Historical Outline of Atonement Theology 21

The New Testament on Atonement 21

Early Christian Writers on Atonement 23

Contemporary Writers on Atonement 29

Theological Links to Abelard′s Atonement Theory 34

The Exegetical Method 34

Predestination and a Free Will 36

The Nature of Sin 38

The Atonement Theology of Peter Abelard 41

The Rejection of Specific Atonement Theories 42

The Substitutionary Aspect of Christ′s Death 44

The Reconciliation of God and Man 50

The Restoration of Man 51

IV.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 54

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 59

Primary Sources 59

Books 59

Secondary Sources 60

Books 60

Periodicals 63

Unpublished Materials 65

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

The twentieth century has witnessed the spread of the so called moral influence theory

among Christian believers.1 Modern promoters of this theory refer to Peter Abelard′s2 doctrine of

the atonement to support their view that Jesus′ incarnation and death played only an exemplary

role rather than a substitutionary one.3 However, several scholars hold the view that this eleventh

1Arthur Michael Ramsey,

From Gore to Temple: The Development of Anglican Theology Between Lux

Mundi and the Second World War, 1889-1939

(London: Longmans, 1961), 53-55; Adolf Holl, "Ein liebender Gott

will keine Opfer! Suhne, Schuld und Scheitem sind nicht das Zentrum des Christentums, und Gott ist kein Sadist:

Warum Jesus mit einem Opferlamm rein gar nichts zu tun hat,"

Publik-Forum

8 (2000): 24-26. Rita Nakashima

Brock, "Communities of the Cross: Christa and the Communal Nature of Redemption,"

Feminist Theology

14, no. 1

(2005): 120, states that "most liberal Christians are Abelardians."

2During his student days he was given the nickname Bajolardus. He was also called Esbaillart but in the

vernacular it was Abailard or Abelard, at least according to Kathleen M. Starnes,

Peter Abelard: His Place in
History

(Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1981), 2. Readers will usually encounter different spellings

of the last name. McGrath states that mediaevalists prefer the spelling Abailard. See Alister E. McGrath, "The Moral

Theory of the Atonement: An Historical and Theological Critique,"

Scottish Journal of Theology

38, no. 2 (1985):

205. However, Mews suggests "Abaelardus" as the original form. See Constant J. Mews, "In Search of a Name and

Its Significance: A Twelfth Century Anecdote About Thierry and Peter Abaelard,"

Traditio

44 (1988): 171-179,

196-200. In this paper I will use the widely used form "Abelard."

3Hastings Rashdall, "Abelard′s Doctrine of the Atonement,"

The Expositor

4, no. 8 (1893): 137-150; idem,

The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology, being the Bampton Lectures for 1915

(London: Macmillan and Co,

1919), 358, 360, 463-464; Robert S. Franks,

The Work of Christ

(London: Thomas Nelson, 1962), 283, 284.

According to that view, Christ′s life and death were necessary to teach human beings by word and example to what

limits the love of God towards humanity would go. That example had the purpose to arouse love in the hearts of

humans toward God, and influence them in such a way that they live a life in love to God. See also C. de Rèmusat,

Abélard

(Paris: n.p, 1845), 2:447, 448. Frederick A. M. Spencer, "The Atonement in Terms of Personality,"

The
Expository Times

43, no. 2 (1931): 63, mentions that Rashdall calls his subjective view of the atonement "Abelard′s

doctrine." A book review on Franks work can be found in "Book Review: The Atonement,"

The Expository Times

46

1

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2

century philosopher, theologian, and scholar did not deny the substitutionary part of Christ′s

death.4 Yet, other theologians share the view of the modern proponents of the moral influence

theory in regard to Abelard′s atonement theology but criticize it as wrong.5

Purpose of the Research

This study analyzes the writings of Peter Abelard with a special focus on the

Commentaria in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos

6 in order to give a comprehensive view of his

atonement theology and the factors that may have influenced it.

(1935): 206, 207. Simon S. Maimela, "The Atonement in the Context of Liberation Theology,"

International Review
of Mission

75, no. 299 (1986): 262, states that Abelard and the liberal theology of the 19th century supported the so

called moralistic or subjective theory of atonement. Richard E. Weingart, "The Atonement in the Writings of Peter

Abailard," (Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, 1965), 408, says that Abelard′s sympatheic interpreters limit his

teachings to an exemplary theory of the atonement. The opposite view is usually designated as objective theory of

the atonement meaning that Christ gave his life as a ransom to save us. Yet, since there are even more theories split

down from these terms, the two terms can only point to a direction because they do not distinguish between these

subcategories.

4Laurence W. Grensted,

A Short History of the Doctrine of the Atonement,

reprint (Manchester: Manchester

University Press, 1962), 103-110; Robert O. P. Taylor, "Was Abelard an Exemplarist?,"

Theology

31, no. 184

(1935): 207-213; Richard E. Weingart,

The Logic of Divine Love: A Critical Analysis of the Soteriology of Peter
Abailard

(London: Clarendon, 1970), 125, 126; Rolf Peppermüller,

Abaelards Auslegung des Römerbriefes,

Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, Neue Folge (Münster: Aschendorff, 1972),

10:96-104, 118-121; John Marenbon,

The Philosophy of Peter Abelard

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1997), 322, 323, 330, 331; Michael T. Clanchy,

Abelard: A Medieval Life

(Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997),

278, 283-287; Philip L. Quinn, "Abelard on Atonement: `Nothing Unintelligible, Arbitrary, Illogical, or Immoral

about It′," in

Reasoned Faith: Essays in Philosophical Theology in Honor of Norman Kretzmann,

ed. Eleonore

Stump (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993), 290-291, 300; D. E. Luscombe,

The School of Peter Abelard:
The Influence of Abelard′s Thought in the Early Scholastic Period,

Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and

Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 14:137, 138; Alister E. McGrath,

Historical Theology: An
Introduction to the History of Christian Thought

, reprint (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), 138; idem, "Moral

Theory of the Atonement," 206, 207-209. See especially Weingart′s dissertation which is devoted to the whole topic;

Weingart, "The Atonement in the Writings of Peter Abailard."

5Richard Swinburne,

Responsibility and Atonement

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 162; J. G. Sikes,

Peter

Abailard

, reprint, 1932 (New York: Russell & Russell, 1965), 207-210; Jean Rivière,

Le dogme de la rédemption au
début du moyen age,

Bibliothèque Thomiste (Paris: Librairie Philoosophique J. Vrin, 1934), 19:106-125; A. Victor

Murray,

Abelard and St. Bernard: A Study in Twelfth Century ′Modernism′

(Manchester: Manchester University

Press, 1967), 126-134; John R. W. Stott,

The Cross of Christ

(Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986), 217-

221. On page 218 fn. 23, Stott refers to McGrath′s argumentation in his above mentioned article (McGrath, "Moral

Theory of the Atonement"), but rejects it because in his view "the passage in his [Abelard′s] commentary on the

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3

Methodology

First, I want to give a sketch of Abelard′s life and a list of his works in a probable

chronological order. Both the biography and bibliography, in drawing a picture of his personality,

behavior, actions, writings, and teachings, will help to provide insight into Abelard′s character,

and eventually give reasons for the inevitability of misunderstandings.

Second, a survey through the theology of atonement of the preceding centuries, beginning

with the Bible and the church fathers, and concluding with Abelard′s contemporary theologians

will show similarities and differences between Abelard′s view and the teachings of his

predecessors and contemporaries.

Third, Abelard′s writings on atonement are examined with a special attention to his

commentary on Romans. Further, I will observe connections to other theological topics, and how

they possibly influenced his atonement theology.

Letter to the Romans is quite explicit." For an interesting overview of the literature on the atonement theories until

1937, see Vincent Taylor, "The Best Books on the Atonement,"

The Expository Times

48 (1937): 267-273.

6All quotations will be made from the edition as found in Peter Abaelard,

Expositio in Epistolam ad

Romanos - Römerbriefkommentar

, Transl. and preface by Rolf Peppermüller, Fontes Christiani, vols. 26/1-3

(Freiburg: Herder, 2000).

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CHAPTER II

PETER ABELARD: A BIOGRAPHICAL

AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

The Life of Peter Abelard

Born in 1079 as the eldest child of Berengarius and Lucia, Peter (in French "Pierre")

spent his childhood in Le Pallet which is situated south of the Loire River near Nantes in

Brittany.7 His father was a member of the minor Breton nobility serving Hoel IV, who was both

the Count of Nantes and the Duke of Brittany. Aside from the fact that his mother was very dear

to him, we know very little about her.8 He was simply called Peter, and maybe he later added

Abelard. Placed in a noble family, he was destined to become a knight. Yet, around 10939 he left

his home, and became a peripatetic student to study "dialectic" known better today as logic.10

7Peter Abelard,

The Story of Abelard′s Adversities: A Translation with Notes of the Historia Calamitatum

,

Transl. J. T. Muckle with a preface by Étienne Gilson, reprint, 1954 (Toronto: The Pontifical Institute of Medieval

Studies, 1982), 11; cf. Marenbon, 7. On his life, see also Thomas Joseph Ficarra, "Bernard and Abelard: An Analysis

of the Elements That Led to Their Conflict at Sens," (D.Litt. Dissertation, Drew University, 2003), 14-23.

8Abelard

, The Story of Abelard′s Adversities

, 20.

9Other scholars mention e.g. the date 1095. See Starnes, 2. All the dates in the paper are more or less vague.

Abelard does not give many dates for the events in his autobiography. Further, a critical approach to his description

of the events and persons is necessary, since his report is not impartial. See Wim Verbaal, "The Council of Sens

Reconsidered: Masters, Monks, or Judges?,"

Church History

74, no. 3 (2005): 464.

10Abelard

, The Story of Abelard′s Adversities

, 12; Starnes, 12. Logic was the study of signs, principally

verbal signs. See William J. Courtenay, "Late Medieval Nominalism Revisited: 1972-1982,"

Journal of the History
of Ideas

44, no. 1 (1983):161. Kevin Stephen Guilfoy, "Peter Abelard′s Theory of the Proposition," (Ph.D.

4

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5

The Years as a Student

For some years, he was a student of Roscelin of Compiègne (1050 ­ 1125) at Leches and

Tours.11 Roscelin was a well-known logician at that time, his fame going far beyond the borders

of France. However, an excursion into theology brought Roscelin problems in 1092. Being a

nominalist he tried to explain the trinity on the basis of nominalism12 which aroused accusations

of heresy.13 Around 1100 Peter entered the cathedral school of Notre Dame in Paris, and became

a student of William of Champeaux (1070 ­ 1122) whose school and also he himself were most

renowned.14 Shortly after Abelard went into the lectures, he tried to refute his famous teacher

Dissertation, University of Washington, 1999) wrote on Abelard′s use of logic, his way of argumentation (true, false,

possible, necessary). On his use and theory of language (grammar and signification) see Jeffrey Bardzell,

"Speculative Grammar and Stoic Language Theory in Medieval Allegorical Narrative: From Prudentius to Alan of

Lille," (Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University, 2004), 110-129. For an explanation of Abelard′s nonterminist logic

as well as the theories of terminism and dictism see Norman Kretzmann, "Medieval Logicians on the Meaning of the

Propositio,"

The Journal of Philosophy

67, no. 20 (1970): 767-787.

11Petrus Abaelardus,

Dialectica: First Complete Edition of the Parisian Manuscript

, ed. by L. M. de Rijk,

2nd rev. ed., Wijsgerige Teksten en Studies (Assen: van Gorcum, 1970), 1:554, 555; cf. Otto of Freising,

Gesta
Frederici

, Ed. by M. de Simson (Hannover: n.p., 1912), 69; Leif Grane,

Peter Abelard: Philosophy and Christianity
in the Middle Ages

, Translated by Frederick and Christine Crowley (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1970), 36,

75; Paul L. Williams,

The Moral Philosophy of Peter Abelard

(Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1980),

14, 15; Clanchy, 342; Marenbon, 8. In 1096, when other young people rushed off to recapture the holy places in

Palestine, Abelard preferred the conflicts of disputation to the trophies of war (

et tropaeis bellorum conflictus
praetuli disputationem

). See Abelard

, The Story of Abelard′s Adversities

, 12; cf. William Barclay, "Men and

Affairs,"

The Expository Times

85 (1974): 128.

12Nominalism declares that the universals do not have an existence in themselves so that they are only a

sound (vocal) or an abstracted term (concept). Realism, on the other hand, taught that ideas or terms have an

existence in themselves beside the material things. This controversy in the Middle Ages is called the dispute over

universals, whether

universalia ante res

or

universalia post res

. On current studies regarding medieval nominalism

see Starnes, 3; Courtenay, "Late Medieval Nominalism Revisited," 159-164.

13Marenbon, 9. The problem arises as a result of the attempt to explain an invisible divine reality as really

existent, and not only as mere terms without physical existence. Are the terms/ideas already there prior to the things?

Or are terms/ideas not real until the things exist physically and the terms are formed in a human mind? What about

the existence of realities hidden to human senses?

14Abelard

, The Story of Abelard′s Adversities

, 12; cf. Barclay, 128; Starnes, 3; Clanchy, 344; Marenbon

,

9.

Margaret Anne Cameron, "William of Champeaux and Early Twelfth-Century Dialectic," (Ph.D. Dissertation,

University of Toronto, 2005), 6-30, also provides a short biography of William′s life and works. William of

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