Abelard And Heloise Analysis

The letters between Abelard and Heloise present the reader with a great insight about the life of the scholar. Ultimately the life of the scholar was fruitless. Peter Abelard suffered many misfortunes for being a scholar. These are outlined in his first letter, ‘Historia calamitatum: The Story of His Misfortune,’ along with more written between himself and Heloise.
From the offset, Abelard left him home and inheritance to learn philosophy. Prior to this, he had excelled in his studies of dialect (a branch of philosophy), being encouraged by his father. At this time he was heavily influenced by the Latin works of Aristotle consisting of logic. Perhaps Abelard’s evident naivety at a young age and his drive for education led him to Paris and
Heloise was forced to become a nun. He once again devoted himself to education and began to lecture again; whereby many students flocked to listen to him. However, the letters show us that there was a key problem in the life of the scholar. At this time, Abelard had many powerful enemies. He was charged with heresy first with reference to misrepresenting the Holy Trinity. He argued that the three persons (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost) were only names to describe the properties of supreme good. One of his pupils, Otto of Freising argued that Abelard had reduced the three components to “empty names,” similar to Nominalism. As a result he received official condemnation for the work and was forced to burn his book. It was the bitterest experience he could have possibly suffered. To analyse, the life of the scholar was unfulfilling because even though he was trying to offer new solutions and ideas, the reactionary church was dead set against him vocalising these ideas. At this time, the church was becoming increasingly powerful and south to minimise any views which were contradictory to its own. Life in a monastery did not suit Abelard. Without knowing, he managed to aggravate many monks and had a poor relationship with those living around him. Shortly after, he was allowed to leave. He turned hermit and found residence near Nogent-sur-Seine where he
St. Bernard personified the principle of ardent and unhesitating faith; ideas which Abelard had began to counter through reasonable inquiry. To Bernard, ideas like these were sheer revolt and now he was gunning for the boldest offender who dared to oppose what he stood for. Abelard died whilst the trial was ongoing. In assessment, the life of the scholar was unrewarding because even in his last days his teachings were being opposed. The letters further move onto explain that Abelard’s theological work caused great uproar amongst many philosophers and the church itself. One such teaching was that Abelard put a greater emphasis on intention as a defining aspect of sin. Thereby, the original concept of sin was underrated and the ideology that we can only do well through the grace of God was ignored. The life of the scholar caused a great divide of opinions and theological views. The general importance of Abelard lies in his having fixed more decisively than anyone before him the scholastic manner of philosophising, with its object of giving a formally rational expression to the received ecclesiastical doctrine. Though his work was condemned during his life, from the 13th Century onwards, it received approval from the heads of the Church. Abelard was an enormous influence on his contemporaries and the course of medieval thought, but he has been known in modern