Includes bibliographical references (pages 496-522) and index.
Contents:
Part VII. General conclusion. The givenness of freedom. Christian freedom and its traditions -- Part II. Late antiquity. Plotinus on freedom as generative perfection ; Augustine and the gift of the power to choose -- Part III. The patristic period. Perfectly natural freedom in Dionysius the Areopagite ; Maximus the Confessor: redeeming choice -- Part IV. The early Middle Ages. St. Anselm: just freedom ; Bernard of Clairvaux: liberating love -- Part V. The high Middle Ages. Bonaventure on the Trinitarian origin of freedom ; Thomas Aquinas: a fruitful reception of the whole -- Part VI. The late Middle Ages. Godfrey of Fontaines: The absolute priority of act ; John Duns Scotus and the radicalizing of potency -- Part VII. General conclusion. The givenness of freedom.
Summary:
In response to the evident shortcomings of the notion of freedom that dominates contemporary discourse, Retrieving Freedom seeks to return to the sources of the Western tradition to recover a more adequate understanding. This book begins by setting forth the ancient Greek conception--summarized from the conclusion of D. C. Schindler's previous tour de force of political and moral reasoning, Freedom from Reality--and the ancient Hebrew conception, arguing that at the heart of the Christian vision of humanity is a novel synthesis of the apparently opposed views of the Greeks and Jews. This synthesis is then taken as a measure that guides an in-depth exploration of landmark figures framing the history of the Christian appropriation of the classical tradition. Schindler conducts his investigation through five different historical periods, focusing in each case on a polarity, a pair of figures who represent the spectrum of views from that time: Plotinus and Augustine from late antiquity, Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor from the patristic period, Anselm and Bernard from the early middle ages, Bonaventure and Aquinas from the high middle ages, and, finally, Godfrey of Fontaines and John Duns Scotus from the late middle ages. In the end, we rediscover dimensions of freedom that have gone missing in contemporary discourse, and thereby identify tasks that remain to be accomplished. Schindler's masterful study will interest philosophers, political theorists, and students and scholars of intellectual history, especially those who seek an alternative to contemporary philosophical understandings of freedom.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.