Die Bettelorden der Franziskaner und Dominikaner sahen sich ab 1250 gezwungen, ihre Existenz und ihre Aktivitaten in Predigt und Theologie zu rechtfertigen. In diesen auf hohem intellektuellen Niveau ausgefochtenen Kontroversen spielte der 1252 von Koln nach Paris berufene Thomas von Aquin eine herausragende Rolle, die in der hier vorgestellten Studie im einzelnen untersucht wird. Das zentrale Dokument ist die vom Autor analysierte Schrift des Aquinaten Contra impugnantes (1255), die zugleich Apologie und Programm ist, in dem sich das Selbstverstandnis einer neuen Elite mit neuen Aufgaben in...

Johannes von Sterngassen, champion of a rigorously scientifically-oriented Thomism and member of the circles of mystics that formed around Meister Eckhardt, is central to the controversy over mysticism and scholasticism. His environment, biography and works have been reconstructed on the basis of a precise analysis of source material, a wide selection of texts, Latin quaestiones and German sermons. The text reveals Sterngassen's philosophical position and verbal power.

Few medievalists of the last generation have contributed more to our understanding of late medieval religious life than Kaspar Elm. Over the last half century his reflections, now a monumental corpus of books, essays and other publications, have explored how the life of the cloister, canonry and convent intersected with the world of the laity, church and society beyond, and how that story reflected the broader sweep of European history. Until now relatively few Anglophone scholars and students have had direct access to Elm's work. The present translation of several of his most important...