What was the language spoken by most western theologians during this period?

The shift of theology to western Europe, arising out of the east-west theological schism centered around 1054 CE and the incursion of Islam into what was the Byzantine empire (eastern) weakening the Byzantine influence in Christian thought and life, and brought the Latin language into nearly exclusive academic usage in the regions of present day France, Germany, the Low countries and Northern Italy. Latin became the language of the 'learned' and of the Catholic west, and remained so in Roman Catholic seminaries and liturgy until Vatican II in 1962-65. Of course, each region and country spoke their own 'vulgar' [meaning common in Latin] or popular tongue. By adopting a 'standard' language in Latin western theologians were able to debate across nationality or region and to form a canon of theological reflection heavily invested in Latin patristic fathers such as Augustine. The problem with this exclusivity of tongue was the loss of the eastern tradition and theologians, such as Athanasius and the Cappadocians, and the increasing isolation of the bible, theology and liturgy from the common life of the church.

'Humanists were people who were interested in studying classical Rome.' How helpful is this definition of the term?

The general consensus is that humanists were interested in studying classical Rome and, by extension, ancient Greece primarily for educational and specifically philological reasons - the promotion of eloquence or the expression of ideas. Less important to the humanist was the substance of those ideas. Previous attempts to understand humanism as an Aristotelian-derived Renaissance philosophical movement in contrast to the sterility of Platonic scholasticism or as a proto-enlightenment anti-religious movement have been challenged by the sheer heterogeneity of the participants, texts and ideas. What is common, however, across all types of humanism is the interest in classical antiquity as a resource, norm or example of eloquence and culture from which to refresh contemporary culture.

What were the major themes of scholastic theology?

Recalling that scholasticism, like humanism, is a method rather than a specific set of doctrines, the following can be surmised as hallmarks of 'scholastic theology'. In methodology scholastics were interested in a rational presentation of Christian doctrine using the tools of logic and philosophy, derived from either Platonic (through Augustine) or Aristotelian (through Aquinas and Duns Scotus) epistemology and understanding. As a result, scholasticism made major contributions to theology in the field of religious epistemology and the role of reason in theology. Other more specifically theological contributions include the consolidation of a patristic heritage, specifically Augustine, but expanded to other thinkers in the later period as more Sentences and commentaries on that work (or systems such as the Summa Theologiae) were developed in the mold of Lombard's monumental original; these works served as primers for the study of theology (p 139-40). Concomitantly a rise of Mariology, given intellectual credibility by Duns Scotus and then reinforced in popular religion's preoccupation with salvation due to harsh contextual realities such as the 'Black Death' plague of the 14th century, is another hallmark of the late scholastics. There was also a development of sacramental theology (see below) in the period that differed both in complexity and in number (this is disputed) from the early church's practice of two in the Eucharist and baptism. Finally the foundations, or organization, for a theology of grace or justification is found due to the insipient Augustinianism of the movement. This developed more fully in the Reformation period.

4.

Why was there such interest in the theology of the sacraments during the Middle Ages?

The consolidation of the church's role within greater society and its need to articulate its acts of worship on a secure - meaning rational - footing pressed sacramental theology to the forefront of theological investigation. Whereas the early forming and then merely 'surviving' church was unclear beyond the most general of terms in regard to baptism and the Eucharist, the Middle Ages saw a systematizing and rationalization of the function, nature, number and identity of sacraments in Christian theology. An additional impetus to this intellectual movement is also the rise of popular religion, often syncretistic with older pagan worship, against which the church felt it must defend and clarify its self-understanding on the nature of the sacraments.

What is meant by the slogan 'ad fontes'?

It means literally 'back to the source,' or a return, through both the study and imitation of classical antiquity in art and languages, to the origins of western European culture. In the instance of the Renaissance, this was predominantly a revival of the arts in Italy, owing to the influx of Greek scholars following the fall of Constantinople (1453), the failure of scholasticism to take deep root in the intellectual environment, and possibly the prevalence of tangible physical reminders of the great society of Rome. In the case of the northern-based humanists, inheriting the spirit of the Renaissance and perhaps reacting to the sterility of scholasticism, this return 'to the sources' manifested itself as an interest in the philogical and rhetorical work of classical writers.