The editors of this volume have collected a large number of texts, most of them previously available only in manuscript, of a wide range of scholastic views on the problem of the eternity of the world. These selections range from William of Durham in the 1220s to John of Jandun in 1315. They illustrate the continuity of medieval discussions of this crucial topic and present the major arguments on all sides of the question. Several of the authors are anonymous, and many of those whose names are known have been little studied. The notes not only identify the fontes but also, through extensive cross references, show the obligations of these authors to each other. Indices of authorities, names, and biblical citations enhance the book's usefulness for the scholar of medieval thought.

"The translation of Aristotle's philosophical works into Latin in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries produced a crisis for Christian thinkers insofar as the Aristotelian writing seemed to offer demonstrative proof that the world has always existed without a beginning at some point finitely distant in the past. The present volume offers the reader three different responses to the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the world: the radical Aristotelian views of Siger of Brabant contrasted with those of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. The latter two both held creation in time, though Aquinas believed that the question could only be decided on the basis of revelation, while Bonaventure argued that creation in time could be proved by reason."--

The first Argument, which survives in Arabic, is also included and makes this the only complete edition of On the Eternity of the World since antiquity.".

Contains a full index of all the topics covered in the first nine volumes of the set.

Written in honor of John E. Murdoch's seventieth birthday, the essays collected here focus on the interpretation of ancient and scientific texts not just as isolated intellectual productions but as responses to particular settings or contexts.

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the Huguenot refugees who spread throughout Protestant Europe contributed greatly to the development of new political ideas and realities, ranging from the theory and practice of freedom of the press through religious toleration and early modern economic discourse. The essays in this volume throw new light on their work.

This is a new interpretation of late nineteenth and early twentieth century educational policy in the United States. Chapter-length studies of leading reformers argue that their reservations about economic growth best explain the changes they promoted.