gy. Out of this, the tradition of scholasticism as the principal educational method of the middle ages was firmly entrenched.
Scholasticism, as both a view of the world and a method of learning consistent with that view, was the dominant medieval philosophical system of the period, articulated most systematically in the theology of Thomas Aquinas. Fremantle describes Aquinas's "omnivorous acceptance of Aristotle" (145); as the premier theologian of Roman Catholicism, Aquinas has a uniquely Christian perspective and interpretation of Aristotle, whose system of thought is brought to bear on scholastic explication of the faith. Philosophy centered on the nature of reality (hence, of God, the soul, and man), but it is the method of scholasticism that had the most impact on Western thought. Gutek cites the rigorously rational methods of outlining hypotheses, objections, and syntheses of opposing propositions regarding, for example, faith vs. reason, contributed to imposing discipline and structure on the process of learning and thinking: "Their [scholastic theologians'] researches led to the development of scholasticism as a formal methodology of inquiry, scholarship, and teaching among medieval educators. . . . Scholastic teachers used syllogistic reasoning from evident 'first principles' and accumulated an ordered body of demonstrated knowledge. The teacher's task was to aid the students in recognizing basic principles and in developing their implications" (Gutek 92; 97). Such implications ineluctably pointed toward a reconciliation of faith and reason, which involved discourse that inevitably departed from original texts.
The life and work of Martin Luther were intimately engaged in, by, and ultimately against this whole process of rational discourse--not because Luther did not engage in discourse and disputation (he did), but because as a matter of religious belief and practice he sought to repudiate the doctrinal validity and meth...