Chapter 470 Heavenly Tragedy 35

Also known as "Marriage is the Grave of Love" Zhang Baotong 2016.7.4

After that catastrophe, eighteen months of sweet life became a thing of the past in an instant, and the lovers were forced to break up. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Info Abelard was so disillusioned that he hid in the monastery of St. Denis and vowed to become a monk.

But life in the monastery was far from being as poor and simple as one might think, and it was more secularized than one might think. Some phenomena are simply shameful and unimaginable. Moreover, the abbot was far superior to the others in terms of worldliness and indecency in his life, and he was the supreme ruler of the monastery. When a person enters the monastery to become a monk, he takes an oath to obey all the orders of the abbot. Therefore, regardless of whether his words are correct or not, he must obey. This overt and open secularization is a serious violation of the monastic precepts, corrupting people's minds and fueling their desires. Abelard felt very uncomfortable and intolerant of this. He did not hesitate to strongly condemn and criticize this, and at the same time often talked privately with the abbot himself and others in order to induce them to correct and change their ways. However, his hard work and efforts did not change the appearance of the monastery, but made him himself hated and opposed by more and more people.

So the abbot and the Brethren colluded, and on the pretext that the students were more than happy to listen to his lectures, they placed him in a separate hut not far from the monastery, so that he could live according to his habits, and in fact they wanted to avoid him and get rid of him in this way. However, there are many students living here, and the small number of houses simply cannot accommodate so many students, and the lack of food means that sometimes the students do not even have enough to eat.

Life here is poor and hard, but it is perfect for Abelard, who wants to immerse himself in seclusion. He can turn a blind eye to those shameful and despicable things, and can calm down and concentrate on his studies and research. He not only taught his students theology, but also secular art, and used secular art to teach his students true philosophy. Because of his talent and talent in these areas, more and more students came to listen to his lectures, and at the same time, the attendance rate of the whole school increased significantly.

Soon, he began to be jealous and hated by the other teachers at the school. As a result, they colluded to exclude him, attacking and belittling him in various ways whenever he was not there. Among them Alberic and Lautelfo are their heads. In his class, Alberic said to his students, "Do not believe in the worldly theories of Abelard, whose teachings are completely contrary to the theories and studies in the worldly books on monasticism, and who will lead you astray in secular life and in secular thought, and which will not be tolerated by religion and the world." ”

And the teacher, Lautelfer, said to the students, "Abelard likes to talk to you about theology, but do you know that? He has never studied theology himself, but he has read two theological books, and he wants to show off and show off to you as if you don't know anything, as if you don't understand anything." ”

Not only did they attack and insult him in front of the students, but they also gathered together to accuse him of the bishops, archbishops, and abbots of the monastery and tear down his throne. It is said that he disseminates among his students things that are contrary to traditional religious theories and religious ideas, and gives examples out of context. They even co-opted some students who disagreed with Abelard's views and supported them to speak out against him. They did this so that every class he taught was banned.

Abelard was a fighter and a philosopher in his own right. He was born to live for debate. His life seems to be a process of "learning-transcendence-re-learning-transcendence". Moreover, the glory and fame he has achieved in the past have also been earned along this path. Now, although he has suffered a great disaster and is physically disabled, his personality and fighting spirit have not been affected by this. So, he continued to support his struggle with his studies and research. However, he ignores the fact that a man of his calibre could easily be condemned as a religious heresy in such an age of demanding orthodoxy at every turn. Yes, like many medieval intellectuals, his soul struggled with faith and reason. When you try to understand the dogma of faith with human reason, if you are sincere in faith and intellect, you will definitely struggle, you will definitely suffer. Abelard agrees with faith but believes that faith should be based on understanding. And faith without understanding is just a blind superstition. Christianity, on the other hand, uses the Bible as a guide to people's moral behavior, and the church does not require people to understand religious beliefs deeply, as long as you do what it asks. But Abelard disagreed. He said, "The first secret of wisdom is prudence and constant doubt, for by doubt we seek, and by seeking answers we find the truth." ”

Once, Abelard was lecturing theology to his students. He based his research on his understanding of humanity and gave his students a sermon on the unity of God and the Trinity. He did this because his students always came to him for rational and philosophical explanations. The questions asked are mainly understanding, not just literal. Abelard believed that faith must first pass the test of reason, and that only what is understood can be truly believed, otherwise faith will be reduced to outright superstition. Second, as far as truth is concerned, authoritative answers cannot be used to hinder further exploration. It would be ridiculous for a person to teach others if neither the teaching nor the learning side sought understanding.

Many people have read and read this sermon, because many of the issues involved in this sermon are the most difficult for students to understand and explain, so it is very popular with students. However, those who were very disgusted by the sermon soon called a committee to take action against Abelard. At the meeting, Alberic and Lautelfer were agitated that Abelard's sermons were a serious violation of religious doctrine and thought, and that they were challenging the authority of the Bible, because in the Middle Ages and for a long time afterward, all the problems of people's lives were based on the Bible. They also secretly persuaded Archbishop Rudolph to oppose Abelard, with the aim of expelling him from the monastery either by a council or through a church council in Soissons. If their plot had been approved by the papal leates in France at the time or by Archbishop Prytrixter, it would have put Abelard to death.

Because of their slander among the clergy and the public, saying that Abelard preached and wrote about the existence of three gods, he caused the wrath of the people. One day, when he was ordered to attend a large Christian council in Soissons, he was to give an explanation to the papal legates. When he arrived in the city, the public threw stones at him when they saw him, but fortunately a few students were protecting him and saved him from harm.

He met with the papal legates and offered to have his books examined and judged, and if they contained objectionable aspects of the Catholic faith, he was willing to revise them at once and make satisfactory amends. The papal envoy instructed him to give his book to the archbishop and that opponent. Then he waited for the verdict, thinking that perhaps his confrontation would be his judge, or his enemy might be his judge.

The three men took Abelard's book and flipped through it page by page, searching. But they did not find the anti-Catholic rhetoric they had disseminated to the clergy and the public, so they did not dare to use any of it as a public accusation against Abelard. So, they postponed the condemnation of the book. Abelard, on the other hand, used every day of the council to publicly state and explain to the people what he wrote about his faith in Catholicism. All who listened to his exposition and explanations appreciated his sincere frankness and the logic of his language. When the public and the clergy learned of the true content and character of Abelard's teachings, they began to discuss, "Behold, now that he has spoken openly, and there is no more accusatory against him, and the Council has been convened, as we have heard, mainly to take action on his affairs, but now that the meeting is over, have the judges realized that the fault is in them, and not in him?"