Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T22:57:59.814Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Reginald Pecock’s moral philosophie, and Robert Holcot O.P.: Faith, Probabilism, and ‘Conscience’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

Get access

Summary

Thomas […] toke not the evydence of Cristis resurrexion […] eer than Crist apperid to Thomas, and schewid his side to Thomas. And if Thomas hadde take in the bigynnyng the evydence into deep consideracioun of his resoun, to se and fele hou myche thilk evydence schulde move into feith, no doute but that Thomas, stonding in thilk receyte of evydence, muste nedis have bileeved.

(Thomas […] did not receive / accept the evidence of Christ's resurrection […] until Christ had appeared to Thomas, and showed his side to Thomas. And if, right at the start, Thomas had taken the evidence into deep consideration of his reason, to see and to feel how much this evidence should move to faith, there is no doubt that Thomas, having received this evidence, would have been compelled to believe.)

Thus muses Bishop Reginald Pecock on the famously troubling episode of doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29). The passage forms part of an extended and detailed engagement with the epistemology of religious belief in Pecock's Book of Faith. Written in the form of a dialogue between a learned and rigorously patient ‘Father’ and an intellectually demanding ‘Son’, the work is evidently intended by Pecock as a piece of pedagogic elucidation of the fundamentals of ‘faith’. However, as is characteristic of his work – and that of the Wycliffite milieu which he occasionally appears to have in his sights – elementary instruction is inseparable here from startlingly ambitious explorations in the vernacular arising out of scholastic moral philosophy of daunting complexity and sophistication from the fourteenth-century Schools, in particular Oxford. Especially to be noted is the role played by the thought of the Dominican philosopher Robert Holcot. Whilst Pecock draws diffusely on some of the major scholastic thinkers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, he normally does so without providing references or precise details; the few which are provided tend to be critical. In contrast, the ‘doctour called Holcot’ is referred to approvingly as an auctor in the context of a notably subtle and challenging discussion of intention, merit, and ecclesiology. Pecock's (single) citation of Holcot by name is unspecific and does not provide chapter and verse.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×