A New, Free Online Resource for Victorine and Franciscan Theology
Aaron Gies
There is a growing academic consensus around the idea of a “Victorine-Franciscan” theological nexus. Work on the twelfth-century School of St. Victor, which includes authors such as Hugh of St. Victor, Andrew of St. Victor, Richard of St. Victor, and Thomas Gallus of Vercelli, has proceeded by leaps and bounds in the last generation due to the contributions of scholars like Grover Zinn, Christopher Evans and Kevin Storer. William of Champeaux’s vision of a society where an encompassing form of regular religious life would be combined with an academic life of cutting-edge research and teaching was an experiment that attracted many influential minds. It has recently been suggested that the academic context for Peter Lombard, with his students Peter Chanter, Peter Comestor and Stephen Langton, may have been St. Victor.
Work on Franciscans, particularly early Franciscans, has also made large advances recently, as witness among others the flood of new editions of Alexander of Hales, John of La Rochelle, and even a new text or two from St. Bonaventure. The Victorine experiment continued to have powerful resonance for those early generations of Franciscans at Paris, even as St. Victor itself lost relevance. Boyd Coolman has demonstrated the impact of Hugh’s understanding of theology as a discipline, for example, on the work of Alexander of Hales and his circle. Richard of St. Victor and Thomas Gallus both left their mark on early Franciscan mystical theology, although the degrees are debated.
With progress on editions and other primary research has come the publication of interpretative texts and English translations of original sources in such prestigious series as Brepols’ Victorine Texts in Translation or, on the Franciscan side, the Franciscan Institute’s Works of St. Bonaventure in English series. However, very few of these sources, whether primary or secondary, English or Latin, have so far been made available to the non-specialist public through a well-organized website.
The model for the provision of historical theological resources and reflection has to be the Thomists, who have performed an exemplary service to the Church and the public by creating and maintaining excellent sites like www.corpusthomisticum.org. This is not to deny that there are excellent websites devoted to Franciscan sources, such as www.franciscantradition.com, which makes available the early documents of Francis and Clare, or the present one, www.franciscanconnections.com, which occasionally publishes interpretative research into these areas. However, Franciscan academic theology is scant, and Victorine theology all but absent. Those of us professionally concerned with these matters have yet to follow the example of the Dominicans.
Clifton Stringer, PhD, himself a directee of Boyd Taylor Coolman and an expert on the theology of Hugh of St. Victor, has set himself the task of addressing this lacuna. Dr. Stringer is the director of the new website, https://victorinefranciscantheology.com/, which collects theological resources, secondary and primary, on Victorine and Franciscan theology. Conspicuous among its offerings are English translations of important texts that are open source, but non-specialists will also appreciate Stringer’s collecting interviews with prominent experts in the field: Boyd Taylor Coolman on Thomas Gallus, Kevin Storer on Richard of St. Victor, Kevin Hughes on Bonaventure, etc.
These offerings should be expected to grow. Readers who may have a contribution to make are encouraged to contact Dr. Stringer. In time, and with the cooperation of many hands, it may be possible to easily find early Victorine and Francisacn positions Crescat!
Visit the new website here.