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6 - Wegestreit

Via moderna, Via antiqua, Wycliffites

from Part II - Medieval Protestants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2022

Christopher Ocker
Affiliation:
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley
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Summary

Ockham is often described as the origin of the via moderna, “a current way” in competition with the via antiqua, “an old way.” These terms are often used to structure late medieval intellectual history around a new “nominalism” and a reactionary “realism.” But they are misleading. The “conflict of the ways” (Wegestreit in German historiography) only took definite shape two generations after Ockham’s death. It was prompted not by “nominalism” but by an aggressive, “hyper-realism” taught by John Wyclif. Another related but separate and equally important tension was also at play, between the analytical pedagogy encouraged by a prevalent terminism and a more expository commentary style. This changes the way we must see the force of the “conflict of the ways” in intellectual life. It becomes an illustration of a central quality in all knowledge production: the ludic culture of the schools. Luther, rather than being a nominalist, provides eloquent testimony to scholastic playfulness, an essential quality of a long, hybrid Reformation.

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The Hybrid Reformation
A Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Contending Forces
, pp. 126 - 154
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Wegestreit
  • Christopher Ocker
  • Book: The Hybrid Reformation
  • Online publication: 30 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108775434.009
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  • Wegestreit
  • Christopher Ocker
  • Book: The Hybrid Reformation
  • Online publication: 30 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108775434.009
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.

  • Wegestreit
  • Christopher Ocker
  • Book: The Hybrid Reformation
  • Online publication: 30 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108775434.009
Available formats
×