It Could Have Been Otherwise

This volume deals with the Dominicans at Oxford University from 1300-1350. It describes the history of the Oxford friary, who the friars were, who were there, how they were chosen and the intellectual life they created. It develops the idea of the friary as a “conversational community.”The theology of four friars is dealt with in depth: Hugh of Lawton, Arnold of Strelley, William Crathorn and Robert Holcot, relying often on unedited manuscript sources. The focus is on their response to the modal theory of Duns Scotus and Ockham. Discussions of necessity, contingency, divine foreknowledge, a deceiver God, invincible ignorance, and God’s absolute power, are highly ingenious. Several develop an “obligational theology” based on the technique of obligational debate.

Hester Goodenough Gelber, Ph.D. (1974) in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Stanford University. She covers Dominicans and Franciscans; see Exploring the Boundaries of Reason: Three Questions on the Nature of God by Robert Holcot, OP.