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영어

In his work Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew, and with a Christian, Peter Abelard tries to understand the Christianity in discussion with its intellectual rivalries, i.e. with a Jew and with a Philosopher. It shows a new spirit that builds one of the dominant axes of 12th-century self-understanding of the Christianity. The philosophical program of fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding) gives the contour of the whole dialogue; the Philosopher in this work wants to know, among the three modes of life, i.e. that of Christian, Judaic, and Philosophical, which is most consonant with reason.
Through the discussion between the Jew and the Philosopher, a contrast between the historical peculiarity of the Old Law and the universality of Natural Law, which consists in loving God and one's neighbor, becomes manifest. This claim of universality leads to the critic that it is not the external observance (opera exteriora) of the Old Law such as circumcision and purification rituals, but the inwardness based on human liberty that constitutes the morality. If inner love of God makes people holy, so runs the critic, the rituals of purification from sin as prescribed by the law can be of no spiritual value.
Since the Philosopher admits the principally rational character of the Christianity, the main subject of their discussion is the Highest Good (summum bonum) and how to reach it. Once the happiness in the afterlife as the Highest Good is accepted, the Philosopher is compelled to confess the internal incoherence of classical virtue ethics. Then, the Christian has to reply to all the philosophical questions such as ‘how is the vision of God to understand’, ‘whether heaven is in any place’, and so on. The answers to these questions can be regarded as philosophical justification of the Christian Faiths, which culminates in the theodicy. The semantical analysis of good (bonum) supports the theological claim that God's omnipotence should include the good use of evil. It is one thing to say that ‘Evil is good’ (malum est bonum) and another thing to say that ‘It is good that there is evil’ (bonum est malum esse).
According to Abelard, the Natural Law (lex naturalis) of a philosopher should be completed with the New Law (lex nova) of a Christian. This leads to the claim that the Christianity consists in the rationality (fides quaerens intellectum) and the inwardness (intentio) of the faith. It is this unique combination of the rationality and the inwardness of the Christian faith that characterizes the self-under- standing of the 12th-century Christianity in the work of Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew, and with a Christian.