Alexander of Hales (c. 1185-1245) is a thirteenth-century scholastic, important for his investigations of the newly translated works of Aristotle and for contributing to the development of the rigorously systematic and philosophical method for theology, distinctive of Scholasticism. Alexander exercised considerable influence among the Franciscans in various ways: through his being the first Franciscan to hold a chair of theology at the University of Paris, through his leadership of the Franciscan studium at Paris, through his most famous pupil, Bonaventure, and through a summa of theology that was attributed to him and widely used within the order. Alexander retains a fundamental, doctrinal loyalty to Augustine, while trying to incorporate various doctrines of Aristotle. It is this intellectual trajectory that has led some scholars to regard him as the founder of the early Franciscan school (prior to Duns Scotus).
Alexander was probably born in Hales Owen, Shropshire between 1180 and 1186. He went on to study at Paris and there became a master of arts sometime before 1210. He began his teaching career as regent master of theology around 1220 or 1221. In 1236, he entered the Franciscans while retaining his university chair. He attended the First Council of Lyon (1244-45) but died shortly after returning from it.
Until developments in recent scholarship, Alexander was most famous for a summa of theology attributed to him, long referred to as the Summa fratris Alexandri. Work on the production of modern critical editions led scholars to question his sole authorship of the summa, and it is now clear that this work is not exclusively by Alexander. Rather, it is an edited work by one or more compilers who borrowed from many sources. For example, the entire fourth volume is not by Alexander and was compiled after his death by followers, such as Jean de la Rochelle (c. 1190/1200-1245). Nevertheless, even if Alexander is not the sole author, he supervised the editing of the text up until his death in 1245. The final edited version of this summa, completed by 1257, is sometimes referred to as the
Summa Halesiana. Given the complicated authorship of the Summa Halesiana, the definitive sources for Alexander’s teachings are found in his earlier works.
The most important of these earlier works is the Glossa in quatuor libros sententiarum, a commentary on Peter the Lombard’s Sentences. This work is dated to between 1220 and 1227. We also have a number of disputations from his teaching career, from both before and after he became a friar, though only those from before have been edited (Quaestiones disputatae 'antequam esset frater’’). Both the Glossa and the Disputed Questions are students’ reportations.
Alexander’s Glossa on Peter the Lombard’s Sentences is fascinating for many reasons, three to be considered here: its methodology, its sources, and its aim. It is based on the structure of the Sentences, and so, is divided into four parts: God, creation, the incarnation, and the sacraments.
In his commentary Alexander adopts a dialectical method that becomes typical of scholastic methodology; this method allows him to treat questions one-by-one, presenting arguments on various sides of a question before responding to opinions contrary to his own position. This methodology did not go without criticism: Alexander’s contemporary, Roger Bacon (c. 1214-94), for example, faults him for his role in directing theology away from its biblical focus by his decision to teach by commenting on the Sentences of Peter the Lombard.
The range of sources that Alexander brings together in the Glossa is impressive, but reflects the range also being consulted by his contemporaries at Paris, such as William of Auxerre (1140/50-1231) and William of Auvergne (d. 1249). His cautious eclecticism is worthy of considerable note for anyone surveying the development of thirteenth-century thought, for, although he is often hesitant to follow Aristotle, he is, by no means, hostile. On the contrary, he draws on all the major writings of Aristotle and is clearly working to take considerable account of various teachings of Aristotle as he constructs his theological synthesis. But he also incorporates various writings from the Christian tradition, including Pseudo-Dionysius, John Damascene, Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm of Canterbury, and the Victorines.
Even in these early glosses on the Lombard, Alexander is attempting a theological synthesis that takes account of both the intellectual heritage of Christendom and Greek philosophical thought, while also covering the entire range of theology, from God to creatures to their return to their creator. Alexander seems to be striving for an all-encompassing synthesis, which attempts to harmonize discordant authorities.
Alexander writes as a theologian who regards faith and reason as distinct in various ways even if they are ultimately harmonious. Although he has not worked out the nuances of this distinction, Alexander thinks that we can know that God exists by use of reason alone, despite the fact that we have no direct knowledge of the divine essence. Alexander presents a sort of anthology of proofs for God’s existence, including a brief version of Aristotle’s argument from the Physics for a first, unmoved mover. Alexander also thinks that we can accurately arrive at certain conclusions about the divine nature by negation and by analogy, that is, by denying what is unworthy of God or by coming to recognize how certain perfections can be predicated analogously of God. So, based on this intellectual foundation, Alexander works at length to articulate an understanding of God as simple, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, and immutable.
Among these divine attributes Alexander gives considerable attention to God’s knowledge. He takes his starting point from Augustine who posited the Platonic forms as ideas in the divine mind. He tries to work out the difficulties of claiming a plurality of ideas in the simplicity of the divine being. Given this divine simplicity, whatever is in God must, in fact, be God. And so, he concludes that the divine ideas only differ in a manner of speaking. In this way Alexander comes to hold that God himself is the exemplar of creatures. Alexander thus vouchsafes the unity of God while also establishing “exemplarism” at the center of scholastic reflection on the relation of creatures to their creator.
In contrast to God’s simplicity, creatures are distinguished by various levels of composition. Alexander adopts a version of Aristotle’s theory of hylomorphism, which holds that corporeal beings are composed of matter and form. The distinguishing principle of a human being is a rational soul, which then enters into union with matter. The rational soul is the principle of life, sensation, knowing, and willing. The complicated interaction ofboth the intellect and will makes possible freedom of choice.
A focus on the will and freedom is found in the Alexander’s ethical teachings, which clearly reflect his strong allegiance to Augustine. Morality is a matter of loving rightly and requires due respect for the hierarchy of goods. Alexander attempts to synthesize a charity-based ethics with a theory of divine and natural law. Many of his ethical teachings are developed at greater length in his disputed questions.
Alexander, influential among the early Franciscans, represents a trajectory of scholastic thought that adheres closely to Augustine while attempting to synthesize a wide range of sources.
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See also: > Augustine > Bonaventure > Peter Lombard
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