Abstract

Richard Fishacre (c. 1208-1248), the author of the first Sentences-Commentary composed at Oxford, distinguishes in the prologue to that work between moral (biblical) theology and speculative (philosophical) theology. Focusing in his Commentary on the latter, he famously viewed philosophy as propaedeutic to theology much like Abraham’s relations with Hagar was a necessary prelude to Sarah’s fruitfulness. One of the earliest members of the Grosseteste school, he influenced a generation of Oxford Dominicans to follow and provoked the opposition of the Franciscan master, Richard Rufus. His greatest contributions lay in the area of natural philosophy, especially his speculations on the nature of light, the nature of the heavens, the eternity of the world, and the division of the waters in the Genesis text; he also has interesting things to say about the absolute power of God. Of the divine attributes, he considered infinity to be the most significant. He quotes Aristotle with approval, though his direct acquaintance with the Aristotelian corpus was limited. As was the case with most of his contemporaries, both his metaphysics and his philosophy of human nature were rooted in what historians have labeled Augustinianism. He was, for example, a proponent of a plurality of forms in material substances and spiritual matter. His view of the free choice issue is also noteworthy and influenced Bonaventure’s thought on the subject.