HENRY OF GHENT

(ca. 1217-1293). Known as doctor solemnis, Henry was born at Ghent or Tournai and was regent master in theology at the University of Paris from 1276 to 1292. Although he was also canon of Tournai and archdeacon of Bruges and Tournai, he is best remembered for his active participation in the affairs of the university. An outspoken, independent thinker, Henry not only opposed the Averroists in 1277, but he differed with the Christian Aristotelianism of Thomas Aquinas. A proponent of Augustinianism, Henry attempted to restore Augustinian theology to the prominent place it once had held. Henry’s version of Augustinian theology, however, was influenced by both Aristotle and Avicenna. For example, Henry proposed that prototypical ideas or essences were eternally produced by God or emanated from Him, but only by a free act of God did any of these essences achieve actual existence. Thus, by appropriating the Avicennan concept of emanation, Henry described a precarious relation between divine ideas, which exist eternally, and the act of creation, a relation that some of his contemporaries and successors regarded as a threat to the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo. Henry also held that truth could be known only through divine illumination. Although his ideas met with much criticism, his work influenced nominalism, shaping the thought of such notable theologians as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. Henry was also opposed to the confessional privileges of mendicant orders; so fervent and extreme was his condemnation of mendicants that he was reprimanded in 1290. His principal works are his disputations, including disputations de quodlibet, held between 1276 and 1292.

E. Kay Harris

[See also: GODFREY OF FONTAINES]

Henry of Ghent. Henrici de Gandavo opera omnia, ed. R. Macken. 37 vols. to date. Leiden: Brill, 1979-.

Gilson, Etienne. History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. New York: Random House, 1955.

Marrone, Steven P. Truth and Scientific Knowledge in the Thought of Henry ofGhent. Cambridge: Medieval Academy of America, 1985.