{"id":63163,"date":"2018-07-21T09:40:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T15:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=63163"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:52:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:52:59","slug":"trivia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/trivia.html","title":{"rendered":"Trivia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Oxford<\/a>
The coat of arms of Oxford University: \u201cLord, enlighten me.\u201d
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is another entry that has been inspired by my reading of James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution<\/em> (Washington DC: Henry Regnery, 2011).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hannam is talking about the three introductory academic subjects that a student at the medieval University of Oxford would have studied: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. \u00a0Together, because of their number, they were known as the trivium<\/em>. \u00a0\u201cThis is the origin,\u201d Hannam points out, \u201cof the English word \u2018trivial.\u2019 \u00a0It is an unfortunate piece of etymology, because all three subjects were vitally important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGrammar\u201d was basically about developing a very fine and precise style of written Latin, which was essential because Latin was the language of scholarly writing and the international language of European academia, not only in Oxford but in Paris and beyond. \u00a0It was the only language that the university recognized, and students could even be fined for speaking in English, even in private conversations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRhetoric\u201d was much broader than good oratory, speaking well in public. \u00a0It was also, among other things, about learning how to construct arguments.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the one that interests me most:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dialectic means \u201clogic\u201d in everyday parlance, and it is one of the facets of medieval intellectual life that seems most alien to us today. \u00a0Far from being irrational, thinkers of the Middle Ages were obsessed by logic to an extent that seems completely unreasonable to their modern critics. \u00a0Students had logical constructions called syllogisms hammered into them until they could repeat them by heart. \u00a0As a learning aid there were plenty of mnemonics to help students along, but ultimately logic required a great deal of rote learning.<\/strong> \u00a0(151)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A common trope among some critics of religious belief is the claim that the medieval \u201cAge of Faith\u201d in Europe was a time of rampant irrationality. \u00a0Well, okay. \u00a0I understand their point, and what they\u2019re trying to say, and it\u2019s not entirely wrong. \u00a0But it\u2019s certainly not entirely correct, either, and, taken at face value, it\u2019s a gross oversimplification of the historical truth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of items from the cutting edge of modern science:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid a rogue star change the makeup of our solar system?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And this one is surprisingly interesting. \u00a0Be warned, though, that it contains an f-bomb:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGeology\u2019s Timekeepers Are Feuding: \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like Monty Python.\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Victoria, British Columbia<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 This is another entry that has been inspired by my reading of James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution (Washington DC: Henry Regnery, 2011). \u00a0 Hannam is talking about the three introductory academic subjects that a student at the medieval University of Oxford would have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTrivia?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    This is another entry that has been inspired by my reading of James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/trivia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trivia?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    This is another entry that has been inspired by my reading of James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/trivia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-21T15:40:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T15:52:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/01\/524px-Oxford_University_Coat_Of_Arms.svg_.png\" \/>\n<meta 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