Interpreting God’s Truth: A Postmodern Interpretation of Medieval Epistemology

Much of the work on Medieval thinkers, especially Augustine and Aquinas, has centered on the relationship between the emerging church doctrine and secular authority. Linear history treats Aquinas as a central figure in the progression out of the Middle Ages, as Aquinas gives a stronger place to human reason. Both thinkers consciously rejected empirical verifiability as the mode of epistemological verification. Their work stands in opposition to that tradition. Combined, their work represents a system that validates a particular approach to the study of human knowledge. One of the perspective that can be brought to this analysis is that of anthropology which can reveal contrasts among competing forms of epistemological validation outside pressures for historical continuity. Linkage between truth generation and the legitimate exercise of authority is clearly evident in Augustine and Aquinas. According to Augustine, a major problem with philosophy is the fact that philosophers disagree over the course to the best possible life. He insists that religious knowledge takes priority over knowledge of the physical environment. Knowledge of nature is not dismissed as unnecessary, but its role is made subordinate.