John Walsham, O.F.M., on the Existence of God

JOHN WALSHAM, O.F.M., ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD If it is true of England that the philosophy taught there in the mid-fourteenth century has not been very much studied, it is especially true of Cambridge and Norwich. Some preliminary work has been done to identify the Franciscan lectors there, and John of Walsham in particular.1 John was born in Walsham, near Norwich. He was the seventy-second Franciscan Lector at Cambridge, and later Lector at the Franciscan Studium at Norwich, about 1350. He obtained his doctorate in theology at Cambridge. Only one manuscript of John's works survives.2 It contains nine disputed questions, the first three disputed in Cambridge and the last six, later, in Norwich. The titles of the questions are: i. Utrum sola via fidei certificet viatorem naturam divinam esse summe et infinite perfectam. 2.Utrum de summa et infinita perfeccione prime essencie sit prescientia futurorum. 3.Utrum potencia productiva ad intra sit de summa perfeccione nature prime. 4.Utrum naturali documento possit viator certificari tantum unum Deum esse. 5.Utrum prima essencia sit universaliter privacionum, negacionum, et impossibilitatum causa prima. 1 A. G. Little, "The Friars and the Foundation of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Cambridge," Mélanges Mandonnet, II (Paris, 1930) 389-401; A. G. Little, "Theological Schools in Medieval England," English Historical Review, 55 (1940) 624-630; F. Pelster, "Die Quästionem des Johannes von Walsham , O.F.M." Franziskanische Studien, 34 (1952) 129-146; A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500 (Cambridge, 1963) 613; V. Doucet, "Le Studium Franciscan de Norwich en 1337," Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 46 (1953) 85-98. 2 Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 182, ff. 65-82. For a description of it, see Pelster, pp. 137-139. Il6LEONARD A. KENNEDY 6.Utrum prima essencia sit summe simplex. 7.Utrum naturali doctrina possimus certificare quodlibet esse immutabile secundum substanciam prêter primum. •8. Utrum a Deo presciti ad penam eternam necessario finaliter dampnabuntur. 9. Utrum Deus sit summe immaterialis. Since the works of these Cambridge and Norwich philosophers have not been analyzed, it would be of value to study John's disputed questions. The first of these is of special importance because in it John affirms that it is possible to prove a posteriori the existence of a creating God. It is rare to find a philosopher asserting this in the decades after the publication of Ockham's Commentary on the Sentences . Accordingly this first question will be analyzed here. It was disputed between 1344 and 1349, as it refers to the De Causa Dei of Thomas Bradwardine and refers to Thomas as Chancellor. The De Causa Dei was published in 1344, and in 1349 Thomas left the chancellorship of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, to become Archbishop of Canterbury. It is clear from the text that John is quite familiar with the works of Aristotle, Averroes, Avicenna, St. Augustine, Dionysius the PseudoAreopagite , St. John Damascene, Peter Lombard, Richard of St. Victor, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, and Thomas Bradwardine. The omission of references to Scotus and Ockham is striking, but Pelster has shown that John's other questions mention Scotus and that this first question could well be directed against Ockham. John thinks that it is easier to prove the existence of a first being than to prove the existence of a being supremely and infinitely perfect , the creator of the universe (Bi a).3 John first lists arguments for God's existence given, in particular, by Peter Lombard, St. Anselm, and Augustine (A), and adds arguments from Richard of St. Victor, St. Augustine again, and St. Thomas Aquinas (C). He does not doubt that these establish the existence of a supreme and most perfect being (C, at the beginning), but a further step is required to estabUsh the existence of a supremely and infinitely perfect being (D, at the beginning). Aristotle and Averroes achieved the first step but not the 8 Rather than quote from John's text, reference is made to the transcription of it given at the end of this article. John Walsham, O.F.M., on the Existence of God117 second...