Ockham, John XXII and the Absolute Power of God

OCKHAM, JOHN XXII AND THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF GOD Although still debated, Paul Vignaux's interpretation of the meaning of the distinction between potentia Dei absoluta and ordinata according to Ockham seems to have defeated the 'skeptical' or 'outrageous' view of many older scholars. W.J.Courtenay's interpretation has become a classical one: Ockham conceived potentia Dei absoluta as the whole possibilities "initially open to God." From such an established standpoint, it was subsequently possible to reckon with the proper meaning of a key concept like pactum,' and furthermore to free Ockham from the heavy burden of having conceived God as an arbitrary tyrant. Also, it became possible to reconsider the so-called 'outrageous view,' just discarded inasmuch as it referred to Ockham. Ockham is no more regarded as maintaining, as Gordon Leff previously argued, that God can actually intervene de potentia absoluta on this world; but many 'ockhamists' undoubtedly seemed to equate his potentia ordinata to the lex statuta, the communis cursus rerum. Conversely, they equated or gave the impression of equating God's action de potentia absoluta to miracles. When Leff revised his own interpretation, he happened to attribute his former misinterpretation of Ockham's thought to the misleading character which the distinction assumed in the later XIVth and during the XVth century.1 But if we may call Leffs older posi- * This paper represents part of a research supported, from January 1985 on, by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione of Italy. I am grateful to Prof. Mariateresa Beonio-Brocchieri for many kind suggestions and her constant help; and to Dr. Michael Dunne, who kindly read the English text. 1 See P.Vignaux, Nominalisme au XlVe siècle (Paris: Vrin 1948, repr.1982) 22-28; P. Vignaux, "Nominalisme," Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique , 11-1, 717-84; W. J. Courtenay, "Nominalism and Late Medieval 2?6EUGENIO RANDI tion a 'misunderstanding', I do not think we should apply the same term to those medieval authors, Ockham's contemporaries or even earlier , who actually mantained what Leff and late ockhamists misunderstood as Ockham's position. I will try in this paper to sketch the main characters of another, non-ockhamistic theory of potentia absoluta: a theory which is closer than Ockham's to the 'outrageous view'. I will try to support the thesis that in the early XIVth century Medieval Universities did not simply face the development of Ockham's theory ofGod's absolute power, but were shaken by a debate concerning the manifold meanings of the idea of potentia absoluta. i. Ockham's Polemical Statements In his political works, William of Ockham deals insistently with the definition of the distinction between potentia absoluta and ordinata . He stresses particularly three points: 1.1 INSANE INTELLECTA. Ockham underlines vigorously the necessity of a correct understanding of the distinction absoluta/ordinata; which is, in his opinion, sometimes wrongly understood. The distinction , Ockham claims, is quite a difficult matter; nevertheless, if corReligion ," in H. A. Oberman, Ch. Trinkhaus, eds., The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion (Leiden: Brill, 1975) 26-59; G. Leff, Bradwardine and the Pelagians (Cambridge, 1957); G. Leff, Gregory of Rimini (Manchester, 1961); G. Leff, William of Ockham. The Metamorphosis ofScholastic Discourse (Manchester, 1975); L. Moonan, "St.Thomas on Divine Power," in Atti del Congresso Intemazionale per il VU centenario di san Tommaso (RomaNapoli , 1974), vol. Ill, 366-407; H. A. Oberman, Masters ofReformation (Cambridge , 1981); E. Borchert, Der Einfluß des Nominalismus auf die Christologie der Spätscholastik (Münster, 1940, Beiträge 35, 4-5); W. J. Courtenay, "Necessity and Freedom in Anselm's Conception ofGod," in Wirkungsgeschichte Anselms von Canterbury, Analecta Anselmiana 4/2 (1975): 39-64; R. P. Desharnais, The History of the Distinction between the Absolute and the Ordained Powers of God and its Influence on Martin Luther (Washington: Catholic University of America, unpublished PhD thesis, 1966); B. Hamm, Promissio. Pactum. Ordinatio . Freiheit in Selbstbindung Gottes in der scholastischen Gnadenlehre (Tübingen , 1977); E. Randi, "Potentia Dei conditionata. Una questione di Ugo di saint-Chér sulla onnipotenza divina," Ri'vista di Storia della Filosofía, n.s., 39 (1984): 521-36. Ockham, John XXIl and the Absolute Power of God 207...