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included God, Divine Mind and matter from which the world was made. “Perpetual” things had a
beginning but no end and included the works of God. 15 “Temporal” things had both beginning
and end and were characteristic of the works of nature. The anonymous author claimed that
according to the philosophers the world was eternal with respect to its matter but perpetual with
respect to its form. 16
Discussions of the world’s eternity in the twelfth century were considerably different
from those of the thirteenth century involving Aquinas and Bonaventure. They were based
predominantly on Plato’s Timaeus which was understood to be a philosophical myth and
considered by some to be consistent with Christianity. 17 Twelfth century scholars believed that
the truth was one and that the great authors of antiquity, especially Plato, the Bible, Homer and
Virgil, all taught the same thing. It was the task of the academics to perceive the unity of truth
behind the apparent differences of ancient authors. 18 Even the second half of the twelfth century,
which was marked by the introduction to the Latin West of many works translated from Greek
and Arabic that included an explicit teaching of eternity of the world, saw little interest in
discussions of this question. 19 The most important event of the twelfth century which initiated
medieval debates on this topic was Peter Lombard’s decision to include in his Sentences the
question of the eternity of the world and to emphasize the divergence between Revelation and
ancient philosophers, with Plato and Aristotle mentioned by name. 20 When, during the early
thirteenth century, it became customary and then required for candidates for the degree in
theology to lecture on the Sentences, the topic of the eternity of the world was added to the
15
Ibid, 23.
Ibid.
17
Ibid, 35.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid, 36.
20
Ibid, 37.
16
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