Thus I aroused the envy and hatred of the other teachers. Those who
sought to belittle me in every possible way took advantage of my
absence to bring two principal charges against me: first, that it
was contrary to the monastic profession to be concerned with the
study of secular books; and, second, that I had presumed to teach
theology without ever having been taught therein myself. This they
did in order that my teaching of every kind might be prohibited,
and to this end they continually stirred up bishops, archbishops,
abbots and whatever other dignitaries of the Church they could
reach.
CHAPTER IX
OF HIS BOOK ON THEOLOGY AND HIS PERSECUTION AT THE HANDS OF HIS
FELLOW STUDENTS--OF THE COUNCIL AGAINST HIM
It so happened that at the outset I devoted myself to analyzing the
basis of our faith through illustrations based on human
understanding, and I wrote for my students a certain tract on the
unity and trinity of God. This I did because they were always
seeking for rational and philosophical explanations, asking rather
for reasons they could understand than for mere words, saying that
it was futile to utter words which the intellect could not possibly
follow, that nothing could be believed unless it could first be
understood, and that it was absurd for any one to preach to others
a thing which neither he himself nor those whom he sought to teach
could comprehend.
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