Petrus Johannis Olivi

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Peter Olivi , OFM (also Peter Johann Oliva , * 1247 / 48 in Sérignan ( Languedoc-Roussillon ); † 14. March 1296 / 98 in Narbonne ( Aude )) was a French theologian.

Life

Around 1260/1261 Olivi entered the Franciscan order in Béziers (Languedoc-Roussillon). After finishing school he studied in Paris from approx. 1267 to 1272 - a. a. he was a pupil of the theologian Bonaventura von Bagnoregio - but did not get the Baccalauréats - and master's degree there.

Influenced by the movement of the southern French spiritualists , Olivi became acquainted with the teachings of Joachim von Fiore and then came into conflict with his order. Olivi could not come to an agreement with his superiors, especially on questions of evangelical perfection and the poverty of the order. These disputes led to the first complaint from the Order General Girolami d´Ascoli, who later became Pope Nicholas IV , around 1278. Olivi was not only able to justify himself, but was later given to Pope Nicholas III. invited to collaborate on his papal bull Exiit qui seminat , in the u. a. the interpretation of the rules of the order was discussed.

With the toleration of Pope Martin IV , another trial was brought against Olivi in ​​Paris in 1282, as he was suspected of heresy because of individual statements in his sentence commentary . Olivi publicly revoked his views, but he could not prevent that three years later the Franciscan General Chapter in Milan banned Olivi's entire written work. After a lengthy dispute over the interpretation of his writings, Olivi was completely rehabilitated in 1287 by the General Chapter of Montpellier . In the same year the then general minister, Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta , appointed him to the religious college in Florence , where he taught as a lecturer for two years. In 1289 Olivi went to Montpellier in the same position, where he taught until shortly before his death. Petrus Johannis Olivi died in Narbonne in 1296/1298 at the age of about 56.

After his death there was again violent action against his teachings, writings and students, especially the order general Giovanni Minio de Murovalle , who had his writings again banned. The spiritual controversy continued and the movement of the Beguines who invoked Olivi grew stronger and increasingly alienated from the Roman Church. The Council of Vienne (1311-12) tried in vain to get his condemnation as a heretic, but at least his apocalypse postil 1326 was made by John XXII. rejected as heretical. Meanwhile, the increasing veneration of Olivi had also been fought. In 1318 his grave was destroyed and his body was buried elsewhere.

Teaching

Olivi's extensive work often breaks new ground. Among other things, he emphasized the active alignment of the intellect and the will, the acts of which go back to an inner movement of the consciousness, and thus accomplished a turn from object to subject. He emphasizes the importance of freedom, which he sees as the essence of will, and self-reflection. In natural philosophy he is the first scholastic proponent of the anti-Aristotelian impetus theory , which is associated with a new scientific concept of force. Related to his theory of impetus is Olivi's new conception of the relationship between body and soul, in which the stoic doctrine of “ rationes seminales ” (“germinal forces”) , which is widely accepted in Christianity, also plays a role.

His Tractatus de contractibus (1293–1295) is considered an important milestone in the history of economic thought. In it Olivi formulates a theory of price and capital (as opposed to money) that was modern for the circumstances at the time . According to Olivi, above and beyond its core value, capital has “a certain seed-like determination to generate profit” (“quandam racionem seminalem lucri”). The capital has, similar to the throwing object in the impetus theory and the germinal forces, a "dynamic" factor. In practical terms, investing capital in a long-distance trading business and expecting a risk premium for this is something different than lending money to someone in a community based on solidarity. The investor not only has to be reimbursed the simple value, but also an added value ( valor superadiunctus ). Through this concept, the scholastic interest prohibition is mentally called into question.

Theological classification and aftermath

The thinking of Petrus Johannis Olivi is deeply rooted in the ideas of the Franciscan spirituals. The goal of Christian life is evangelical perfection, the way there is contemplatio , immersion in God and the contemplation of all creatures from the light of God, which also led him to reject a purely inner-worldly concept of culture and knowledge. His writings are biblically shaped and deal with the dependence of the human being on the divine work of salvation in the participation in the sacraments and the resulting obedience in love. The main problem for the church at that time was his apocalyptic doctrine of the times, based on Joachim von Fiore, which was supposed to lead to a perfection and reformatio of the church towards a completely monastic church without hierarchies.

In a modified form his ideas can be found in Duns Scotus , Wilhelm von Ockham , as well as in Martin Luther ; his ascetic views, on the other hand, in John of Capestrano and Bernardine of Siena .

Petrus Johannis Olivi is certainly known to a wide audience through the treatment of the spiritual dispute in Umberto Eco's novel " The Name of the Rose " .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Pierre de Jean Olivi, Traité des contrats, ed.Sylvain Piron, Paris 2012, p. 232
  2. ↑ ibid. P. 69

expenditure

  • About human freedom . Latin / German. Translated and introduced by Peter Nickl, Freiburg 2006 (Quaestio 57 on the second book of sentences)
  • Traité des contrats , ed.Sylvain Piron, Paris 2012

literature

  • Theo Kobusch, History of Philosophy: The Philosophy of the High and Late Middle Ages , Vol. 5. Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3406312694
  • Theo Kobusch, Petrus Johannis Olivi: a Franciscan cross head . In: Markus Knapp / Theo Kobusch, lateral thinker. Visionaries and outsiders in philosophy and theology , Darmstadt 2005, pp. 106–116
  • L. Hödl, E. Pasztor: Petrus Johannis Olivi . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters Vol. 6 (2002), Sp. 1976–1977.
  • V. Heynck: Petrus Johannis Olivi . In: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 7 (2nd edition 1962), Sp. 1149–1150.
  • Pierre de Jean Olivi (1248-1298). Pensée scolastique, dissidence spirituelle et société. Actes du colloque de Narbonne (mars 1998) , édité par Alain Boureau et Sylvain Piron, Paris, Vrin (Études de philosophie médiévale, 79), 1999, 412 p.
  • S. Piron: Olivi et les averroïstes . In: Freiburg Journal for Philosophy and Theology , 53-1 (2006), s. 251-309.
  • M. Landi, Uno dei contributi della Scolastica alla scienza economica contemporanea: la questione del giusto prezzo, o del valore delle merci , in Divus Thomas , anno 113 ° - 2010 - maggio / agosto, pp. 126-143.
  • K. Flasch: A radical Franciscan at the end of the century: Olivi. in Ders .: Philosophical thinking in the Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1986, pp. 378-380.
  • Michael Plathow :  Olivi, Petrus Johannes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 1209-1210.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Petrus Johannis Olivi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petrus Johannis Olivi OFM
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1247
PLACE OF BIRTH Sérignan (Languedoc)
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1296 or March 14, 1298
Place of death Narbonne ( Aude department )