Abelard

Clergy who became Schoolmen were suspected by the Church of heresy, yet they were only trying to understand the Christian teachings that had been handed down from the ancient Church and to justify it by their reason. Even Thomas Aquinas did not escape the charge of introducing dangerous doctrines, though he became the accepted master of Catholic theology. They did not intend to overstep the bounds of authority, but they mark the beginning of the modern tendency toward critical thought directed toward even the most sacred themes of the Christian tradition.