ISAAC OF STELLA
(c. 1100–c. 1169)

Isaac of Stella, one of the great monastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, was born in England about 1100. He apparently studied in both England and France before entering the monastery of Citeaux. After several years at Stella (L'Étoile) in Poitou, where he became abbot, Isaac attempted to found a monastery on the lonely island of Ré, near La Rochelle, but soon returned to Stella, where he died about 1169. His writings include a treatise on human nature (De Anima ), an exposition of the liturgy (De Officio Missae ), and fifty-four sermons, preached either at Ré or at Stella. Through the De Spiritu et Anima of Alcher of Clairvaux his psychological theories became widely influential, notably in the Franciscan school of the thirteenth century.

Isaac's mind, schooled in the biblical spirituality of the Cistercians, was steeped in Scripture, and his writings are full of biblical allusions. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, however, he was careful and systematic in his use of Scripture. Moreover, although most monastic interpreters were content with the moral lessons derivable from the biblical text, Isaac was deeply interested in its doctrinal content. Thus, his biblical exegesis reflects his metaphysical concerns.

As a philosophical theologian, Isaac stood in the tradition of Christian Neoplatonism at the point where it first felt the impact of the Aristotelian renaissance. Both the Greek Fathers and Augustine were extensively studied by the Cistercians, but Isaac's grasp of their teaching was exceptional. Indeed, apart from Erigena no earlier medieval thinker could equal his knowledge of Eastern and Western Neoplatonism. On the one hand, as both his doctrinal tendencies and his extensive use of a Dionysian vocabulary, including at least a dozen Greek terms, indicate, he was well acquainted with the works of the pseudo-Dionysius. On the other hand, he was thoroughly familiar with the philosophical, theological, and mystical thought of Augustine.

Isaac's ambition to reconcile Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism is apparent in his account of human knowledge, which combines the Augustinian doctrine of illumination with the theory of abstraction. In his synthesis reason forms universal concepts by abstraction from sense experience of corporeal objects. Intelligence, however, must be aided by divine illumination in its effort to apprehend incorporeal beings.

The influence of the pseudo-Dionysius can be seen in Isaac's insistence on the negative approach (via negativa ) to the knowledge of God. It appears also in his emphasis on the hierarchical structure of reality, in his exemplarist doctrine of creaturely participation in the divine perfections, and in his strong interest in liturgical symbolism.

The influence of Augustine's theology is most conspicuous in Isaac's discussion of predestination. With frequent echoes of Augustine's own style, he fully develops the theme of God's initiative in the process of human salvation. Augustinian influences are obvious also in Isaac's teaching on many points, including the Trinity, the virtue of charity, and the church as Christ's mystical body.

See also Aristotelianism; Augustine, St.; Determinism, A Historical Survey; Erigena, John Scotus; Illumination; Neoplatonism; Pseudo-Dionysius.

Bibliography

See Louis Bouyer, The Cistercian Heritage (London: Mombnay, 1958); George Bosworth Burch, Early Medieval Philosophy (New York: King's Crown Press, 1951); and W. Meuser, Die Erkenntnislehre des Isaak von Stella (Bottrop, Germany, 1934).

Eugene R. Fairweather (1967)