112. Definition of Scholasticism by its Relations with Scholastic Theology: State of the Question. -- Of all the current notions about scholastic philosophy the one most commonly entertained is that which connects scholasticism with Christian dogma. Servant or handmaid for some, philosophia ancilla theologiae (Cousin, Ueberweg-Heinze, Freudenthal, Windelband, etc.), companion or helper for others (Gonzalez, Erdmann, Willmann, Picavet, Blanc), scholasticism is conceived by all as philosophy under the direction and control of catholic theology. Some authors ingeniously widen the scope of such statements. Just as we might call scholastic whatever is a product of the schools (108), so do they call scholastic all philosophy subject to any dogma whatsoever. The scholasticity of a philosophy would be measured by the extent of its subjection, and the diversity of the ruling dogma would determine the different species of scholasticism. Thus it is we hear of a Jewish scholasticism (Zeller), of an Arabian scholasticism (Carra de Vaux) and of a Protestant scholasticism (E. Blanc).

To understand and appraise aright the attitude here revealed, we must outline, in its broad, leading features, the system of relations established in the Middle Ages between philosophy and theology. In virtue of this system, adumbrated in the early Middle Ages and completed in the thirteenth century, these two sister sciences developed on parallel lines and were indeed interdependent in their evolution. The relations in question are of various kinds, non-doctrinal and doctrinal.