... otium cum dignitate: “leisure with dignity.” Kantorowicz identified Abelard as the first to return to reclusiveness as a means for pursuing a life of learning, but he acknowledged that Abelard's reclusiveness remained monastic or ascetic and that when he spoke of pursuing philosophy he...

...This chapter focuses on Peter Abelard, the first thinker, since Augustine and Boethius, for whom the Problem of Paganism was a central concern. Two of his works in particular are among the most remarkable of all medieval treatments of the area. Abelard's first theological work, written c. 1121...

...This chapter details John of Salisbury's role in addressing the Problem of Paganism. For him, as for Abelard, who was briefly his teacher, the Problem of Paganism is a constant concern, which is addressed explicitly. Unlike Abelard, however, John does not make his own views on it immediately...