Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory.
During the ten centuries following the last of these men this
structure continued to rise steadily above the plain meanings
of Scripture. The Christian world rejoiced in it, and the few
great thinkers who dared bring the truth to bear upon it were
rejected. It did indeed seem at one period in the early Church that
a better system might be developed. The School of Antioch,
especially as represented by Chrysostom, appeared likely to lead in
this better way, but the dominant forces were too strong; the
passion for myth and marvel prevailed over the love of real
knowledge, and the reasonings of Chrysostom and his compeers were
neglected.[[301]]
In the ninth century came another effort to present the claims of
right reason. The first man prominent in this was St. Agobard,
Bishop of Lyons, whom an eminent historian has well called the
clearest head of his time. With the same insight which penetrated
the fallacies and follies of image worship, belief in witchcraft
persecution, the ordeal, and the judicial duel, he saw the futility
of this vast fabric of interpretation, protested against the idea
that the Divine Spirit extended its inspiration to the mere words
of Scripture, and asked a question which has resounded through
every generation since: "If you once begin such a system, who can
measure the absurdity which will follow?"
During the same century another opponent of this dominant system
appeared: John Scotus Erigena.
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