Thomas Bradwardine Quotes
Thomas Bradwardine was an English theologian, mathematician, and Archbishop of Canterbury, known to scholastic posterity as the Doctor Profundus. As one of the Oxford Calculators at Merton College he advanced the mathematical analysis of motion in his Tractatus de proportionibus, which would influence late-medieval and early-modern kinematics. The quotes below are attributed to Thomas Bradwardine, organized by topic.
Thomas Bradwardine on God
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Attributed to Thomas Bradwardine:
“Without grace, no will is free for the good.”
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“The cause of God is the cause of grace, and the cause of grace is the cause of God.”
De causa Dei contra Pelagium -
Attributed to Thomas Bradwardine:
“God is the necessary, immutable, and eternal foundation of every contingent thing.”
Thomas Bradwardine on Knowledge
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Attributed to Thomas Bradwardine:
“Mathematics is the gateway through which the structure of nature becomes intelligible.”
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“Sample of Bradwardine devotional writing quoted by James Burnes, The Church of England Magazine under the superintendence of clergymen of the United Church of England and Ireland Vol. IV (January to June 1838)”
O great and wonderful Lord our God, thou only light of the eyes, open, I implore thee, the eyes of my heart, and of others my fellow-creatures, that we may truly understand and contemplate thy wondrous works. And the more thoroughly we comprehend them, the more may our minds be affected in the contemplation with pious reverence and profound devotion. Who is not struck with awe in beholding thy all
Thomas Bradwardine on Nature
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Attributed to Thomas Bradwardine:
“Velocity follows the ratio of the moving force to the resistance.”