William of Auvergne: The Immortality of the Soul

by William of Auvergne (Translator), Roland J. Teske (Translator)

English (translation)
Original Latin

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

William of Auvergne (1180/90-1249) was a French priest who served as Bishop of Paris from 1228 until his death in 1249. He is also known as Guillaume d'Auvergne, Guilielmus Alvernus, or William of Paris.

He went to Paris to study and earned a master's degree in Theology at the University of Paris. A Scholastic philosopher, he was made a professor first in the faculty of arts and then in 1220 in that of theology. His theology was systematically Aristotelian, although not uncritically so, and he was the first theologian to attempt to reconcile Aristotle with Christian doctrine, and especially with the teachings of Augustine of Hippo. The Aristotelian texts which were then available in Western Europe were few in number and mostly Arab translations. William sought to rescue Aristotle from the Arabians and worked to refute certain doctrines, such as the eternality of the world and the heresy of Catharism. His major work is the Magisterium Divinale, which has been translated as "Teaching on God in the Mode of Wisdom."