Medieval doctrine held reason could attack rivals but never prove Christian truth.

Evidence

Moreover, God could not have created either wisdom or will, since he needs both wisdom and will in order to create. Petrus equates substance with the Father, wisdom with the Son, and will with the Holy Spirit; the rationalistic explanation of the Creation, for Alfonsi, requires the existence of the Trinity. Tathlîth al-wahdânîyah gives essentially the same argument, though its triad differs slightly: it is power, knowledge, and will. Both authors are working within a well-established tradition of Arab Christian apologetics; both emphasize supposedly rational and scientific proofs. Reason (ratio) can disprove Judaism and Islam and prove the essence of Christian truth. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 829 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Alfonso Buenhombre’s hoax epitomizes the failure of the Dominican ambition to convert the Jewish and Muslim worlds to Christianity through disputation. Late thirteenthand fourteenth-century theologians increasingly denied that it was possible to prove the faith through reasoned argument: reason can be used to defend the faith, for Thomas Aquinas, but not to prove it. Both the Franciscan and Dominican approaches turned out to be failures. One of their sharpest critics, Ramon Llull, forged his own idiosyncratic strategy for converting Muslims. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1277 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Late medieval theologians concluded reason could defend but never prove the Christian faith. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1277; Medieval theologians deployed reason only to attack rivals, not to prove their own faith — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1220; Medieval Dominicans held reason could defend but never prove the faith (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Late medieval theologians concluded reason could defend but never prove the Christian faith. #corroborates (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1277
• Medieval apologists claimed pure reason could prove Christian doctrine #contradicts (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 829