The Consolation Of Philosophy Analysis

Unit Test One – Hannah Arrington

1. In his work “The Consolation of Philosophy” Boethius tackles the issue of theodicy, or God allows evil to exist in the world, by noting in Book 4 that evil is not actually existent in the world, and therefore almost he sidesteps the issue entirely. Essentially Boethius argues that since evil has no substance there are not any truly evil people and there are never truly bad events, therefore God doesn’t allow evil or suffering to exist in the world because they simply don’t exist. Boethius establishes, through the words of Lady Philosophy of course, that all fortune is good and that the reality that he is currently living in is actually the best of all possible realities. Boethius also comforts himself by

The two sword doctrine itself identifies the two different authorities in the society of the Middle Ages: temporal and spiritual. The temporal “sword” is given by the Church to the State and is wielded by the monarch and all those directly under him to protect both the Church and its subjects. The spiritual sword is wielded by the Church and according to Pope Boniface VIII in his writing The Superiority of the Spiritual Authority, “both swords, the spiritual and the material, therefore, are in the power of the Church; the one, indeed to be wielded for the Church, the other by the Church.” This clear expression of papal authority had significant effects on the socio-political atmosphere surrounding both the Church and the State. For one, a monarch may not have been actively able to declare war on another kingdom without authorization from the church. If a monarch completely disregarded the authority of the Church in favor of his own ambitions, he faced potential excommunication. In a society where citizens ultimately favored the Church, excommunication could have led to outright revolt against the

For instance, an archbishop or other church leader may be able to attempt to address the government of a nation associated with the Roman Catholic Church, such as Pope Francis’ recent address to the United States Congress within the past few days, but the temporal authority is under no papal consequences such as excommunication if they disregard the spiritual authority. In fact, especially in Western culture, separation between the Church and State is highly emphasized, due to the protestant desire to escape religious