Ruined

Abstract Peter Abelard is in his own estimation “the only philosopher in the world,” a star in the academic empyrean of medieval Paris and rakishly handsome to boot. His memoir is the story of his ruin. Planning to bed a brilliant young scholar named Heloise, he succeeds, and the two of them are nabbed in flagrante by her uncle Fulbert. She is pregnant. Fulbert’s revenge is to have Abelard castrated. It is the pivotal event in the story of his “misfortunes,” which, unlike Augustine’s Confessions, is a litany of complaints. His ruin is completed by the infamy of his injury. Heloise enters a convent, and Abelard enters a monastery, whereupon the celebrity monk reinvents himself as a biblical scholar. He is subsequently humiliated by the famed Bernard of Clairvaux, who sees in Abelard’s philosophy something “new” and dangerous to traditional Catholic philosophy. He is right. Abelard’s critical approach to theology is roughly six centuries ahead of his time.