The Catholic church never showed its ability to greater advantage than in its dealings with the new problems of this period. The people of a purely religious epoch now came into possession of Aristotelianism. For centuries the intellect had been starving on formal logic. An intellectual revolution was imminent. Here in Aristotle was presented a rich theory of nature that the church had never considered. Yet it is doubtful if Aristotle would have been accepted, had the Mendicant Friars――the Dominicans and Franciscans――not succeeded in establishing chairs in the University of Paris. These monks did not love philosophy in itself. They saw, however, that philosophy must be able to defend itself against infidel philosophy by the weapons of philosophy. But curiously enough, Aristotelianism, which was the spring of this renaissance, became, by its incorporation into the church, the great obstacle to the real Renaissance two hundred and fifty years later. =The Strength and Burden of Aristotle to the Church.= =1. The Strength of Aristotle to the Church:= (1) Aristotle elaborated for the church, with great clearness, the conception of a transcendent God. This was a weapon for the church against neo-Platonism and mysticism. (2) Aristotle gave to the church a theory of nature that supplemented its theory of grace. (3) Aristotle established a philosophical standard for the truth of things. This proved of great value to the church because it was under the control of the church. In the first two periods of the Middle Ages philosophical thought had a relative independence because it was without a recognized standard; now philosophy could be controlled by the standard of Aristotle. For example, with the coming of Aristotle there came certain standard definitions of substance, person, nature, accident, mode, potency, and act. =2. The Burden of Aristotle to the Church:= (1) Aristotle encouraged a taste for science and analysis. At first the Aristotelian influence in this direction was very small, but its growth was only a question of time. (2) Aristotle became for the church a second standard. The problem for the churchman now became a double one: (a) Is my teaching consistent with church dogma? (b) Is my teaching consistent with Aristotle? “My son,” was the reply to a youth who thought he had discovered spots on the sun, “I have read Aristotle many times and I assure you there is nothing of the kind in him.” Dogma, not now the only standard, is not infallible. The reason need not follow dogma, but its own standard. Revelation became a realm of mystery which the reason could not reach, but to which it pointed. A doctrine thus might be of such a nature that it might be philosophically true, but theologically not true.