Scholasticism developed as the philosophical systems and speculative tendencies of various medieval Christian thinkers, who, working against a background of fixed religious dogma, sought to solve new general philosophical problems. During this time, libraries and universities were funded by the Church and staffed by monastic orders. Initially, under the influence of the mystical and intuitional tradition of patristic philosophy, especially Augustinianism, and later under that of Aristotle. The voluminous research which has been devoted to this era has revealed its true nature as a significant continuation of the genuinely philosophical tradition and as a period of exemplary philosophers quite able to stand in comparison with any of the great figures of antiquity or of modern times. It was the Church that preserved and translated ancient texts – the majority being Greek philosophy and latterly discovered Islamic philosophies.
From the time of the Renaissance until at least the beginning of the 19th century, the term Scholasticism, not unlike the name Middle Ages, was used as an expression of blame and contempt. However, it played an important role in the assimilation of philosophy into Christianity, until the rise of humanist ideas.
