In the thirteenth century the Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas, teaching mainly at Paris, wrote the Summa Theologica, a vast systematic synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine. His work exemplified the scholastic method taught in the new universities, which proceeded by posing questions, marshalling objections and resolving them through reasoned argument and authority. Aquinas held that reason and faith, properly used, could not contradict each other. His thought became central to Catholic theology and the medieval curriculum.
Scholasticism forged the rational, disputation-based intellectual culture of the medieval university town, embedding a tradition of formal reasoning in the institutions that continue to shape university cities.