This is a book mostly about the Western tradition of study of philosophy
and theology in the Middle Ages. That is partly for reasons of space. It is
necessary to be heavily selective even in giving an account of this
geographically limited area of growth in the relationship between philosophy
and theology. But we should need to concentrate on the West in any case,
because that was where the main stream of philosophical development now
flowed. After the centuries which immediately followed the fall of the Roman
Empire, Byzantine Christianity developed its own branch of the tradition
in terms of theological scholarship. The two were not easily able to keep in
touch, because few scholars knew both Greek and Latin after the sixth
century; and after 1054 the Greek and Latin Churches were divided and
ceased to be in communion with one another. The Byzantine style of
Christian scholarship placed an emphasis on mysticism.