William Occam believed that reason is unable to penetrate the depths of divine majesty

An English Franciscan, William of Occam was an advocate of Franciscan poverty and a critic of the popes of his era. He worked in the circle of theologians and theorists who developed a rationale for the conciliar movement. As a philosopher, William of Occam denied the platonic argument that universal ideas or abstractions have an actual existence. He argued that only individual things exist and only as such can they be apprehended by the mind. In theology he persistently advocated reason's inability to penetrate the depths of the divine majesty. Occam also defended God's freedom and sovereignty, arguing that Christians can only submit to that which God has revealed. In light of this, he maintained a distinction between the absolute power of God to do what God wishes in contrast to the ordered power of God which has disposed the universe in a way that seems reasonable to humans. God so disposes his ordered power not because it is reasonable but only because he wishes to do so. Occam and later theologians who developed this line of theological argument are known as "nominalists."