Short answers, pulled from the story.
Second scholasticism, also called Modern scholasticism, is the revival of the scholastic system of philosophy and theology that flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its golden age ran from the late 16th century through the first half of the 17th century. It surpassed medieval scholasticism in the number of its proponents, the breadth of its scope, and the volume of its written output.
Francisco de Vitoria and Domingo de Soto were foundational figures at the University of Salamanca. Jesuit thinkers such as Francisco Suárez, Luis de Molina, Robert Bellarmine, and Gabriel Vásquez were among the most influential. The Thomist tradition included Thomas Cajetan, Domingo Báñez, and João Poinsot, while the Scotist school counted Luke Wadding, John Punch, and Claude Frassen among its members.
Second scholasticism provided the Catholic Church with systematic theological and philosophical tools during the Counter-Reformation, roughly from the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries. Scholastic thinkers at institutions like the University of Salamanca, the University of Coimbra, and the University of Leuven clarified Catholic doctrines, defended Church authority over scripture, and refuted Protestant arguments on justification, grace, and the sacraments.
The Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola and approved by Pope Paul III in 1540, formed what is considered the third school of second scholasticism. Jesuits were not unified by a common doctrine but by a shared style of academic work. Together with the Dominicans, they spread scholastic ideas across Europe and into the New World by founding and directing universities, seminaries, and academies.
Yes. Thinkers like John Calvin and Martin Luther drew on scholastic methods of argumentation even while criticizing the tradition. Reformed Orthodoxy produced confessional documents including the Westminster Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism. Lutheran Orthodoxy produced the Formula of Concord and integrated Aristotelian philosophy into theological teaching.
Second scholasticism declined from the mid-17th century onward under pressure from philosophers writing in vernacular languages, including Descartes, Pascal, and Locke, and from the experimental and mathematical approaches of the Scientific Revolution. The suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1767 accelerated the decline. During the 18th century the tradition remained active mainly in the Spanish empire and Portugal, and modern interest has been revived by the journal Studia Neoaristotelica.