Disputationes (Bellarmine)

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Disputationes , Part I, Ingolstadt 1586

The Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos - "Disputations on the issues of the Christian faith against today's heretics" - is a dogmatic work of the Italian Jesuit Robert Bellarmin , which first appeared in 1586 in Ingolstadt . It is regarded as his main apologetic work and "brings the first thorough, even in tone moderate discussion of Protestantism". It has been called "the final defense of papal authority". After its publication, Bellarmine was considered the most important apologist of Catholic teaching and papal authority .

Robert Bellarmine

Bellarmine prepared these disputations when he was a professor of apologetics at the Collegium Romanum . They were first published in Ingolstadt in three or four volumes (1581, 1582, 1593). This work was the first attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time and made a great impression across Europe. The strength of his arguments against Protestantism was felt in Germany and England. Thomas Hobbes (in his main work Leviathan ), Theodor von Beza and John Rainolds wrote the most important replies to this work.

The first volume deals with the Word of God, Christ and the Pope, the second with the authority of ecumenical councils and the Church , the third volume with the sacraments, and the fourth with divine grace , free will , justification and good works .

As much as the Protestants disapproved of Bellarmine's theories, he was only moderately defensive of papal power. In 1590 Pope Sixtus V put the first volume of the work on the index Librorum Prohibitorum , since Bellarmine denied the papacy's claim to secular rule in it. Bellarmin's argument was that the Pope was Christ 's representative, but should not use his worldly power, since Christ had no worldly power either.

The most important part of the work is contained in the five books on the Pope. After a speculative introduction to forms of government in general, Bellarmine says that monarchical government and temporary power are necessary for the church to maintain unity and order within it, and admits that a heretical Pope is free to judge by the church and could be rejected because he would cease to be Pope or even a member of the Church simply because of his heresy.

The third section deals with the Antichrist . Bellarmine represents the doctrine formulated by the Church Fathers that a personal Antichrist will come shortly before the end of the world and that he will be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the Temple of Jerusalem. In doing so, he opposed the Protestant attitude that identified the Antichrist with the Pope.

Text output

Latin edition

  • Disputationes de controversiis Christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos.

German translation

  • Pamphlets on the fighting points of the Christian faith in 14 volumes, translated by Viktor Philipp Gumposch (1817-1853), Augsburg 1842-1853
    • 1. About the Word of God (online) ,
    • 2. About Christ, Head of the whole Church (online) ,
    • 3. About the Pope (online) ,
    • 4. About the Councils and the Church (online) ,
    • 5. About the members of the Warring Church (online) ,
    • 6. About the church, which is in the cleansing places (online) ,
    • 7. About the Church that triumphs in heaven and about indulgences (online) ,
    • 8. About the Sacraments in general (online) ,
    • 9. About baptism and confirmation (online) ,
    • 10. About the altar sacrament (part 1) , (part 2)
    • 11. About repentance (online) ,
    • 12. On the Last Unction, Ordination and Marriage (online) ,
    • 13. About the grace of the first man (online) ,
    • 14. On Loss of Grace and the State of Sin (online)

Under the modified title Disputations on the Issues of Christian Faith , a new edition of Gumposch's translation, which has been orthographically revised and indexed, has been published by the Kulmbach publishing house Sabat under the program title Library of Church Teachers

literature

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Dictionary of Religions . In conjunction with Hans Freihr. from Campenhausen av. by Alfred Bertholet . Stuttgart: Kröner 1952. Kröner's pocket edition 125, p. 66
  2. ↑ Patricia Springborg, p. 506: "the definitive defense of papal power".
  3. ↑ Patricia Springborg, pp. 515-516.