Locus Theologicus

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Locus theologicus ( Sg. ) Or loci theologici ( Pl. ), German: "Place / Places of theological knowledge" is a term from Protestant and Catholic dogmatics and theological theory of knowledge.

Loci theologici in theology

The term locus theologicus was probably created by Philipp Melanchthon and in Protestant theology means the main parts of the faith based on the Holy Scriptures, structured according to content. In his work Loci communes , Melanchthon understands this to mean the "central points of content and objects of knowledge (topics) of the doctrine of the faith" such as God, grace, justification, sacraments, authority, etc.

Melchior Cano developed the Catholic term loci theologici in his work De locis theologicis Libri XII , which was published in 1563, three years after his death. Cano's writing was an important textbook for theological epistemology and methodology in school theology for centuries and had more than 30 new editions by 1890. In Cano, the term encompasses the sources of knowledge of dogmatics based on church tradition. With locus is therefore factually one of Thomas Aquinas meant (S. Th. I, 1.8) oriented term "methodological foundation for the argumentative theology (ie the dogmatic proof)." Cano's differentiated list of loci theologici has been changed and simplified; the church's magisterium , the church fathers , the liturgy and the theologians are regarded as essential sources of knowledge .

Concept history

The term locus ( Greek τόπος, tópos = place, topos ) originally comes from ancient rhetoric and is attributed to Cicero as another expression for sedes argumentorum , "as a site for evidence or for the thematic collection of material" or as "keywords with which to deal Easily associate arguments ”.

The loci communes of the Middle Ages were points of view for finding and structuring the material in the sense of a given inventory of arguments. In today's sense, loci theologici rather refer to places where knowledge can, but does not have to, develop. They are to be understood as a complex system of referring instances that are mediated by the religious community of the Church.

On the meaning in Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon's Loci was prescribed as a textbook in the Electoral Saxon University Regulations for Wittenberg and Leipzig from 1580 until the time of the Agreement . Its intensive use as a textbook is reflected in a number of adaptations and auxiliary books from this period, such as publications by Johannes Spangenberg in 1540 or Paul Crell in 1561. In addition, there are a number of representations of the dogmatic material that arise from Melanchthon's lectures, including Victorin Strigel's Loci theologici (1582–1584) or Martin Chemnitz ' Loci Theologici (1591).

literature

  • Melchior Cano: Locorum theologicorum libri duodecim . Venice 1567 ( digitized version of the Bavarian State Library).
  • Johann Gerhard : Loci theologici, cum pro adstruenda veritate, tum pro destruenda quorumvis contradicentium falsitate, per theses nervose, solid et copiose explicati . 9 volumes, Schlawitz, Berlin 1610–1622 <the authoritative presentation of the loci theologici in Lutheran orthodoxy >.
  • Eberhard Haible: Art. Loci theologici . In: Adolf Darlap (Red.): Sacramentum Mundi. Theological Lexicon for Practice , Vol. 3: Confessionalism to Quietism . Herder, Freiburg 1969, Col. 291ff.
  • Peter Hünermann : Dogmatic principles . Aschendorff, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-402-03300-3 .
  • Bernhard Körner: Melchior Cano "De locis theologis". A contribution to theological theory of knowledge . Styria, Graz 1994, ISBN 3-7012-0023-8 .
  • Albert Lang : The Loci theologici of Melchior Cano and the method of dogmatic proof. A contribution to theological methodology and its history . Kösel and Pustet, Munich 1925.
  • Albert Lang: Art. Loci theologici . In: Lexicon for Theology and Church , 2nd ed., Vol. 6: Karthago - Marcellino . Herder, Freiburg 1961, Col. 1110ff.
  • The Loci Communes Philipp Melanchthons in their original form after GL Plitt in the second edition and re-edited and explained by Theodor von Kolde . Deichert, Erlangen and Leipzig 1890.
  • Oliver Primavesi: Art. Topik, Topos, I. Antike . In: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy , Vol. 10: St - T . Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1998, Sp. 1263-1269.
  • Hans-Joachim Sander: The place of ecumenism for the catholicity of the church - from the impossible utopia to the precarious heterotopia . In: Peter Hünermann, Bernd Jochen Hilberath (ed.): The documents of the Second Vatican Council (= Herder's Theological Commentary on the Second Vatican Council ), Vol. 5: Theological overview and perspectives . Herder, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-451-28531-2 , pp. 186-200.
  • Hans-Joachim Sander: Can fail. A sign of the quality of the dialogue at the Council . In: Peter Hünermann, Bernd Jochen Hilberath (ed.): The documents of the Second Vatican Council (= Herder's Theological Commentary on the Second Vatican Council ), Vol. 5: Theological overview and perspectives . Herder, Freiburg 2006, pp. 349-356.
  • Max Seckler : Art. Loci theologici . In: Lexicon for Theology and Church , 3rd ed., Vol. 6: Church history up to Maximianus . Herder, Freiburg 1997, Sp. 1014ff.
  • Max Seckler: The leaning walls of the Lehrhaus. Catholicity as a challenge . Herder, Freiburg 1988, ISBN 3-451-21186-6 .

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article locus . In: Der Große Brockhaus , 16th edition, Volume 7: L - Mij (1955).
  2. ↑ Jan Schröder (ed.): Development of the methodology in law and philosophy from the 16th to the 18th century. Contributions to an interdisciplinary symposium in Tübingen, 18. – 20. April 1996 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07173-3 , p. 25.
  3. ↑ Article locus . In: Der Große Brockhaus , 16th edition, Volume 7: L - Mij (1955): “In the older logic and rhetoric, a site for evidence or for the collection of material. The expression goes back to the topics and rhetoric of Aristotle. "
  4. ↑ Jan Schröder (ed.): Development of the methodology in law and philosophy from the 16th to the 18th century . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, p. 21.
  5. ^ Andreas Stegmann: Johann Friedrich König . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-16-149041-X , p. 135.