Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/649

 THEOLOGY

589

THEOLOGY

portunity was afforded to the Fathers and the oecu- menical councils to establish the true meaning of the dogma of the Trinity, to secure it on all sides and to draw out, by speculation, its genuine import. When the contest with Eunoniianism broke out, the fires of theological and philosophical criticism purified the doctrine of God and our knowledge of Him, both earthly and heavenly. Of world-wide interest were the Christological disputes, which, hi-giniiing with the rise of Apollinarianism, reached their climcix in Nes- torianism, Mouophysitism, and Monothclitism; and were revived once niorein Adoptionism. In this long and bitter strife, the doctrine of ChrLst's person, of the Incarnation, and Redemption, and in connexion here- with Mariology also, was placed on a sure and per- manent foimdat ion, from which the Church has never varied a hair's breadth in later ages. The following may be mentioned as the Eastern Champions in this scientific di.spute on the Trinity and Christology: the great Alexandrines, Clement, Origen, and Didymus the Blind; the heroic Athanasius and the three Cap- padoeians (Basil, CJregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) ; Cyril of Alexandria and Leontius of Byzan- tium; finally, jNIaximus the Confessor and John Damascene. In the West the leaders were: Tertul- lian, Cyprian, Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Fulgent ius of Ruspe, and the two popes, Leo I and Gregory I. As the contest with Pelagian- ism and Semi-pelagianism purified the dogmas of grace and liberty, providence and predestination, original sin and the condition of our first parents in Paradise, so in like manner the contests with the Donatists brought out more clearly and strongly the doctrine of the sacraments (bapti.sm), the hierarchical constitution of the Church, her magistcrium, or teach- ing authority, and her infallibility. In all these struggles it was Augustine who ever led with indomi- table courage.and next to him cameOptatus of Milevc and a long fine of devoted disciijles. The last contest was decided by the Second Council of Nicsea (787); it was in this struggle that, under the leadership of St. John Damascene, the communion of saints, the invo- cation of the saints, the veneration of relics and holy images were placed on a scientific basis.

It may be seen from this brief outline that the dog- matic teachings of the Fathers are a collection of monographs rather than a sy.stematic exposition. But the Fathers broke the ground and furnished the material for erecting the system afterwards. In the ca.se of some of them there are evident signs of an at- tempt to synthesize dogma into a complete and or- ganic whole. Irenaeus (Adv. hser., III-V) shows traces of this tendency; the well-known trilogy of Clement of Alexandria (d. 217) marks an advance in the .same direction; but the most successful effort in Christian antiquity to .systematize the principal dog- mas of faith was made by Origen in his work "De principiis", which is unfortunately disfigured by seri- ous errors. His work against Celsus, on the other hand, is a classic in apologetics and of lasting value. Gregory of Nyssa (d. ;594), skilled in matters philo- sophical and of much the same bent of mind as Origen, endeavoured in his "Large Catechetical Treatise" (X67os KOTexvitAso/i^os) to correlate in a broad .synthetic view the fundament.al dogmas of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Sacraments. In the same manner, though somewhat fragment arily, Hilary (d. 366) developed in his valuable work "De Trinitate" the principal truths of Chris- tianity. The catechetical instructions of St. C>Til of Jerusalem (d. 3S6), especially his five mysta- gogical treatises, on the .Vposties' Creed and the three Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist, contain an almost complete dogmatic treati.se. St. Epiphanius (d. 496), in his two works "Ancoratus" and "Panarium", aimed at a complete dogmatic treatise, and St. Ambrose (d. 397) in his

chief works: "De fide", "De Spirit u S.", "De in- carnatione", "De mysteriis", "De pcenitentia", treated the main points of dogma masterfully and in classic Latinity, though without any attempt at a unifying synthesis. In regard to the Trinity and Christology, St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) is even to-day a model for dogmatic theologians. Though all the writings of St. Augustine (d. 430) are an in- exhaustible mine, yet he has written one or two works, as the "De fide et symbolo" and the "Enchiridium", which may justly be called compendia of dogmatic and moral theologj'. Unsurpassed is his .speculative work "De Trinitate". His disciple Fulgentius of Ruspe (d. 533) wrote an extensive and thorough con- fession of faith under the title, "De fide ad Petrum, seu regula rectie fidei", a veritable treasure for the theologians of his day.

Towards the end of the Patristic Age Isidore of Seville (d. 636) in the West and John Damascene (b. ab. 700) in the East paved the way for a system- atic treatment of dogmatic theology. Following closely the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great, St. Isidore proposed to collect all the writ- ings of the earlier Fathers and to hand them down as a precious inheritance to posterity. The results of this undertaking were the "Libri ill sent entiarum seu de summo bono". Tajus of Saragossa (6.50) had the same end in view in his "Libri V sententiarum". The work of St. John Damascene (d. after 754) was crowned with still greater success; for not only did he gather the teachings and views of the Greek Fathers, but by reducing them to a systematic whole he deserves to be called the first and the only scholastic among the Greeks. His main work, which is divided into three parts, is entitled: "Fons scientia;" (^7777; yvuxreus), because it was intended to be the source, not merely of theology, but of philosophy and Church history as well. The third or theological part, known as "Expositio fidei orthodoxa;" (fuBea-is t^s opffoooiov irfffTcus), is an excellent combination of positive and scholastic theology, and aims at thoroughness both in establishing and in elucidating the truth. Greek theology has never gone beyond St. John Damascene, a standstill caused principally by the Photian schism (869). The only Greek prior to him who had pro- duced a complete system of theology was Pseudo- Dionysius the Areopagite, in the fifth century; but he was more popular in the West, at least from the eighth century on, than in the East. Although he ojienly wove into the genuine Catholic system neo-Platonic thoughts and ])hrases, nevertheless he enjoyed an unparalleled re])utation among the greatest Scholastics of the Middle Ages because he was suppo.sed to have been a disci])le of the Apostles. For all that, Scholas- ticism did not take its guidance from St. John Damas- cene or Pseudo-Dionysius, but from St. .\ugustine, the greatest of the Fathers. Augustinian thought runs like a golden thread through the whole progress of Western philoso])hy and theology. It was Au- gustine who led everywhere, who always pointed out the right path, and from whom all schools sought direction. Even the heretics triinl to bolster up their errors with the strength of hisreput.ation. To-day his greatness is recognized and apjireciated more and more, as specialized research goes more deeply into his works and brings to view his genius. .\s Scheeben remarks, "It would be easy tocompile from his writings a rich .syst(>m of dogmatic theology." \\'e cannot help admiring the skill with which he ever kept God, as the beginning and end of all things, in the central position, even where he was compelled to (le))art from earlier o)iiMions which he had found to be untenable. The Knglish-spcaking world may well be prf)ud of the Venerable Bede (d. 73.5), a conteinirorary of St. .John Damascene. Owing to his unusually solid education in theology, his extensive knowledge of the Bible and of the Fathers of the Church, he is the link which