AberturaAbertura

Theological knowledge should be considered under a twofold aspect: (1) as act of Faith; and (2) as theological science. Faith assents to revealed truths on the authority of God Who reveals them, whereas theological science, under the guidance of Faith, submits them to examination and discussion in order to gain a clearer and deeper insight into them. This distinction has been disregarded in modern times even more than the various distinctions in the objective principles of theological knowledge. Hence the Vatican Council has dealt with it in detail, especially in the third and fourth chapters of the Constitution concerning Catholic Faith.

See Denzinger, Religious Knowledge, books iii. and iv. (in German); Kleutgen, Theology of the Olden Time, vol. iii. (in German); Schrader, De Fide, utrum ea imperari possit? These three authors have made the best use of the materials contained in the older theological works. See also Alexander of Hales, Summa, p. iii., q. 68, 69; St. Thomas, 2 2, q. I sqq.; Quæst. Dispp. De Veritate, q. 14, and various portions of the opusculum, Super Boetium De Trinitate. The question of Faith was exhaustively treated in the century following the Council of Trent. See among the commentators on the Secunda Secundæ, Bannez, Salmanticenses, Reding, Valentia, Tanner, Ysambert; Suarez, De Virtut. Theol.; Lugo, De Fide. In English, we have Card. Newman’s Grammar of Assent, and Mr. Wilfrid Ward’s brilliant little work, The Wish to Believe.