The great Thomists: On the Church as a necessary condition for faith (Marìn-Sola Part III)
According to Cajetan, John of St Thomas, and other Thomists, anyone who has not received a direct revelation from God must depend on the Church's proposition in order to make an act of faith.
According to Cajetan, John of St Thomas, and other Thomists, anyone who has not received a direct revelation from God must depend on the Church's proposition in order to make an act of faith.
Editors’ Notes
In two previous parts, we presented extracts from Fr Marín-Sola’s The Homogenous Evolution of Catholic Dogma.
These extracts address the question of how one comes to have the virtue of divine faith – without which “it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11.6).
In these texts, Fr Marín-Sola notes that much confusion has arisen from some theologians – possibly following Suarez – about the formal object of faith, and the conflation of faith in itself (“quoad se”) and faith in us (“our faith” – “quoad nos”). Further confusion arises regarding the assent given to mediate revelation (the public revelation taught by the apostles, to us all) and immediate revelation (private, personal revelation, to a few).
St Thomas’s teaching, Fr Marín-Sola says, for anyone who has not been personally enlightened with a direct and immediate revelation from God (or been taught directly by some other supernatural means), is that the assent of faith must refer to the proposition and explication of the Church. This is a necessary condition, without which the faith is not the divine virtue needed for justification and salvation. The “faith” that arises instead is, rather, a kind of human judgment.
The reasons for this are explained in detail in the extracts. Marín-Sola summarises St Thomas’ opinion thus:
“The Holy Doctor says that man has many scientific, human mediums that lead to acts of human science or of acquired faith in the revealed deposit; however, man cannot arrive at the assent of divine faith except through one, and only one, medium: the authority of the Church. Without this medium the act of our divine faith is totally impossible.”
These ideas may seem new or strange to some. As a result, we are publishing parts of the section which we had omitted for ease of reading. This extract is taken from the fourth edition, translated under the auspices of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
In this omitted section, Fr Marín-Sola demonstrates that the same ideas were held and taught by highly respected Thomist commentators:
Cajetan
John of St Thomas
Bañez
Gonet and Contenson
The Salmanticenses
Cardinal Gotti.
We have also included the relevant section from Fr Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange’s De Revelatione as an appendix.
The opinions of these commentators opens up new vistas in discussion of the dogma outside the Church there is no salvation.
For example, there can be a tendency to treat the question as to what must be believed explicitly as if it turns around two or four dogmas: by contrast, St Thomas’ teaching, followed by the theologians mentioned, requires us to consider also the role of the Church’s proposition and explication. This is potentially very serious for heretics and schismatics – even for those “in good faith,” as is clear from these commentators and the other extracts.
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