Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 689

Chap. V]

able to

§ 104.

make

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIFORMITY

06-3

the full content of Divine truth shine forth in

She could not be studied except by men, Church life itself she remained subject to human limitations. But since the churches could deal only with the concrete result, and thus incurred the danger of communicating a sectarian flavor to their life, and of losing sight of the catholicity of the Church as an organism, it was a single deduction.

and hence

like the

the mission of theology to raise herself on the wings of the idea above

what was exclusively concrete, and from

this

higher vantage ground to vindicate the good and perfect right of the instituted churches to their confession

and

life-

tendency.

This higher

call inspired

theology with a zeal such as she

had not known since the fourth and fifth centuries. Ao-ain she had to fix her point of departure objectively in the Holy Scripture and subjectively in palingenesis, and in the faith awakened by this. Again free access to the Holy ScriptThe Vulgate, as the sanctioned transure was accorded her. lation, fell away. Exegesis became a serious study by which In dogma, to master the content of the Divine Revelation. with the Scripture as the touchstone, distinction had to be made between truth and error. Church history was called upon to point out the several streams of Church life which had been held back under the false papal unit}', and to exhibit them as still existing historically. The difference between formation and deformation of churches had become tangible, and it was the task of theology openly to make exhibition of the difference between the two. Thus theology became an independent power, with a task of her own, with a life-purpose of her own, and bound to the claim of truth rather than to any churchly decision. However energetic and sparkling the life was which characterized this reformative development of theology, it would have been better erty, in the

good

still

if

she could have conquered her

sense, at once.

But

lib-

in this she only partially

Her growth outside of the universities is scarcely worthy of mention, and at the universities, because of the appointment of the professors by the State, she became too

succeeded.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen