Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 429

Chap.

II]

§ 74.

SPECIAL PEINCIPIUM AND WRITTEN

WORD

405

given to humanity as such, the Holy Bible itself is the proximate and sole cause (principium proximum et unicum) for

our knowledge of God.

The Special Pr-incipium and

§ 74.

The

indispensableness of the

the Written

Holy

Scripture,

Word therefore,

(1) upon the necessity that a special principium should be actively introduced, inasmuch as the working of rests

:

and (2) upon is weakened or broken the necessity that this special principium should not direct itself atomistically to the individual, but organically to the the natural principium

human

From

;

two considerations it follows that an auxiliary-principium is needed, and that a revelation must be given to humanity as such (i.e. t« Koa-ficp) but it does not follow directly from this that "this special Word of God to the world " should assume the form of the loritten race.

these

;

It is necessary, therefore, that

word.

we

inquire into the

peculiar character of the written word, and ask ourselves

why

the special Revelation of

God

to the

world needed

this

form.

we reply with emphasis, that in comparison with spoken word the ivritten word is entitled to claim the

To the

this

four characteristics of durability^ catholicity^ fixedness and

— four attributes, the

which impart something of the Divine stamp to our human word, and the last two of which form a corrective against the imperfection of purity,

first

two

of

our sinful condition. If the Writing by itself is nothing but an auxiliary. power of our memory were not limited, and if our capacity for communication were universal, the need of writing would never have been known. The sense of shortness of memory and our limited ability of communicating our thoughts personally, strengthened by the need of guarding that which has been spoken or agreed upon from being misrepresented, has,

series of gradations, called into life, first, pictographic writing, then idiographic writing, then phono-

through a

graphic writing, after that syllabic writing, and finally, Hence writing bears almost entirely a alphabetic writing.

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