Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 352

328

c,

It

that scientific theology presented

the

^

'^

[Div. Ill

cannot even be said forms of thought

which led to the formulations of dogma. Those formulations were much more the product of the conflict for truth which took place in the life of the Church, and therefore they have borne much more an ecclesiastical than a scientific character. The knowledge of God, held by the Church, did not remain naively mystical, until science analyzed this mysticism. But sharp and clear thinking was done in the Church as such, long before the science of theology as such had won a place for itself. The Church has not lived wiconsciously, but consciously^ and so far as the personal life of believers is concerned, no urgency for a closer scientific explanation has ever been observed.

Much

\^.:

i^-|r

THE RELATION OF

a scientific theology was suggested.

' ,

§ 65.

to

less

can

it

be said that

add more certainty

demonstrate

its

truth.

scientific

theology

to the confession of the

The

is

called

Church and

to

desire to have theology perform

this service, so entirely foreign to

it,

has not originated in

times of spiritual prosperity and healthful activity of faith,

but was always the bitter fruit of the weakening of

faith,

and

consequently was ever incapable of checking the decline of the

life of

the Church.

The Church that has leaned on thearm to theology for its support,

ology, instead of presenting its

has always lost the remnant of higher courage which re-

minded it of better days, and has always degraded itself to a dependency upon the school. No, the need of scientific theology does not spring from the need of the soul, but always finds its motive in our human thought. There is a world of thought which binds man to man, and which, notwithstanding the change of individuals, passes on from generation to generation. Only a few, however, live in that world of thought with such clear consciousness as to feel themselves at home there. But they also who do not enter in so deeply, derive general representations from this world of thought Mhich are the common property of all and thereby render the mutual correspondence among minds possible. And this world of thought cannot resist the impulse to take all things up into itself,

and therefore

also this

knowledge

of

God

;

and

of this

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