Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 619

;

Chap. Ill]

And

§ 92.

LIBERTY OF SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY

the answer

is,

595

that every effort to circumscribe the-

ology by any obstacle whatever is antagonistic to her nature, and disables her for her calling. The law of thouo-ht will not allow you to call the thing black, which you see to be

As

white.

a thing presents itself to you, so does

it

cast its

image in your consciousness. To say that you see a thino- in this way, but that you must represent it to yourself in the other way, is to violate the freedom of thought. We grant that a man of study is frequently blinded by superficiality, by want of thoroughness and sobriety, and sometimes even by conceit and arrogance, so that he has a false view of liis Formally, however, this does not alter the case object. when his view is false, he is bound to describe a thing even as he sees it. We are concerned here with the same problem as with the erring conscience.

When

Saul before his conver-

worked havoc among the churches of God, his conscience erred, in so far as he deemed this to be his duty to God. If, however, he had remained quiescent and allowed the thing free course which he thought it his duty to oppose, at that moment he would have violated his conscience and have formally sinned. Whoever, therefore, may please to be a theologian, and whatever conclusions he may reach by his investigations, and may publish as results of his study, you must quietly allow. Even when the Church or a curatorium decides that his views disqualify him for the office he may hold, sion

neither his theory nor his liberty of speech or writing

may

be

Of course he must be willing to risk his office position but what is this, compared to what was

denied him.

and

his

;

risked by the martyrs for their conviction

? If he is a man of he will not hesitate to make this sacrifice. And how great an influence one may exert upon theology, even without office, has sufficiently been shown by Spinoza. All the theologian can ask is, liberty to investi-

principle,

and means what he

says,

and write agreeably to the claims of his convicis not impeded in this, he is free. And that the liberty in which he may not be hindered in the least.

gate, speak tion. is

If

only he

We grant that this may give rise to the case, that he who began as theologian will cease to be a theologian, in order

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