Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/243

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
199
*

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. I'JO THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. siastical archaeology and art; (d) auxiliary dis- ciplines: geography and statistics, ecclesiastical chronology-, and philology. B. ISy'stcmatic Theology.— {I) Apologetics; (2) dogmatics, relation to morals; (3) moral theology (Christian ethics). C. Practical Theolo<);i.— {) The Christian pastorate as a continuation of Christ's ministry in its several departments, magisterial, sacerdo- tal, gubernatorial. (2) Divisions: catecheties: pastoral didactics; the instruction of children. (3) Homiletics: theory of sacred eloquence. (4) Liturgy. (5) Theory" of the relations of pastor and people. D. Canon Law. — Science of ecclesiastical dis- cipline. In some minor details the foregoing pro- gramme will vary according to local conve- nience. On the whole, however, the course as outlined is followed in every ecclesiastical semi- nary. As at each successive stage in the Church's history special care was devoted to one or other of the theological branches in answer to external and internal exigencies, so, too, at the present day. In the philosophical depart- ment empirical psychology, epistemology, and sociology are absorbing more interest and are being pursued in a more historical light and a more critical spirit than was the case a genera- tion ago. The same is true of biblical studies, ecclesiastical history, and apologetics within the theological domain. From the foregoing account it will be readily inferred that the question of 'reconstructing theology,' which has of late been engrossing many minds outside the Catholic Church, has no mean- ing in connection with the system of theological education within her pale. The primary prin- ciples of that system are the 'articles of faith' contained within the deposit of revealed truth, which, together with the assurance of inerrancy in discerning, formulating, and interpreting them, she claims to have received from her Founder. In the exercise of the logical faculty developing those principles and coordinating the conclusions into a systematic body of theological science, in the work of the critical faculty within the domains of biblical, historical, and scientific studies, she recognizes the fullest rights of hu- man reason, provided it does not usurp the license of transgressing the ascertained mani- festations of the divine reason. BiBUOGRAPHY. The best work in English is Hogan's Clerical Studies (Boston, 1898). Kihn's Encyklopiiidie vnd Methodologie der Theologie (Freiburg, 1892) is profound, erudite, and rich in bibliography. Krieg's Encyklopfidie der Theologischen Wissenschaften (ib., 1899) has the same qualities, but is more compendious. Consult also: Didiot, Cotirs de tMologie catho- liqtie (Paris, 1894) ; Aubry, Idees sur la theorie catholique des sciences et sur la sytithese des connaissa/nces humaines dans la theologie; id., Les grands seminaires en France (Paris, 1894) ; Wilhelm and Scannell, Manual of Catho- lic Theology, based on Scheeben's Doginatik ; and Hunter, Outlines of Dogmatic Theology (London, and New York, 1890)" THE PBOTE.STANT SYSTEM. The great leaders of the Protestant Reforma- tion insisted upon the necessity of higher edu- cation for the clergy at the universities. This was natural, as they believed in an established Church supported by the State, and strongly empliasized the duty of its ministers to inculcate soun<l doctrine, which necessitates special theo- logical training. The Baptist thinkers, who contended for freedom of conscience, liberty of prophesying, and complete separation of Church and State, put the emphasis so strongly upon experience and conduct as to make doctrinal agreement a matter of secondary importance, and the education of a special clerical class seem undesirable. It was fortunate that the prevailing tendencies made a home for Protes- tant theology at the great centres of intellectual life. The theological curriculum at the uni- versities was changed in several respects, par- ticularly by the greater attention given to the biblical studies, the importance attached to the Hebrew and Greek texts, and the more or less determined abandonment of the allegorical method of interpretation. Other Lutheran uni- versities modeled their course upon that pre- scribed b}' Luther and Melanchtlion at Witten- berg. Between 1529 and 1503 this system was introduced at Marburg, Tiibingen, Leipzig, Kiinigsberg, Greifswald, Heidelberg, Jena, Ros- tock, Upsala, and Copenhagen. Similar courses of theological study were established by Beza at Lausanne, by Calvin at Geneva, and theological schools at Nimes, Sedan, Saumur, and ilon- tauban followed the same methods. In Holland the University of Leyden (founded 1575) became the centre of Protestant theology. The Free Church in Scotland established three divinity halls at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and the theological education at the Universities of Saint Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow was like- wise modified in character. Cambridge, under the teachings of Erasmus, Tyndale, and Latimer, became the foremost exponent of the new theo- logical as well as humanistic teaching, and Vermigli at Oxford expounded Protestant prin- ciples of exegesis. If the theological education of the Reforma- tion period was chiefly characterized by the greater attention paid to the Bible, and a certain movement of thought away from Catholic dogma, its most marked peculiarity in the im- mediately succeeding period was the inculcation of Protestant dogma, on which a growing em- phasis was placed. In CJermany the type of teaching represented by Flacius proved more acceptable than that of Melanchtlion and his followers, and Calovius bore off the victory over Calixtus and the Helmstedt school. The great- est service rendered by Flacius was the atten- tion he and the other Magdeburg Centuriators paid to the history of the Church. New centres of theological study were created at Giessen, Kiel, Dorpat, Lund, Grfiningen, and Utrecht. In Holland the orthodox tendencies prevailing at the Svnod of Dort were offset by the influence of Scaliger and Grotius. In the French schools Cameron, Amvrault, and Louis Cappel main- tained a more liberal type of thought. The ex- patriation of the Huguenots left only Montauban as a Protestant school. In England the theo- logical education was less affeote<l by exagger- ated doctrine concerning the Bible than was the case in Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. The colonies were long supplied by ministers who had had their training in European universities. A