by Garrett Robinson This essay continues a line of inquiry and reflection begun here. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, while riding with the lawyers Bulgarus and Martinus, asked them whether he was “lord of the world.” Bulgarus replied that he was not lord over private property; Martinus simply told him: “You are lord.” Martinus was rewarded with a horse, and Bulgarus with nothing. Variations of the… Read More Medieval Kingship
by Garrett Robinson Editorial Note: The Regensburg Forum seeks to be an actual forum where one can find different perspectives and ways of approaching topics within the long Augustinian tradition or within the history of Western Christianity. Garrett Robinson’s series of essays will be based upon his reflections on topics in political theology and philosophy… Read More The Common Good before the Modern State
by Ulrich L. Lehner Merio Scattola and Andreas Wagner, Prinzip und Prinzipienfrage in der Entwicklung des Modernen Naturrechts = The Question of Principles and the Development of Modern Natural Law (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: 2017), 336 pp. Merio Scattola, who died in 2015, belongs to the important historians of natural law, but is too little known outside… Read More Book Reviews: Law, Freedom, Emotion, and Pilgrimage in Early Modern Christianity
by Matthew Gaetano In a previous post, I discussed Henri de Lubac’s criticism of the position of Bellarmine and Suarez on the pope’s power to depose Christian kings. Though he believed that such a position was already obsolete in the context of his own day, he called this position–quite widespread from the Middle Ages through… Read More John of Paris, the Deposing Power, and the Punishment of Heretics
by Matthew Gaetano In my previous post, I discussed theologians who offered interpretations of the doctrine of the two swords before the Second Vatican Council. While some hierocrats believed that the pope’s two swords made him lord of the world, Vitoria, Bellarmine, and Suarez argued that popes had indirect power in temporal matters. Papal power… Read More Henri de Lubac’s Criticism of Indirect Power
by Matthew Gaetano In the excellent dialogue hosted at the Regensburg Forum several months ago about Vatican II, religious freedom, and political theology, Boniface VIII seems (quite understandably) to have been in the background. His 1308 bull Unam Sanctam makes several claims that remain important to contemporary theological discussion. Boniface speaks of two swords: the spiritual and the temporal. Both… Read More Boniface VIII’s Two Swords and the Theologians
by Andrew Kuiper ‘Bella idea, ma fuor d’un miracolo, é cosa impossible’ (a beautiful idea but, short of a miracle, impossible to carry out). This was the response of Pope Leo XIII to Vladimir Soloviev’s (1853-1900) program for ecclesial-political unity between East and West. It is certainly an understandable skepticism given the sprawling scope of… Read More The Beautiful Madness of Vladimir Soloviev: Russian Wisdom and Dignitatis Humanae
This is Steven Wedgeworth’s response to Thomas Pink’s concluding remarks. It is the final essay in a four-part debate between Thomas Pink and Steven Wedgeworth on the historical and conceptual coherence of Dignitatis Humanae, and thereby the traditional Catholic teachings on church and state. The previous installments are: Pink: Tyranny, Contradiction or Continuity: A Reformed-Catholic… Read More Concluding Thoughts on Dignitatis Humanae
This is Thomas Pink’s concluding argument in a series of exchanges on Dignitatis Humanae. His kick-off essay can be found here (along with an introduction to the overall debate), with a response essay here from Steven Wedgeworth. Next week, Wedgeworth will make his final arguments. I have presented a Leonine interpretation of Dignitatis Humanae – an account that… Read More Dignitatis Humanae – A Leonine Balancing Act
This is part II in a debate between Thomas Pink and Steven Wedgeworth (Roman Catholic and Reformed, respectively) on Dignitatis Humanae and Catholic teaching on religious liberty and coercion. Part I may be found here, along with a short introduction and context for the debate. Steven Wedgeworth – Christ Church in Lakeland, Director for the Davenant Trust Professor… Read More Design by Committee: the Challenge of Reading Dignitatis Humanae Aright