Year: 2016

Jansenism and Augustinianism on the Irresistibility of Grace

by Matthew Gaetano Pierre Bayle (d. 1706), the rather enigmatic Huguenot writer who had a profound influence on the Enlightenment, expressed considerable frustration with the fine distinctions that often features in scholastic theology, whether Roman Catholic or Reformed. The Regensburg Forum seeks to take those details seriously, as it talks about those Calvinists, Thomists, Jansenists, and others… Read More Jansenism and Augustinianism on the Irresistibility of Grace

Matthew Gaetano7 Comments

Jansenism: A Rough Sketch of a Complex Phenomenon

by Shaun Blanchard In different times and places and to different people (people with various polemical purposes!), “Jansenism” has meant various things. Originally the appellation was clear: it meant someone with an attachment to the strict predestinarian theology of Cornelius Jansen, as expounded in his posthumously published book Augustinus (1640). But even aside from issues… Read More Jansenism: A Rough Sketch of a Complex Phenomenon

Shaun Blanchard10 Comments

Ranking “Errors” and the Assurance of Salvation

by Matthew Gaetano The Jesuit theologian, Robert Bellarmine (d. 1621), has appeared quite a few times in the early days of The Regensburg Forum. His Controversies offered one of the most thoroughgoing challenges to Protestant theology. And Bellarmine’s Controversies came in for extensive criticism from hundreds of Reformed and Lutheran theologians–at times quite harsh. For our effort to… Read More Ranking “Errors” and the Assurance of Salvation

Matthew Gaetano8 Comments

How Many Churches? A Critique of Benoît-Dominique de la Soujeole

by Eric J. Demeuse In an important work recently translated into English,[1] the French Dominican Benoît-Dominique de la Soujeole presents a bold and largely successful “introduction to the mystery of the Church.” This 628 page “textbook,” as he calls it, is anything but what that arid term suggests. Offering both an historical examination of sources… Read More How Many Churches? A Critique of Benoît-Dominique de la Soujeole

Eric J DeMeuse2 Comments

The Neglect of Catholic Theology From Westphalia (1648) to the Bastille (1789)

by Shaun Blanchard In this article I will first attempt to offer an explanation for why the period between the Peace of Westphalia of 1648[i] and the storming of the Bastille in 1789[ii] (although I will focus more narrowly on the eighteenth century) is relatively neglected as a source for Catholic theology. Secondly, I want… Read More The Neglect of Catholic Theology From Westphalia (1648) to the Bastille (1789)

Shaun Blanchard2 Comments

Peter Martyr Vermigli and the Scholastic Inheritance: The Proper Place of Philosophy

[Go here for part I in this series] by Joshua Benjamins In my last post, I explored one particular dimension of Peter Martyr Vermigli’s relationship with the scholastics by focusing on his use of scholastic sources in his debate with the Lutheran theologian, Johannes Brenz, over the hypostatic union of two natures in Christ and… Read More Peter Martyr Vermigli and the Scholastic Inheritance: The Proper Place of Philosophy

Joshua Benjamins2 Comments

St. Thomas and Christian Hedonism: Desiring Good

by Trevor Anderson In this and some following posts, I’d like to highlight what I see to be some notable convergences between the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century “common doctor” of the Church, and Pastor John Piper, whose philosophical theology exerts considerable influence on New Calvinist thought. Christian Hedonism and Practical Reason First,… Read More St. Thomas and Christian Hedonism: Desiring Good

Trevor Anderson12 Comments

Roman Catholic Lutherans?

A review of Franz Posset’s Unser Martin: Martin Luther aus der Sicht katholischer Sympathisanten (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2015). by Eric J. Demeuse Historians of the Reformation understandably and perhaps necessarily delineate figures into confessional camps, even before those camps were themselves delineated. As early as 1519, John Eck is a Catholic (because he opposed Luther),… Read More Roman Catholic Lutherans?

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Peter Martyr Vermigli and the Scholastic Inheritance: Negotiating Scholastic Sources

[This is part 1 in a series] by Joshua Benjamins The sixteenth-century Reformers maintained a rather uneasy relationship to the scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages. While the early architects of what later became known as “Reformed scholasticism” adopted much of the methodology, terminology, and theological presuppositions of the medieval Schoolmen, their appropriation of the… Read More Peter Martyr Vermigli and the Scholastic Inheritance: Negotiating Scholastic Sources

Joshua Benjamins3 Comments

Justification after Trent – and the (largely forgotten) Augustinian Gianlorenzo Berti

by Matthew Gaetano A. N. S. Lane, a scholar whose work should be of great relevance to future conversation, states the following in his book on justification: The Tridentine Decree on Justification is one of the most impressive achievements of the council. The leaders of the council had reported to Rome that ‘the significance of the Council… Read More Justification after Trent – and the (largely forgotten) Augustinian Gianlorenzo Berti

Matthew GaetanoLeave a comment