Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book One. Theological Epistemology – Part One. The Objective Principles of Theological Knowledge

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 1 – Part 1 – Contents

• §1. The concept of revelation in general and the gamut of ways in which knowledge of God is revealed
• §2. Nature and content of natural revelation
• §3. Purpose and necessity of positive revelation and the supernatural character thereof
• §4. Specific content of supernatural revelation—mysteries
• §5. The extension of the content of revelation and the various divisions of the domain on which it sheds light
• §6. Various stages and gradual progress of revelation

• §7. The Protestant and the Catholic understanding of the essential, principal form of transmitting and asserting revelation
• §8. More detailed explanation and intrinsic justification of the Catholic view of the transmission and assertion of revelation through apostolic preaching
• §9. Positive proof of the Catholic concept of the medium of transmitting and asserting revelation
• §10. The concrete organization of the teaching apostolate. Its relation to the two fundamental, hierarchical authorities and orders instituted by Christ
• §11. The organization of the teaching apostolate, continued. The substantial organism of the real apostolic teaching body and the organic allotment and operation of infallibility
• §12. The organization of the teaching apostolate, continued. The auxiliary organs of the teaching body
• §13. The organization of the teaching apostolate, continued. The organic union of the teaching body with the believing body in the Catholic Church
• §14. The organization of the teaching apostolate, conclusion. The external and internal indefectibility of doctrine and of faith in the Church. Review
• §15. The genetic mediation and development or the successive process of proclaiming doctrine in its three main aspects or stages: apostolic deposit, ecclesial Tradition, and ecclesial rule of faith
• A. The apostolic deposit of revelation or the primary source of the faith

• a. The written deposit or the documentary source of the faith
• §16. Nature and dignity of Sacred Scripture as the written word of God or divine record
• §17. Intrinsic value, significance, and suitability of Sacred Scripture as a source of revelation for theological knowledge
• §18. The false and self-refuting position and significance of Sacred Scripture in the Protestant system
• §19. The true position and significance of Sacred Scripture in the Catholic system as the apostolic depositum
• §20. The ecclesial definitions about the text of Sacred Scripture based on its character as the apostolic deposit, and the interpretation of them
• b. The oral apostolic deposit, or apostolic Tradition in the narrower sense
• §21
• B. The ecclesial Tradition or witness to the apostolic deposit as channel of faith and of theological knowledge

• §22. The objective laws of ecclesial Tradition in their genetic development and concrete appearance
• §23. The various manifestations of the actual ecclesial Tradition or of the traditional testimony
• §24. The written or documentary Tradition as a deposit and expression of the living Tradition
• §25. Rules for the use of ecclesial Tradition in proving or justifying revealed truth
• §26. The writings of the saintly Fathers as documents of ecclesial Tradition
• §27. The writings of the Theologians as documents of ecclesial Tradition
• C. Assertion of the word of God through the teaching apostolate or the ecclesial regulation of the faith and of theological knowledge

• §28. The ecclesial rule of faith in general and specifically in the active sense
• §29. The ecclesial rule of faith and thought in the objective sense: Catholic truth and Catholic dogma. Division and characteristics thereof
• §30. Anti-Catholic teaching that contradicts Catholic truth
• §31. The authoritative ecclesial determinations and judicial decisions about Catholic doctrine in general
• §32. The various kinds of ecclesiastical doctrinal judgments: 1. The judgments of the pope or of the Apostolic See and their infallibility
• §33. 2. The doctrinal judgments of the extraordinary supreme tribunal or of General Councils
• §34. The doctrinal judgments (3) of the Roman Congregations and (4) of the particular Councils
• §35. Dogmatic judgments in the narrower sense, or dogmatic censures of teachings, propositions, and books
• §36. The progress of dogma—the formation of dogma
• §37. Survey of the most important dogmatic documents—creeds and judgments

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 1 – Part 2 – Contents

• I. The Catholic Christian faith
  • §38. Name and concept of belief in general
  • §39. Concept and nature of theological faith
  • §40. Faith in relation to its motive and formal object, i.e. to God’s authority and trustworthiness, and also to the internal trustworthiness of the word of God that is dependent thereon —and its character as (objectively) divine faith
  • §41. Relation of faith to its material object, in particular to its specific and primary material object, i.e. God in His invisible, supernatural essence, and its character as transcendent faith
  • §42. The relation of faith to the motives of credibility (motiva credibilitatis), or to the external trustworthiness of the word of God itself and to the internal trustworthiness of the human proposal of God’s word—and its character as reasonable faith
  • §43. The relation of faith to the Church’s proposal of the word of God, or rather to the authority and authenticity of Church teaching, and its character as Catholic faith
  • §44. The relation of faith to the grace of faith as its supernatural cause—and its own supernatural character
  • §45. Man’s cooperation in faith—and its character as an act of human freedom
  • §46. The essential and natural properties of faith which determine or complete its specific perfection: full, supreme, infallible, and irrefutable certainty
• II. The understanding (intellectus) of faith and theological knowledge
  • §47. The understanding of the truths of faith, regarded as such and in itself
  • §48. The relation of understanding to faith. Its intimate and essential union with it in faith knowledge
  • §49. The product of the union of understanding with faith: theological science as a scientific development of faith knowledge, or as a real science of faith and speculative theology
  • §50. Theological science as communication and substantiation of faith as such—formal science of faith, or positive, or rather dogmatic, fundamental, and apologetic theology
  • §51. Theology as science in the objective sense, or its content as a scientific field. Specific character and unity of this field
  • §52. Theology’s order of precedence among the other sciences and its character as wisdom absolutely or divine wisdom
  • §53. The relation of reason, its activity, and its results to faith and theology, or rather of rational science to ecclesial authority
  • §54. Dependence of theological understanding and knowledge on the influence of the Holy Ghost through grace and the Church, or theology as sacred science
  • §55. Progress in theological knowledge. The nature, course, and conditions of this progress
  • On the history of theology
  • §56. General information and literature
  • §57. A. The patristic period
  • §58. B. The medieval period, or early Scholasticism
  • §59. C. The modern period since the outbreak of the Reformation
  • §60. Special task of theology in the present day. Outline of the following treatment

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 2 – Contents

• A. The natural knowledge of God
• a.In general: its existence, nature, and properties
• §61.
• b.The natural knowledge of God in its chief elements
• §62.α. The communication of the certainty or the proof of God’s existence
• §63.β. The communication of our notions about the divine nature and attributes: the formation, nature, and scope of our concept of God
• c.Content and limits of the natural knowledge of God. Its restriction to His divine substance and nature as opposed to His Trinitarian subsistence
• §64.
• B.The supernatural knowledge of God
• a.In general
• §65.
• b.The presentation of the content of the knowledge of God in supernatural revelation, specifically the substantive names of God
• §66.
• c.The presentation of the doctrine on God in formulated Church dogma, specifically in the Vatican Council
• §67.
• C.The scientific construction of the knowledge of God
• a.The substantial concept of God, or the fundamental determination of His substance and nature
• §68.
• b.The attributive concepts of God or the qualitative determinations of His substance
• §69.
• c.Division and arrangement of the divine attributes
• §70.

• §71.The absolute perfection of the divine being in general as substantial, universal, and sovereign perfection
• SECTION ONE
  • The negative attributes of God’s being
  • A.The intrinsic conditions for its absolute perfection: simplicity, infiniteness, immutability
  • §72.The absolute simplicity of God
  • §73.The distinctions in God in relation to His simplicity
  • §74.The infiniteness or the immensity of the essence and perfection of God or His absolute greatness
  • §75.The immutability or unchangeableness of God
  • B.The intrinsic conditions of the divine perfection and the resulting further determinations of its superiority over the world and worldly things: supermundanity, supralocality, and supratemporality
  • §76.The unworldliness and supermundanity, unmixability and inconfusibility, or the eminent autonomy of God as diametrically opposed to pantheism
  • §77.The non-spatiality and supraspatiality or immensity, or nonlocality, supralocality, and omnilocality of God (immensitas, incircumscriptibilitas, and ubiquitas)
  • §78.The non-temporality and supratemporality of God—His eternity
  • C.The negative determinations of the divine perfection in its superiority over creaturely knowledge
  • §79.God’s invisibility
  • §80.God’s incomprehensibility or inscrutability
  • §81.God’s ineffability
• SECTION TWO
  • The affirmative attributes which are transferred from creatures to God
  • A.The intrinsic attributes of the divine being
  • §82.The absolute oneness of God; God as the highest unity and as the One and the One absolutely
  • §83.The absolute, objective truth of God—God as Truth itself or the primordial truth
  • §84.God’s absolute objective goodness—God as goodness itself and the highest good
  • §85.God’s absolute beauty—God as Beauty itself
  • §86.God’s absolute dignity—His objective holiness and majesty
  • B.The external positive attributes of God’s being
  • §87.God’s absolute power or omnipotence (omnipotens, παντοκράτωρ)
  • §88.The active, innermost, and royal omnipresence of God in all things, places, and times
  • A.God’s omnipresence in created things as such

• §89.God’s life in general in its absolute perfection—God as the primordial Spirit and essential Wisdom
• SECTION ONE
  • The divine knowledge and its attributes
  • A.Nature and properties of the divine knowledge in general
  • §90.
  • B.The divine knowing in the theoretical respect, as omniscience
  • a.God’s knowledge about Himself, about all possible things and about all real things besides Him in general
  • §91.
  • b.The divine knowledge of the free actions of creatures
  • §92.
  • C.The divine knowledge in its practical aspect as all-wisdom in the narrower sense
  • a.God’s wisdom with regard to His own life—ethical wisdom (scientia approbationis et improbationis)
  • §93.
  • b.God’s wisdom with regard to His external efficacy as formative, ordering, and ruling wisdom: specifically the divine ideas
  • §94.
  • §95.Corollary to the teaching about the divine cognition: knowledge in God as formal and living truth—God Himself as absolute, real, natural, and substantial Truth
• SECTION TWO
  • The divine will and its attributes
  • §96.Nature and properties of the divine will in general
  • §97.The relation in principle of the divine will to its willing— its absolute freedom of choice, or the divine will as liberum arbitrium
  • §98.The divine will considered affectively: the affective sentiments possible in the divine will and suited to its nature, especially love
  • §99.The divine will considered ethically—absolute and essential moral goodness or holiness in general
  • §100.The ethical perfection of the divine will with regard to the peculiarity and the organization of its moral actions and virtues
  • §101.The most important special virtues of the divine will: mercy, truthfulness, and retributive justice
  • [§102.]
  • §103.The divine will considered dynamically: its efficacy and its dominion over the created will and the infallible fulfillment of His decrees that is connected with it
  • §104.Corollary to the teaching about the divine will: the divine volition as God’s formal and living goodness and holiness, or as His life of goodness and holiness: God Himself as the absolute, real and natural, substantial holiness
  • Conclusion of the teaching about the divine life
  • §105.The blessedness and glory of the divine life and the absolute blessedness and interior glory of God in general, and also His self-glorification

• SECTION ONE
  • Dogma. The dogmatic definitions about the Threeness and essential Unity of the Divine Persons proved in Scripture and Tradition
  • §106.A. Doctrine about the Trinity in its ecclesiastical-dogmatic formulation
  • B.The teaching of Sacred Scripture about the Trinity
  • §107.a. The teaching of the New Testament about the Trinity in general
  • §108.b. The teaching of the New Testament about the Person of the Son of God, i.e. His true Sonship, His essential equality and essential unity with the Father
  • §109.The teaching of the New Testament about the Personhood and divinity of the Holy Ghost and His relation to the Father and the Son
  • §110.The teaching of the Old Testament about the Trinity, specifically about the Angel of Jehovah, the Son of God,and the Eternal Wisdom
  • C.The development of the doctrine of the Trinity in ecclesiastical Tradition
  • a.The Ante-Nicene Tradition about God One and Triune
  • §111.
  • b.Proof and explanation of the dogma’s main points in the light of fourth-century Tradition
  • α.The consubstantiality (homoousia) of the Son defined by the Council of Nicaea, and the absolute identity of substance (tautousia) entailed therein, whereby Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God
  • §112.
  • β.The consubstantiality of the Holy Ghost with Father and Son defined by the Second Ecumenical Council in relation to His origin from Father and Son; and the essential significance of this procession for the unity of order and association in the Trinity—as opposed to the heresy of the Greek schism
  • §113.
  • γ.Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as divine Hypostases and Persons. Name and concept of “hypostasis” and “person” as applied to God
  • §114.
  • δ.The distinctions between the Divine Persons in particular and the distinctive marks (notiones) referring to them
  • §115.
• SECTION TWO
  • Theology. The intellectus fidei [understanding of faith], or the genetic development of the Trinity from the fruitfulness of the divine life
  • §116.Determining the point of departure: the internal origins in God resulting from the fullness of the divine life as from absolute Wisdom through knowledge and love
  • §117.The productions in God as true productions of an internal manifestation of the divine knowledge through Word and Image and of the divine love through Aspiration, Pledge, and Gift
  • §118.The perfect immanence of the divine productions and the substantiality of their Products, which are the internal expression of substantial Truth and the internal outpouring of substantial holiness
  • §119.The divine productions as communication of the essence and nature, and their Products as Hypostases or Persons, and also the fact that They are Three
  • §120.The peculiar character of the divine personal productions (or of the notional acts) and of their principles as distinct from all other acts of God and of creatures
  • §121.The particular names of the divine productions and of their Products after the analogy of the corresponding substantial productions in the organic life of creatures: generation and fragrance in plants
  • §122.The particular names of the divine productions in their capacity as communication of life—after the analogy of begetting and breathing in the animal realm—and the proper personal names of their Principle and Products: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and also the economy or communal order of Persons expressed therein
  • §123.The comprehensive unity of the produced Persons with Their Principle resulting from Their immanent origin: similarity, equality, identity, inseparability, and mutual permeation (περιχώρησις, perichóresis) with regard to being, life, and activity and specifically with regard to Their external efficacy
  • §124.The appropriation and allotment of the common names, attributes, and activities to the individual Persons based on the personal distinctions, without detriment to Their unity
  • §125.The temporal procession of the Divine Persons resulting from Their eternal origin (without detriment to Their equality and unity), or Their mission ad extra
  • §126.The mystery of God One and Triune and its conceivability
  • §127.The position and significance of the mystery of the Trinity as an object of Revelation and of knowledge both in Itself and in Its relation to the other mysteries of Christianity

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 3 – Contents

• A.Dependence of worldly beings on God as the principle of their coming to be, existence, and working
• §128.Origin of all things from God through creation out of nothing
• §129.The temporality of creation and the beginning of the world
• §130.God as principle of the existence and continuance of created beings: preservation of the world by God
• §131.God as principle of all activity and of all working of creatures, or the natural concurrence of God as the motion of causes and cooperation with causes, or as cause of an action and joint cause of an effect
• B.The world’s dependence on God as its final purpose and ultimate end and on His guidance toward it
• §132.Essential relation of created beings to God as the final purpose and ultimate end of their being, working, and striving
• §133.The movement of worldly beings toward their final end in their dependence on the guidance or government of God through His Providence
• C.The world in relation to the divine ideas and to God as its ideal: the general properties, multiplicity, and gradation of the individual worldly beings corresponding to that ideal, and also the order and unity, perfection and beauty of the whole world
• §134.

• SECTION ONE
  • The kingdom of pure spirits or angels
  • A.Name and general concept, existence, and origin of the angels
  • §135.
  • B.The being of the angels and its attributes
  • a.The substance and essence of the angels: their incorporeality and immateriality or spirituality
  • §136.
  • b.The attributes of the being of angels, especially their incorruptibility and their relation to space: locality and mobility
  • §137.
  • C.The natural life and the efficacy of the angels
  • a.The life of the angels in general
  • §138.
  • b.The intellect and knowledge of the angels
  • §139.
  • c.The will and the volition of angels
  • §140.
  • d.The external power and efficacy of angels in relation to bodies, human beings, and other angels; esp. the miraculous power, the speech, and the illumination of angels
  • §141.
  • D.Number, differences, and hierarchy of the angels—the angelic world and its natural relation to the rest of the world
  • §142.
• SECTION TWO
  • The kingdom of material beings or of the visible world
  • §143.Theological doctrines about the material world in general
  • §144.The doctrinal content of the Mosaic Hexaemeron: the teleological-architectonic arrangement of the visible cosmos and the genetic sequence of its members at their origination in God’s seven days
  • §145.The wording of the Hexaemeron and the geogony of natural science
• SECTION THREE
  • Man, considered according to his nature
  • A.The Creator’s last word and the theological idea of man as God’s likeness
  • a.The formal meaning of the Creator’s last word and ecclesiastical language
  • §146.
  • b.The positive content and peculiar character of the theological idea of man as God’s image which is contained in the words of creation
  • §147.
  • c.More detailed definition of the applicability and scope of the divine likeness both on man’s part and on God’s part
  • §148.
  • B.The realization of the divine idea of man, i.e. the origin and substantial character of his nature, corresponding to this idea, in itself and in its racial development, or human nature considered genetically and constitutively
  • a.The divine production of the first human being in the creation of the man and the concomitant essential constitution of man corresponding to the idea of the divine image: man composed of a body and a spiritual soul through the union of the two into one nature
  • §149.
  • b.The divine production of the first woman, the attendant constitution of human nature according to the difference of the sexes, and the union of the sexes founded thereon, corresponding to the divine image in human nature, so as to constitute the normal principle of the propagation of human nature and of human society
  • §150.
  • c.The reproduction of human nature by generation and the relation of generation to the constitution of human nature in the one generated, specifically God’s creative cooperation in producing His image in the fruit of the generation—origin of souls—and the resulting dignity of parenthood
  • §151.
  • d.The uniqueness of the original generating couple and the complete unity of species and true unity of lineage of all human beings communicated by begetting on the basis of that uniqueness, and also the concomitant organic-corporative unity of mankind in the totality of its individuals—as the full realization of the divine idea of man
  • §152.
  • C.Human nature considered formally, i.e. as defined by the peculiar constitution of the human substance or the innate vital condition of man
  • §153.Distinctions and order among the faculties of human nature and among its areas of life. Framing the question
  • §154.The spiritual side of human nature in its essential and inalienable perfection as a living image of God: moral freedom and the active power and inclination to know and to love God (or the moral-religious order); particularly the nature of this freedom, which is characteristic of the image of God
  • §155.The animal side of human nature or man as “anima vivens” and the natural imperfections and defects of the animal life
  • §156.The natural imperfections or the animal character of the spiritual life in man, or of lower reason, and the resulting difficulty in developing higher knowledge and the moral life, as well as the natural imperfection of the likeness of God in man generally
  • §157.The natural destination of the rational creature and its natural order

• PART ONE: GENERAL THEORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL AND OF GRACE
  • SECTION ONE
    • Fundamental concepts and Church doctrine
    • §158.General concept of the supernatural and of supernature as opposed to nature and the natural [N.B. “§159” missing in original.]
    • §160.General concept of divine grace in its relation to the natural and the supernatural, specifically as principle and attribute of the latter
    • §161.The most important errors concerning the supernatural and the Church doctrine formulated in opposition to them; particularly the anti-Pelagian and the anti-Reformation Church doctrine in their relation to one another
  • SECTION TWO
    • Theory of the absolutely supernatural, i.e. of the elevation of the rational creature to a supernatural communion with God or to participation in God’s glory and life
    • §162.The teaching of Sacred Scripture about supernatural communion with God, specifically under the term adoptive childhood
    • §163.The teaching of Tradition about supernatural communion with God, particularly from the perspective of the “divinization” of the creature through the participation in the spirituality, holiness, and glory of the divine nature entailed in the adoptive childhood
    • §164.Eternal life in the beatific vision of God or in “glory” as perfect participation in the glory and blessedness of the divine life, and therefore the supernatural final end of the rational creature and the ideal standard of supernatural life in general
    • §165.The supernatural character of the vital acts that lead to the final end of eternal life or introduce it, specifically from the threefold perspective of striving for eternal life, the unification with God that anticipates it—theological love or charity—and the morality corresponding to the call to eternal life
    • §166.The elevating grace required for salutary acts, which qualify the soul for the supernatural life by a grace-filled interior strengthening, elevation, and transfiguration of the spiritual faculties
    • §167.Elevating grace in its normal and permanent form as a supernatural habit of the spiritual faculties or as an infused virtue, and its relation to its principle and its subject; specifically the theological virtues
    • §168.The state of grace, i.e. the elevation of the person’s state necessary to possess fully the life of grace and to merit eternal life, or as the nobility of the children of God; also its real foundation by an interior rebirth and transfiguration of created nature to a likeness and equal rank with the divine, or the nature of sanctifying grace as distinct from and in relation to the infused virtues
    • §169.The state of grace. Continuation. Its relation to God as its principle: the substantial indwelling of the Holy Ghost as uncreated grace, which is associated with created grace, both to seal the friendly relation of God’s children to God and to constitute fully the divine adoptive childhood itself as a substantial communion with God based on a grace-filled generation from God—or the Holy Ghost as a substantial complement of accidental sanctifying and gratifying grace
    • A.The Western, specifically Scholastic understanding of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost as a friendly communion of God’s children with God
    • B.The Greek patristic view of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost as a substantial communion with God that jointly constitutes the divine adoption
    • C.The harmony between the Latin-Scholastic and the Greekpatristic understanding and the relation between indwelling uncreated grace and inhering created grace
    • §170.The state of grace. Conclusion: sanctifying grace and the grace which makes pleasing in relation to nature as their subject. Their character as a second creation to complete and perfect the first creation supernaturally or to transfigure the image into the likeness of God by supernaturally ennobling the nature and its freedom and producing a higher, spiritual-holy nature and freedom
    • §171.The relation of nature and of natural freedom to grace, insofar as this relation is given in nature as such or can be produced by it—as a true and living, but also a mere and unpretentious receptivity on the part of nature (potentia obedientialis) and an absolute gratuitousness on the part of grace
    • §172.The relation of nature to grace, continued. The gracious vocation of nature to grace and the supernatural participation of natural freedom in gaining and receiving grace which is made possible by it and corresponds to it, or the process of introduction into the state of grace (motus ad gratiam)
    • §173.The obligatory vocation of nature to grace and the inclusion thereof in the supernatural order by the original and general law of the Creator of nature, or the supernatural destination included in the actual creative idea of the rational creature as a perfect likeness of God and also in the original expression of the creative idea in the “instituted nature”
    • §174.Overall idea of the supernatural order or its relation to the ultimate and highest final end of creation: the perfect external glorification contained therein of God and specifically of the Trinity and the resulting union of all spiritual creatures into one sanctuary of God or into the ideal Church
  • SECTION THREE
    • Theory of the relatively supernatural, i.e. of the supernatural perfecting of human nature as such as distinct from that of the angels
    • §175.Supernatural content and character of the glorification of human nature in general which is contained in man’s final destination and original endowment
    • §176.The intrinsic supernatural nature specifically of the original glorification of human nature as an elevation of the soul in its relation to the body; its significance as a supernatural likeness of the angels and of God, and also its effect as incorruption, integrity, justice, and innocence of nature and of free will
    • §177.The supernatural glorification of human nature from the perspective of the indebitum, or the bestowal thereof by free grace
    • §178.Relation of the relatively supernatural to the absolutely supernatural in man: the organic and compact union of integrity with grace in the divine idea of the spiritual or perfect man who in himself represents the full visible likeness of God and the visible temple of the Holy Ghost, and in the rightness of the instituted nature which is established and demanded thereby
    • §179.Conclusion of the doctrine about the supernatural. Expansion of the supernatural order over the material world; man in the supernatural order as the center of all creation
    • §180.Corollary to the teaching about the supernatural in reference to man: the different states or conditions of human nature and of human freedom which are in themselves conceivable or historically real
• PART TWO: THE CONCRETE REALIZATION OF THE SUPERNATURAL ORDER
  • A.In the world of angels
  • §181.Foundation, operation, and perfection of the supernatural order among the angels: grace, merit, and glory of the angels
  • §182.The position and vocation of the perfect angels with regard to the order of salvation in mankind and the two-way communication between them and human beings based thereon. The guardian angels
  • B.The original establishment of the supernatural order in mankind
  • §183.The supernatural endowment of the first human beings, or holiness and original justice from the perspective of primordial justice, and the disciplinary precept associated with it
  • §184.The supernatural endowment of the first human beings as a family estate and common property of the whole race which is to be transmitted, or original holiness and justice from the perspective of inherited justice and the significance of the disciplinary precept for its continuance in the human race

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 4 – Contents

• §185. Evil (malum) in general: nature, cause, and kinds
• §186. Concept and nature of sin as an action, esp. concerning
• its theological aspect as an offense against God and an infringement of the supernatural order
• §187. The two general fundamental forms of sin from the theological perspective: the difference between mortal sin and venial sin, and the different essential relation of each to sanctifying grace
• §188. The effects of actual sin in its subject: 1) the formal effects: stain and culpability, odiousness and merit of punishment in God’s sight
• §189. The effects of sin. Continuation. 2) The actual effects of sin: the corruptio or vitiatio boni naturae through the weakening of the natural disposition and the destruction of supernatural goodness
• §190. The moral effects of sin. The punishments imposed by God, or the obligation to suffer punishment or the debt of punishment
• §191. The survival of actual sin in habitual sin as an equivalent image of itself which it has generated, or as a constant state of indebtedness and blameworthy disorder; also the irreparable and perpetual character of this state
• §192. The possibility and the origin of sin in general; specifically God’s attitude with regard to the possibility and the beginning of sin

• SECTION ONE
  • The realization of sin in the angelic world
  • §193. Fact, origin, and form of the sin of the angels as the sin par excellence
  • §194. The consequences of the angels’ sin: the immediate rejection of the angels by God and their obduracy in sin, as well as the stages of their punishment
  • §195. The continual battle of the fallen spirits against God to spread the kingdom of sin and to destroy the kingdom of God in mankind
• SECTION TWO
  • Sin in mankind
  • §196. Original sin, or the first sin in mankind (peccatum originale = primum or originarium), considered in itself or as actual sin, and the divine judgment upon it
  • §197. The specific consequences of original sin in our first parents. The worsening, corruption, and perversion of their nature (corruptio et vitiatio naturae) through the loss of the glory and justice of the original state
  • §198. Relation of the change of nature for the worse as a result of the actual original sin to this sin itself, as a punishment for and an object of the fault contained in it, and the specific form of the habitual original sin (peccatum habituale originarium) existing thereby as sinfulness or injustice of human nature
  • §199. The dogma about the universal significance and efficacy of the actual original sin as the principle of the general worsening and sinfulness of human nature, or about the universal inheritability of habitual original sin, or as peccatum originans
  • §200. The universal significance and efficacy of the actual original sin established by the peculiar and unique character of the progenitor’s first sin as a total action of the human race through its genealogical head
  • §201. The universal sinfulness of human nature considered in Adam’s real posterity, as a sin innate in them or inherited (peccatum originale originatum); 1) the existence and nature of it as a true and proper sin
  • §202. The specific constitution of the nature of hereditary sin and the specific properties thereof resulting from it
  • §203. The production and origination of hereditary sin in individual persons through the conduction of the sin of nature by means of generation
  • §204. The specific punishments for hereditary sin or the captivity and servitude of sin established by it
  • §205.
  • a. The captivity and servitude of the devil as the completion and summary of the effects of hereditary sin; corresponding to this, the dominion of the devil, as the prince of sin and of death, over human beings and external nature which is subject to him, and the most important forms of its operation
  • b. Corollary and conclusion of the doctrine on sin; the mystery of sin in general and of hereditary sin in particular, or the mysterium iniquitatis as opposed to the mysterium gratiae

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 5 – Part 1 – Contents

• §206. Redemption possible only by a divine act: receptivity on man’s part, fittingness and freedom on God’s part
• §207. The hypothetical necessity of accomplishing redemption in the form of ransom or of perfect satisfaction and consequently by a theandric Redeemer
• §208. The suitability of a theandric Redeemer for the purpose of a superabundant redemption or of the restoration and higher perfection of the supernatural order, and the suitability of the Incarnation in general
• §209. The preparation of the world for the Redeemer in general
• §210. The Person and work of the Redeemer in the Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament
• §211. The prefigurations of the promised Redeemer in the Old Testament

• FIRST DOGMATIC SECTION
  • The dogmatic definitions about the constitution of Christ, demonstrated in Scripture and Tradition
  • §212. The personal names of the Redeemer; overview of the ecclesiastical rules of faith
  • §213. The teaching of Sacred Scripture, esp. of the New Testament, about Christ’s constitution
  • The development of the doctrine about Christ’s constitution according to its chief elements in the Church’s Tradition
  • §214. The human element in Christ’s constitution: the truth and wholeness of the manhood in Christ and its consubstantiality, i.e. uniformity and kinship with other human beings—according to the Tradition of the first four centuries
  • §215. The position of the human substance in Christ’s constitution or its union with the Divine Person of the Son of God into one Person and one being— according to the teaching of the first four centuries against the heresies about the elements in Christ’s constitution
  • §216. Continuation. The expressions and analogies for the union of substances in Christ in the pre-Ephesian Church Fathers, in particular the “mingling” of the natures or substances
  • §217. The physical or substantial union or composition of the human substance, except for its autonomy, with the substance of the Logos into the constitution of Christ or of the Verbum Incarnatum as one physical Person or one substantial being—according to the teaching of the Church against Nestorius
  • §218. The continued existence of the united substances in their own substantiality and essential condition as two complete essential or natural forms, and the existence of the one Divine Person or Hypostasis in two natures—according to Church teaching against the Monophysites
  • §219. Based on the difference between the natures, the human nature in Christ is intrinsically and actively alive as a particular spontaneous and self-moving principle (principium quo = principle by which) of aspiring, willing, and acting, and furthermore, based on the unity of the Person, the human principle, organically related to the divine, is a living instrument physically owned by Him—according to the teaching of the Church against the Monothelites.
  • §220. The dogmatic formulas and concepts for the elements and form of Christ’s constitution: hypostasis (= suppositum or subsistence) and person–essence and nature–hypostatic or personal union
  • §221. Result of the doctrine about Christ’s constitution: Christ as hypostatic composite and composite hypostasis and the conceptual position of this composite in the relation to the human composite on the one hand and to the divine Trinity on the other hand
  • §222. The name Christ, or the Sanctified or the Holy One of God, as essential name of the Person designated thereby
• SECOND THEOLOGICAL SECTION
  • Theological elucidation and more precise definition of the form of Christ’s constitution or of the hypostatic union with regard to its modalities, properties, conditions, and causes, and also of Christ’s origin in general
  • §223. More precise definition of the hypostatic union in itself: its essence, its analogies, and the various understandings of the theologians appearing therein; its formal cause, the grace of union, and its first formal effect, the communion of being
  • §224. The distinguishing properties of the hypostatic union: its supernatural character and unique sublimity and also its mysterious character
  • §225. The hypostatic union in its relation to the higher or the assuming principle (ex parte assumentis) and the modalities and conditions thereof existing in this respect
  • §226. The hypostatic union in relation to the human or the assumed element (ex parte assumpti): the conditions and modalities thereof that exist in this respect, first in relation to the human nature’s ability to be united
  • §227. Continuation. The modalities of the union in its accomplishment in relation to its range (content), extent (in time), and the ordering or communication thereof on the part of the human nature
  • §228. The origin of the hypostatic union through God’s supernatural efficacy or the unitive action with regard to its principle and object, and also the concurrence thereof with the eternal generation in the production of Christ
  • §229. The supernatural origin of Christ’s humanity through the Holy Ghost from the Virgin Mary or the actio productiva humanitatis in relation to the divine creative and the human begetting principle in the conception of Christ’s flesh
  • §230. The supernatural origin of the whole Christ in His conception through the concurrence of the divine action causing the origin of His humanity with the unitive action, and of both temporal actions with the eternal begetting
  • §231. The supernatural external origin of Christ or the miraculous birth of Christ by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary

• SECTION ONE
  • The attributes of Christ in general, and specifically the substantial attributes of His Person as such
  • §233. Transition. The consequences of the hypostatic union, in connection with its essence and origin, presented in the mutual perichoresis of the divine and the human—or the “communio naturarum”—in Christ
  • §234. The variety of the attributes resulting from Christ’s constitution and united in Him in a unique way and their relation to Christ as to their subject
  • §235. The reciprocal communication or the exchange of divine and human attributes between the God Christ and the man Christ as a subject that, while formally and logically different, is materially and objectively identical
  • §236. “Christ” as a separate subject of attributes beside “God” or as a Person relatively and virtually different from Christ Himself as God. More detailed definition of the concept of subject in the case of the man Christ and the diverse formulations [Fassung] of this subject with regard to His functions and predicates
  • §237. The communication of idioms in the narrower sense, i.e. the redounding of the divine idioms into the man Christ, or the participation of the latter, in His capacity as the most perfect outward likeness of God, in the divine glory and power
  • §238. The divine glory of the man Christ specifically as His divine venerability, in particular the participation of Christ and of His humanity in specifically divine veneration or latreutic adoration on the part of creatures
  • §239. Christ’s substantial relations in general resulting from His constitution and origin
  • §240.a. The sonship of Christ, based on the material origin of His human nature, as assumed sonship of the God-Logos and the motherhood corresponding to it as Divine Motherhood, especially in view of the basis and end thereof
  • §240.b. More detailed definition of the relation between the human mother and the divine Son with regard to the form and significance thereof; in particular the union with God contained in the divine motherhood as spiritual “affinity” and “wedding” with God and as a singular divine filiation
  • §241.a. Christ’s Divine Sonship, based on the divine origin of His personal principle, as the Divine Sonship of the man Christ—and indeed, first as the true and unique form of this Sonship, excluding any other adoptive or natural sonship
  • §241.b. Continuation. Positive definition of the peculiar nature of the Divine Sonship of the man Christ as such with reference to His character as “puer Dei” and “agnus Dei”
  • §242. The subordination of Christ to God founded on the created origin of His humanity or His relation to God as to His God; in particular the divine and childlike, holy and royal servitude of Christ
  • §243. Christ’s dominion over all things, founded on the uncreated and creative character of His personal principle or on His divine Sonship
  • §244. The relations of Christ to all mankind and to spiritual creatures generally resulting from the nature and origin of Christ: a) the man Christ as such, by birth the substantial, supernatural Head of creatures
  • §245. b) Christ as substantial and born supernatural Mediator between men, or all spiritual creatures, and God

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 5 – Part 2 – Contents

• SECTION TWO
  • The supernatural attributes of Christ’s humanity, especially the supernatural perfection of its internal and external operation
  • §246. The gratia unionis or unctionis substantialis and the substantial deification and sanctification of Christ’s humanity that is entailed therein as heart and root of all its supernatural prerogatives
  • §247. In general the fullness of the supernatural perfection of the spiritual life in Christ’s humanity resulting from the substantial anointing, and specifically the fullness of created grace as the inherent principle thereof
  • §248. The original fullness of intellectual perfection or of truth and wisdom in Christ’s soul, in particular the vision of God
  • §249. The fullness of ethical perfection or of holiness and justice of Christ’s human will, especially its absolute sinlessness
  • §250. Transition to Christ’s actions: The supernatural perfection of Christ’s moral freedom resulting from His holiness, without detriment to the freedom of choice necessary for merit and the form thereof that was peculiar to Christ as a theandric freedom
  • §251. The specific, indeed infinite value of Christ’s actions in their capacity as divine service and their corresponding supreme and unique God-pleasing character
  • §252. The specific power of Christ’s humanity to procure and to obtain supernatural goods, and the impetratory and meritorious or moral-juridical efficacy of Christ’s human actions corresponding to that power—in particular its property as the merit of the Mediator and Head, and the grace of the Head and Mediator that underlies that merit
  • §253. The specific power of Christ’s humanity to cause and to produce supernatural effects, or the dynamic (or physical), more precisely organic-dynamic power of His humanity as a physical organ of the divinity. More complete definition of the dogmatic concept of the vis vivifica carnis Christi [life-giving power of Christ’s flesh] and of the gratia mediatoris et capitis
• SECTION THREE
  • The states (Latin: status) of Christ’s humanity and the chief moments in the course of its life (mysteria vitae Christi)
  • §254. The states or the course of Christ’s life in general
  • §255. The state of Christ’s abasement, in particular the bodily and spiritual needs accepted by Christ
  • §256. The miraculous joining of prerogatives and needs in the condition of Christ’s lowliness, particularly the relation of His ability to suffer to the beatitude of His soul
  • §257. The completion of Christ’s abasement in His Passion and death on the cross
  • §258. The intermediate condition of Christ during the separation of His soul from His body—in the tomb and in the netherworld
  • §259. The state of Christ’s perfection, exaltation, and glorification: His Resurrection and Ascension and His sitting at the right hand of the Father

• SECTION ONE
  • The work of the Redeemer: the Redemption and the restoration of mankind through Christ’s mediating deed and the perfecting of the supernatural order connected with it
  • §260. Preliminary remarks about the content and form of the work of Redemption
  • §261. Synoptic development of the dogmatic concept of the actual deed of Redemption or of the atoning merit of Christ as mediatory Head of mankind, which merit establishes Redemption
  • §262. Proof of the chief aspect in Christ’s salvific deed, atoning merit, in Scripture and tradition
  • §263. The intrinsic possibility and correctness of the dogmatic concept of Christ’s atoning merit against the hostilities toward it and the distortions of it
  • §264. The intrinsic perfection of the propitiatory satisfaction of Christ: the condign and superabundant character (condignitas et abundantia) of its atoning force and the infallibility of its propitiatory force
  • §265. The efficacy of Christ’s atoning merit with regard to the object or the fruit thereof and the form of its application
  • §266. The universal intention of the deed of Redemption with regard to all sinners and all sins in mankind, and the restoration of the general order of salvation for all mankind that is thereby established
  • §267. The higher perfection of the supernatural order in mankind and in all creation given in the Person and the work of Christ, and Christ’s position in the divine plan for the world
• SECTION TWO
  • The hierarchical offices of the Redeemer and their functions
  • §268. The offices of the Redeemer in general
  • §269. The prophetic-apostolic teaching office of Christ
  • §270. Christ’s high-priestly office and its functions. 1. Preliminary concepts concerning priesthood and sacrifice in general and specifically in God’s pre-Christian institutions
  • §271. Christ’s priesthood and its functions. 2. Doctrinal development. a) Christ’s priesthood in itself, its superiority and perfection
  • §272. Christ’s priesthood and its functions. Continuation. b) Christ’s priestly functions, specifically His sacrificial functions
  • §273. Christ’s hierarchical royal office and its functions
  • CHAPTER FIVE: THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF THE REDEEMER AND HER RELATION TO THE WORK OF REDEMPTION (MARIOLOGY)
  • §274. Preliminary remarks. The theological sources of Mariology
  • §275. The consecrated virginity and the human marriage of the Mother of Jesus in relation to each other and to her Divine Motherhood
  • §276. The grace of Divine Motherhood as Mary’s supernatural personal character
  • §277. The supreme dignity and position of the Mother of God in the supernatural order, resulting from her personal character
  • §278. The fullness of grace of the Mother of God, in general and specifically according to its positive aspect
  • §279 a. The privilege of the anticipated sanctification of the Mother of God and of her resultant pristine freedom from original sin, or of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Explanation of the doctrine
  • §279 b. Proof of the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception from Scripture and Tradition. History and significance of the relevant controversy
  • §280. The perpetual and comprehensive freedom from sin (sinlessness and impeccability) caused by Mary’s first and second sanctification or the supreme purity and constancy of her holiness and the supreme perfection of her justice
  • §281. Mary’s freedom from the dominion or the bonds of death: the singularity of her death, the incorruptibility of her body, and her anticipated resurrection
  • §282 a. Preliminary remarks about the supernatural efficacy of the Mother of the Redeemer
  • §282 b. The cooperation of the Mother of the Redeemer in the work of Redemption—considered first in principle and in general
  • §282 c. The cooperation of the Mother of the Redeemer in the work of Redemption in its concrete form and in detail. The related motherly position and activity of Mary with respect to the redeemed and her permanent mediatory office

Matthias Joseph Scheeben – Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics – Book 6 –  Contents

• §283 . Introduction and division

• §284 . Definition of the subject matter in general
• §285 . Orientation about names, concept, and elements of actual grace or of aiding and assisting grace
• §286 . Orientation on names, concept, and elements of actual grace. Continuation. More precise definition concerning actual grace as an assisting energy or disposition of the soul
• §287 . Orientation concerning the name, concept, and elements of actual grace. Conclusion. Further definitions about the divine action on the soul that is at work in actual grace
• §288 . Orientation concerning the name and concept of actual grace. Conclusion. Correlation between actual grace as a disposition of the soul and as a divine action
• Heresies and the dogma formulated against them
• §289 . 1. Pure Pelagianism
• §290 . [2.] The SembPelagian error and the Catholic dogma
• §291 . [3.1 The Reformation heresies of the 16th and 17th centuries and the Church’s dogma
• The necessity of the grace of Christ in order to do good and to avoid sin
• §292 . I. The true necessity of the grace of Christ as opposed to the illegitimate denial or restriction of it—1) first for fallen man absolutely 232
• §293 . 2. The true necessity of actual grace in fallen man 2) after his rebirth for the activation and preservation of his supernatural life—first a) on account of its supernatural character
• §294 . Necessity of actual grace in the reborn. Continuation.
• b) The reason for it: the residual weakness of human nature §295. Necessity of grace in those who are reborn. Conclusion.
• c) The necessity of it for final perseverance in the state of grace §295 a. Appendix 1 to §§292-295: The teaching of the
• Fathers of the Church and particularly of St. Augustine about the necessity and significance of grace in the original state, and the fundamental patristic principles prominent in that teaching
• §295 b. Appendix 2 to §§293-295. The so-called seven gifts of the Holy Ghost as means for promoting the life of grace
• §296 . II. The limits to the necessity of the grace of Christ with regard to its exaggeration by the Reformers and Jansenists. 1) The alleged necessity of charity for all non-sinful actions. The position of charity in the organization of the commandments and virtues. The commandment to refer works to God. “Caritas” in Augustine’s writings
• §297 . The limits to the necessity of grace. Continuation.
• 2) The alleged necessity of the grace of theological faith.
• The various forms of fides as the general rule of moral action §298. The limits of the necessity of grace. Conclusion. 3) The necessity of grace generally in order to avoid sinfulness in all volition and action or in order to produce any moral goodness of action. The opinion of the Church Fathers on the dependence of all good on supernatural grace