Prev TOC Next
[Image]  [Hi-Res Image]

Page 126

 

Encyclopedia THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 128

biblion of Josephus (MPG, cvi. 14-177). For other varieties of instruction the homilies, corresponding to the Diatribes of the Cynic-Stoic schools, and echolia and commentaries are evidence. These are the roots of the system of instruction in dogmatic and practical theology. There soon followed the encyclopedic productions of Chrysostom (Peri hierosynes), of Ambrosias (De of~'eciis ministrorum), and of Augustine (De doctTina christiana, De catechizandis rudibus, Encheiridion ad Laurentium).

During the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages the pedagogic methods of patristic times passed over into the Western Church where the influx of new peoples made necessary the use of these means of instruction. In Byzantine literature heathenism and Christianity remained in a relation of easy sociability of which the Myrobiblion of Photiua (d. 891) is an example. Philosophical activity was concerned with Caton&, (q.v.) which set forth

authoritative traditions of exegesis, 3. In the faith, and conduct of service. In

Byzantine the West the concern was for a prac-

and Middle tical use of the material of science, Ages. and in this direction Augustine was

the leader. Under his influence Cassiodorus wrote his Institutiones divinarum litterarum, which was followed by the more systematic seventh and eighth books " On God, Angels and the Orders of the Faithful " of Isidor's Originum sive etymologictrum. In the Middle Ages the monastic schools and universities arose, the latter with their trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic) and quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music). The De institutions clericorum of Rabanua Maurus (c. 850), the Capitula. ad presbyteros of Hincmar, and the Capitulare of Hatto of Basel are specimens of the work done for the schools of the monasteries, when the monks and clergy were the leaders in the Western world. During the heyday of scholasticism appeared the Speculum doctrinale of Vincent of Beauvais, part of an Omnium scientiarum encycloPcedia (4 vole., Douai, 1624). In opposition to this dialectic discipline arose a mystical type of instruction which partook more of the theological than the philosophical, illustrated by such works as the Didascalion of Hugo of St. Victor (d. 1141), the Epistohe of Jean Gerson (d. 1429), and the De studio theologico of Nicholas of Cl6menge (d. 1437).

The Reformation and Humanism created a new science through the study of linguistics and of history. Study of language gave to theology firm standing-ground and new forms and purposes, the first results of which were attention to Scripture. Erasmus (Ratio sea methodus Pervertiendi ad veram

theologiam), Melanchthon (Brevis dis 4. In Hu- cendte theologise ratio), and Luther manism sad (in his maxim: oratio, meditatio,

the Refor- tentatio faciunt theologum) showed the mation. way, followed by Theobald Thamer

(Adhortatio ad theologise stadium, 1543), David Chytrzeus (De studio theologico, 1557), and John Gerhard (Methodus studii theologici, 1617). Interest in questions of encyclopedia was livelier in the Lutheran Church than in the Reformed, as shown by Bullinger's Ratio studii theo-

Ibgici and Konrad Gessner's Pandectce universales (1548-49). Nevertheless the father of a systematic and thorough encyclopedia was the (Reformed) professor Andrews Gerhard of Marburg in his De theologo sea de rations studii theologici, (Strasburg, 1562-82), in which the division of theological science into exegetical, historical, dogmatic, and practical theology was first made. But the development of theological encyclopedia proceeded without well-formed plane; materials and methods were not carefully distinguished. Polemics too had its influence in the unfolding, and the science divided into exegetical, didactic, and polemical theology. Historical criticism had not yet come to its own, the linguistic methods of Humanism were yet dominant, and the contests between externals and internals dragged dogmatic, practical, and polemic interests into the foreground. Meanwhile philosophy, which among the Reformers had remained wedded to theology, received new impetus from Bacon and Descartes, and a new idea of the world came into existence through Copernicus and Kepler. For Bacon, theology is a positive science, independent of reason, which, however, it takes into its service. A great step had been taken toward insight into religion and toward the formation of a new basis.

The factors which next entered into conflict with rigid scholasticism were Pietism and rationalism, different in origin and purpose, yet united in emphasis upon individualism. Under Pietism theology took on a practical-ascetic phase, it became piety. Spener gave direction to this in his Pia desideria (1675) and in the preface to his De imPedimentis studii theo-

g. Pietism Zogici. Study of the Bible is the and Ration- foundation of all theology, interpre-

alism In- tation is the mistress who orders all fluential. the parts and affords the basis; dog matics and ethics are to come from Scripture. Historical development was lost to sight, church history simply furnished a bounding line. The orthodox cultivation of homiletics seemed to Spener the greatest hindrance to theo logical study, while catechetics is especially im portant. A. H. Franks took up Spener's thesis in Idea studiosi theologici (Halls, 1718) and Methodus studii theologici. (1723), as did J. J. Breithaupt in Ezercitationes de studio theologico (1702), J. Large in Institutianes atudii theologici (1723), and J. J. Rambach in Studiosus theologise (Frankfort, 1723). Related spirits were Franz Buddeus (Isagoge historico-theologica, Leipsic, 1727) and C. M. Pfaff (Introductio in historiam theologize litterariam, 3 vole., Tiibingen, 1723), who reinstated the division into exegetical, historical, dogmatic, and practical theology. To the filling in of these outlines L. Mosheim contributed in his Kurze Anweisung, die Gottesgelehrtheit verniinftig zu erkennen (ed. Wind heim, Helmstadt, 1756-63). Through the preva lence of the Wolffian philosophy rationalism had its influence, and the works of J. S. Semler rapidly succeeded each other (1757-80). J. A. N&eselt united a view of the materials and the literature of theology in his Anweisung zur Kenntnisa der besseren Biicher in der Theologie (Leipsic, 1800).