Ex Meritis Praevisis: Predestination, Grace, and Free Will in intra-Jesuit Controversies (1587-1613)

This article retraces the intra-Jesuit theological debates on the theology of salvation, including the relationship between the elements of predestination, God’s foreknowledge, Grace, and free will, in the delicate passage between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, and within the debates o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rai, Eleonora (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2020
In: Journal of Early Modern Christianity
Year: 2020, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Pages: 111-150
IxTheo Classification:KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KCA Monasticism; religious orders
KDB Roman Catholic Church
NBK Soteriology
Further subjects:B Free Will
B Lessius
B Human Agency
B theology of salvation
B theological controversies
B Bellarmino
B Predestination
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Summary:This article retraces the intra-Jesuit theological debates on the theology of salvation, including the relationship between the elements of predestination, God’s foreknowledge, Grace, and free will, in the delicate passage between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, and within the debates on Augustine’s theological legacy. Specifically, it explores the Flemish Jesuit Leonard Lessius’ theology and the discussions raised by it within the Society of Jesus, in order to show how soteriology has been central in the process of self-definition of the Jesuit identity in the Early Modern Age. This is particularly clear from the internal debates developed between Lessius, on the one hand, and General Claudio Acquaviva and curial theologian Roberto Bellarmino, on the other hand. Not only does the article investigate little known aspects of intra-Catholic theological debate in the post Tridentine period, but it also shows how deep pastoral and moral concerns strongly contributed to the rise of Lessius’ open-minded theology of salvation, which seemed to deprive God’s sovereign authority in favour of humankind’s free will, and human agency in the process of salvation.
ISSN:2196-6656
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Early Modern Christianity
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/jemc-2020-2021