Loci theologici

Loci Theologici was a term applied by

Protestant systems of dogmatics and retained by many as late as the seventeenth century. It is also a way of ordering the strength of different sources used in Catholic theology usually attributed to Melchor Cano

and still in use today.

The word was borrowed, as he himself says, from the usage of the classic rhetoricians, in whose works topoi or loci, denote the places or sources from which proofs are deduced. Various systematized indexes of these loci were made from the days of Aristotle, and mere formal categories, such as "person," "nature," or "fortune," were also reckoned under this head. It was the particular task of the rhetorician, however, to trace the concrete case, or "hypothesis," to the general, or "thesis." Thus were evolved loci communes, or arguments which could be applied to many specific cases. The humanistic rhetoricians frequently confused loci communes with simple loci, or general basal concepts. This was especially true of

Melanchthon

, as is clear from his De rhetorica libri tres (Cologne, 1519), in which he sought to train students for disputation.

Lutheran View

Melanchthon accordingly advised them to prepare lists of all possible loci communes, and to enter under the proper rubrics (capita) any examples gathered in the course of their reading. Among theological loci communes he lists "

love," and "ceremony

." Elsewhere he defines loci communes as "certain general rules of living, of which men are persuaded by nature, and which I might not unjustly call the laws of nature." These two definitions, however, are not clearly distinguished and the discussion of the loci communes is consequently somewhat vague.

This criticism applies also to the loci theologici of his famous

Lutheran dogmatics was slow in reaching inherent unity. The term loci theologici gradually came to denote the content, and thus the chief passages of the Bible

as included in the individual loci.
For Lutheran theology, Melanchthon's book had the same importance which the work of
Reformed the phrase loci communes was accepted by Wolfgang Musculus (Basel, 1560), Peter Martyr (London, 1576), Johannes Maccovius (Franeker, 1639), and Daniel Chamier
(Geneva, 1653). After the middle of the seventeenth century, however, with the rise of a more systematic treatment of dogmatics the term fell into disuse.

Catholic View

Melchor Cano provided a Catholic version of this in his posthumous work, De Locis theologicis (Salamanca, 1562). In this
historians agree about a fact, then we should believe it, even if it is unlikely. Otherwise "It would be as if the Mediterranean peoples were to deny the existence of the ocean ... or if, indeed, we should mock at him who speaks of elephants."^[2] Cano lists 10 Loci theologici: Seven proper to theology: (1) Sacred Scripture,(2) apostolic traditions, (3) the universal Church, (4) Church councils, (5) the papal magisterium, (6) Church Fathers, and (7) theologians and canonists; and three borrowed by theology: (8) natural reason, (9) philosophers and jurists, and (10) history and human tradition.^[3]

See also

Loci Communes

Lutheran scholasticism

References

^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Loci Theologici" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

^ Cano, Melchior (2006). "4". In Belda Plans, Juan (ed.). De Locis Theologicis [1509-1560] Full Text at Documenta Catholica Omnia (PDF) (in Latin). Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos. p. 348. Retrieved 1 February 2021. Ita fit, ut mediterranei mare esse non credant, nec in insula nati, in qua lepusculos vulpesculasque solum viderint, credant leones et pantheras esse: si vero de elephanto quis dicat, etiam rideri se putent.

^ Loci Theologici on Encyclopedia.com

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) [1]

[1] Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Loci Theologici" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

[DeLocis-2] Cano, Melchior (2006). "4". In Belda Plans, Juan (ed.). De Locis Theologicis [1509-1560] Full Text at Documenta Catholica Omnia (PDF) (in Latin). Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos. p. 348. Retrieved 1 February 2021. Ita fit, ut mediterranei mare esse non credant, nec in insula nati, in qua lepusculos vulpesculasque solum viderint, credant leones et pantheras esse: si vero de elephanto quis dicat, etiam rideri se putent.

[3] Loci Theologici on Encyclopedia.com

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