Spirit of Catholicism

245 Pages·1929·8.301 MB·English

by  Karl Adam

SPIRIT OF
THE
CATHOLICISM
BY
DR. KARL ADAM
Professor of Catholic Theology in the University of Tiibingen
TRANSLATED BY
DOM JUSTIN McCANN, O.S.B.
Master of St. Benet's Hall, Oxford
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1929
Copyright, 1929,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
Set up and electrotyped.
Published July, 1929.
SET UP BY BROWN BROTHERS LINOTYPERS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA
BY THE PERRIS PRINTING COMPANY
Nihil Obstat
Arthur J. Scanlan, S. T. D.,
Censor Librorum.
Imprimatur
* Patrick Cardinal Hayes,
Archbishop, New York.
New York, June, 1929.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
The chapters of this book, with the exception of the two
chapters on the Communion of Saints, were delivered as
lectures in the University of Tubingen, in the summer term
of 1923, to an audience of several hundred persons of mixed
religious beliefs. The University of Tubingen possesses
two faculties of theology, a Catholic faculty and a Protes¬
tant, both alike supported by the state. The author is a
priest and professor of dogmatic theology in the Catholic
faculty. The lectures were published in book form, under
the title of Das Wesen des Katholizismus [i.e., the essential
nature of Catholicism], in the year 1924, and each year
since then has seen a new edition. The essay on the Com¬
munion of Saints, here divided into two chapters, was added
in the third edition (1926). In the fourth edition (1927)
the author submitted his book to a thorough revision, and
issued it in a cheaper form. The present translation is
made from this fourth edition, which is unaltered in the
fifth and last German edition (1928). Some references
to German literature have been omitted and a few explana¬
tory notes added, for the assistance of the English reader.
The translator would like to express his gratitude to
the author for his permission to translate the book, and to
his publishers (Messrs. L. Schwann, Diisseldorf) for their
generous consent.
St. Benet’s Hall,
Oxford.
January, 1929.
ANALYTICAL CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Introductory. i
An investigation into the fundamental nature of an
infinitely various yet unitary thing. Not to be achieved
without genuine sympathy and Catholic experience. Re¬
markable present-day interest in Catholicism. Two rea¬
sons for it: the imposing fact of the Church, the moral
and intellectual needs of the modern man. Influential
Protestant writers plead for a better understanding of
Catholicism. Aim of this book to promote this under¬
standing, in all truthfulness and charity.
II. Christ in the Church.14
Intimate union of the Church with Christ. Manifested
in her dogma which centres round Christ, in her moral i
teaching which aims at making men like to Christ, in '
her worship which is performed through Christ. The 1
sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Altar, a
working of Christ among His people. The same union
of the Church with Christ shown in her pastoral and
teaching office, in her sacramental doctrine, in her
disciplinary authority. The whole structure permeated
and bound together by Christ.
III. The Church the Body of Christ .... 31
The Church not merely an invisible kingdom, but
also a visible community. Fundamental importance
of the community idea. The solidarity of mankind»
in sin and in redemption a basic conception of Chris¬
tianity. The organism of the Church represents and
enforces that solidarity. A unitary organism with
inner differentiation of function. And possessing, of
necessity, a visible expression of its unity, a visible
head. Essential character of papal and episcopal au¬
thority. Objections to it on the ground that it is in¬
consistent with our Lord’s teaching. In reality a
service of the community in His name.
IV. Through the Church to Christ .... 46
The genesis of Catholic faith. Three cardinal
points: God, Christ, the Church. The existence of
God discernible by natural reason, but His love to be ’
learnt only from revelation. Full faith in God
vii
ANALYTICAL CONTENTS
Vlll
CHAPTER
attained by faith in Christ. How is faith in Christ
attained ? The apostles attained it preparatorily by His
personal teaching, fulfillingly by the pentecostal gift
of the Holy Spirit. So we also: preparatorily by the
teaching of His living, apostolic Church, fulfillingly
by the operation of His grace. Not from lifeless rec¬
ords, but from the living witness of a living organism
sustained and animated by Him, from immediate con¬
tact with Christ living in His Church. Christianity
more than a system of thought: a living stream of
divine life flowing out from Christ and bearing His
truth and His life, pure and uncontaminated, down the
centuries.
V. The Foundation of thei Church in the
Light of the Teaching of Jesus .
Was the Church founded by Christ Himself, or is it
the creation of His disciples? The objection, that our
Lord’s attitude towards Jewish religion and ecclesias¬
tical authority is inconsistent with His foundation of
a Church, scientifically untenable. The objections of
the eschatological school. Examination of our Lord’s
teaching concerning the coming of the Kingdom and
concerning the end of the world. Chronological mis¬
conceptions of some of His disciples. The plain teach¬
ing of His parables. The foundation of the Church in
the direct line of His thought: a Church in gradual
process towards perfection and ever ordinated towards a
supernatural and other-worldly goal.
VI. The Church and Peter.
Special position of St. Peter among the twelve
attested not only by the history of the primitive com¬
munity, but by the witness of St. Paul. Unsatis¬
factory theories advanced in explanation of this pre¬
eminence. The all-sufficient explanation to be found in
Matthew XVI, 13-19. This passage no Roman forgery
or anti-Pauline interpolation. Significance of its
details, especially of Simon’s new name with its imme¬
diate and universal success. Certain that he was given
a special authority by Christ Himself. But does this
appertain to his successors? The divine intentions
of our Lord, the witness of history. The Church based
on Peter the only guardian of genuine faith in Christ
and the only hope for our civilisation.
VII. The Communion of Saints (i)
The meaning of the doctrine. The three-fold Church:—
the Church Militant, the Church Suffering and the
doctrine of Purgatory, the Church Triumphant.
The life of the saints in heaven one of infinite variety
and fruitfulness. They co-operate effectively with the
Head in the organic life of the Body of Christ. Variety
ANALYTICAL CONTENTS
IX
CHAPTER
PAGE
of type and of glory. The special privilege and incom¬
parable sanctity of Mary the Mother of God.
VIII.
The Communion of Saints (ii) . . . .
Three vital movements within the Communion of
Saints, (i) The communion of the Church Triumphant
and Militant: veneration of the saints, their intercession
for us and application of their merits to us, the doc¬
trine of indulgences. (2) Communion of the Church
Suffering and Militant: prayers and masses for the
dead. (3) Communion of the members of the Church
Militant among themselves: in the priesthood of Christ,
in prayer, in faith (and the influence of this com¬
munion on the development of doctrine), in love.
IX. 141
The Catholicity of the Church ....
_ The catholicity of the Church follows from her essen¬
tial nature, and is based not only on the express injunc¬
tion of our Lord but on the universal spirit which is
manifest in His teaching. Falsity of the view which
maintains that He had no universal aim. The Church
of her nature international and supra-national. Her
external catholicity based upon her internal catholicity
which is manifested in two ways: in a complete accept¬
ance of the full revelation of scripture and tradition,
and in a complete acceptance and understanding of
human nature. Reverencing the body and defending
human reason, she provides for the whole man. Finally,
she treasures all genuine values wherever they are to
be found.
X.
The Church Necessary for Salvation . . 159
Exclusiveness of the Church inevitable and a primitive
conviction, crystallised in St. Cyprian’s sentence: Out¬
side the Church no salvation. Necessity of this exclu¬
siveness to protect her being. The sentence not aimed at
non-Catholic individuals, nor an unqualified denunciation
of non-catholic communions. Church’s belief in the
S
validity of non-catholic baptism and schismatical orders.
Her belief also in non-catholic piety and even sanctity.
Pagans and the baptism of desire. No bounds to the
operation of the grace of Christ. True meaning of the
sentence, from the theological standpoint and the psycho¬
logical. Persecution of heretics not to be attributed to
the Church as such, but to the political temper and
mental outlook of an age, and now forbidden by the
canon law. Bona-fide non-Catholic a member of the
soul of the Church. The invisible union of all true
Christians must some day be a visible union.
XI. 176
The Sacramental Action of the Church .
Purpose of the Church the sanctification of men. This
the work of grace, and therefore her chief duty the
ANALYTICAL CONTENTS
X
CHAPTER PAGE
sacramental mediation of grace. Man not purely passive,
but must co-operate with grace. His justification at
the same time his sanctification, and the product the new
man of supernatural charity. He has to grow con¬
tinually in grace, and he may still fall from grace. This
doctrine not responsible for the malady of scrupulosity.
The seven sacraments give the Catholic a real and imme¬
diate experience of God’s action. Deep influence in
Catholic piety of the Mass, of the Real Presence, of the
practice of Confession. Skill with which the _ Church
employs these sacramental realities, especially in asso¬
ciating them with the regular course of human life.
Extends her sanctifying action to the whole framework
of human life and pursues a constant effort to bring
God down to men.
XII. The Educative Action of the Church . 193
The Church has to raise men to God by her teaching
and moral discipline. Fundamental means to this end
is her divine authority. Relation of authority to the indi¬
vidual conscience. Possibility of serious conflict. Para¬
mount rights of conscience, in and through which
authority must work. Second great means the other¬
worldliness of her teaching. Produces a special Catholic
temper, detachment from the world and asceticism, yet
no denial of natural values. True meaning of asceticism.
Celibacy and the monastic life. The comprehensive ideal
of the Church the man of perfect love. Effects of her
work on her children.
XIII. Catholicism in its Actuality. 210
The reality at variance with the ideal. In the first
place man cannot adequately conceive and represent God,
and the divine must necessarily suffer in its incarnation.
The medieval Inquisition, the persecution of witches,
corruption in head and members. In the second place
there is the conflict between authority and human liberty,
and between^the claims of personality and the claims of
the community. Thirdly there is the conflict between
piety and formalism. These difficulties find their solu¬
tion in Catholic eschatology. The Church of this world
necessarily imperfect, yet the gates of hell will not pre¬
vail against it and truth will always ultimately triumph.
The Church too has to struggle for the crown. God
permits so much weakness out of His very goodness.
Love of the Catholic for his Church.
Index . 231
THE SPIRIT OF CATHOLICISM
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
"The truth shall make you free” (John viii, 32).
What is Catholicism? By that question we do not merely
ask what is that characteristic quality which distinguishes
Catholicism from other forms of Christianity; we go
deeper than that, and seek to discover what is its governing
idea and what are the forces set in motion by this idea.
We ask what is the single basic thought, what is the essential
form that gives life to the great structure which we call
Catholicism? Regarded from the outside Catholicism has
the appearance of a confused mass of conflicting forces, of
an unnatural synthesis, of a mixture of foreign, nay con¬
tradictory, elements. And for that reason there have been
those who have called it a complex of opposites. The reli¬
gious historian, Heiler, believes that he can discern as many
as seven essentially different strata in a cross-section of this
vast structure.1 So enormously rich and manifold and con¬
flicting do the particular elements of Catholicism seem to
1 In Der Katholizismus, seine Idee und seine Erscheinung (I923, P-
12), a new and much enlarged edition of his Das IVesen des Katholizis¬
mus (1920), six lectures delivered in Sweden in the autumn of 1919-
Friedrich Heiler is Professor of the Comparative History of Religion
in the University of Marburg and a distinguished non-Catholic religious
writer in present-day Germany. His theological position is a highly
individual one, but he may be said to have affinities with Archbishop
Soderblom on the one hand, and on the other with that “High. Church”
party (possessing an organ with the title Una Sancta) which is one of
the most interesting phenomena of post-war German Protestantism.
Heiler’s book above cited, though containing much severe criticism of
alleged defects in Catholic teaching , and practice, is yet characterised
by a profound sympathy with Catholicism.
I