De locis theologicis

ON THE NUMBER AND ORDER OF THE THEOLOGICAL LOCI

Cicero teaches what Plato and Aristotle had earlier handed down: every instruction undertaken on any subject must begin with a definition, so that one may understand what the subject under discussion is. I certainly could not neglect this principle in the disputation I am about to undertake on the theological loci: I should explain first of all what a theological locus is, unless it were so readily apparent from what we have said that the matter needed no explanation. For in this work we did not promise to discuss common topics, which are usually treated as general subjects, or headings of notable matters that are now also called common loci, such as justification, grace, sin, faith, and others of this kind. Many of our own writers have done so, and among the Lutherans not only Philip but Calvin too—men of no little eloquence, yet impious, as one can recognize in Luther's disciples. Rather, just as Aristotle in the Topics set out common loci as seats and markers of arguments, from which every argument for every disputation might be found, so we set out certain special loci of theology, as dwellings of all theological arguments, from which all theologians will find their arguments, whether for confirming or refuting. Accordingly, since the definition of a theological locus was already before our eyes from what was said in the prooemium, we did not need to explain it more carefully here. Instead, we had to take up at once what was obscure and indicate a definite and fixed number of such loci. We therefore include the catalogue of theological loci in the number ten, not unaware that some will reduce these same loci to a smaller number and others will want there to be more. But there is no need to dwell on the form of the enumeration, provided that no locus at all is counted when it is superfluous or omitted when necessary. The first locus, then, is the authority of Sacred Scripture, which is contained in the canonical books. The second is the authority of the traditions of Christ and the apostles, which, since they were not written down but have come to us from ear to ear, may most rightly be called oracles of the living voice. The third is the authority of the Catholic Church. The fourth is the authority of Councils, especially general ones, in which the authority of the Catholic Church resides. The fifth is the authority of the Roman Church, which by divine privilege both is and is called Apostolic. The sixth is

the authority of the holy Fathers. The seventh is the authority of scholastic theologians, to whom we should also add experts in pontifical law. For the teaching of this law corresponds, as it were, from the other side to scholastic theology. The eighth is natural reason, which extends very widely through all the sciences discovered by the natural light. The ninth is the authority of philosophers who follow nature as their guide; among them, without doubt, are the imperial jurists, who, as a jurist says, themselves profess true philosophy. Finally, the last is the authority of human history, whether written by authors worthy of belief or handed down from nation to nation—not superstitiously and like old wives' tales, but on serious and consistent grounds. These, then, are the ten loci in which all theological arguments lie hidden, to be brought to light with this distinction: those drawn from the first seven loci are proper, so to speak, to this faculty, whereas those drawn from the last three are extrinsic and, as it were, begged from another's store. For, as I said above, there are two kinds of argumentation, one by authority and the other by reason; since the former belongs properly to the theologian and the latter to the philosopher, the theologian must resort to the latter if he is not permitted to use the former. Although sometimes it is permitted to employ both kinds of argument together, as we shall show in its proper place. This, then, is enough about the first part of the work, since, as we said at the outset, it did not require a long discussion.