Information AboutLuis De Molina |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT LUIS MOLINA | |
| spanish theologians | |
| molina, luis | |
| spanish writers | |
| jesuits | |
| 1535 births | |
| 1600 deaths | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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Having at the age of eighteen become a member of the Society Of Jesus , he studied Theology at Coimbra , and afterward became professor in the university of Évora , Portugal . From this post he was called, at the end of twenty years, to the chair of moral Theology in Madrid. Besides other works he wrote ''De liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, praedestinatione et reprobatione concordia'' (4 vo., Lisbon , 1588); a commentary on the first part of the '' Summa Theologiae '' of Thomas Aquinas (2 vols., fol., Cuenca, 1593); and a treatise ''De jure et justitia'' (6 vols., 1593-1609). It is to the first of these that his fame is principally due. It was an attempt to reconcile, in words at least, the exclude predestination. The omniscient God, by means of His ''scientia media'' (the phrase is Molina's invention, though the idea is also to be found in his older contemporary Fonseca ), or power of knowing future contingent events, foresees how we shall employ our own Free-will and treat his proffered grace, and upon this foreknowledge he can found his predestinating decrees. These doctrines, although in harmony with the prevailing feeling of the Roman Catholic Church of the period, and further recommended by their marked opposition to the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin , excited violent controversy in some quarters, especially on the part of the Dominican Order , and at last rendered it necessary for the pope ( Clement VIII ) to interfere. At first (1594) he simply enjoined silence on both parties so far as Spain was concerned; but ultimately, in 1598, he appointed the Congregatio De Auxillis Gratiae for the settlement of the dispute, which became more and more a party one. After holding very numerous sessions, the congregation was able to decide nothing, and in 1607 its meetings were suspended by Paul V , who in 1611 prohibited all further discussion of the question de auxiliis, and studious efforts were made to control the publication even of commentaries on Aquinas. The Molinist subsequently passed into the Jansenist controversy. A full account of Molina's theology will be found in Schneeman 's ''Entstehung der thomistisch-molinistischen Controverse'', published in the Appendices (Nos. 9, 13, 14) to the Jesuit periodical, ''Stimmen aus Maria-Laach''. To the lay reader may be recommended Ernest Renan 's article, ''Les congregations de auxiis'' in his ''Nouvelles etudes d'histoire religieuse.'' REFERENCES
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