Reginald Schultes, Introduction to the History of Dogmas (as a Discipline)
Translator’s Introduction
In a number of my academic articles and texts, I have referenced the course lecture written by Fr. Reginald Schultes, OP, who taught at the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) at the turn of the 20th century, alongside Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange. In 2023, I sketched out a translation of his lectures gathered together in the Latin volume Introductio ad historiam dogmatum (Paris: Lethielleux, 1922). While working on the translation, I realized that it, perhaps was not something that I would bring to press directly, only because the text is marked by its era in the very style of writing. However, it remains a very important volume for several reasons. I think, most importantly, it shows how a faithful and relatively conservative Thomist nonetheless accounts for the importance of the history of dogmas. It therefore provides an insertion point into which one can connect into a more traditional Thomism our more refined sensibilities concerning historical matters today. (I have many thoughts about this broader project, but this is not the place for me to unpack that.) Secondly, Schultes’ volume also helped to articulate some important points regarding the history of the scholastic notion of dogmatic development. This can be found in other authors from his era (including but not limited to Marín-Sola), but he provides a very important background for what we find in someone like Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, alongside whom he taught, seemingly as a close colleague. Thirdly, the volume contains his very important critique of Marín-Sola’s theory of dogmatic development, particularly as relates to the question of the De fide definability of proper theological conclusions. Although many (if not most) Thomists have seemed to take Marín-Sola’s account as fully authoritative, nonetheless, Frs. Schultes, Garrigou-Lagrange, Marie-Michel Labourdette, and William Wallace all registered very important critiques which, at this time (April, 2024), I still believe to be strong arguments against Marín-Sola’s account.
Thus, I will be presenting Schultes’s text here on To Be a Thomist, in non-finalized, but reviewed, draft form, for the sake of opening up discussions related to these issues, which are very live even today, especially as regards dogmatic and doctrinal development. These article-chapters (nineteen in number) will appear over the course of the next month or two, depending on my other work needs.
Translations from Denzinger are partly taken from Ignatius’s 43rd edition, though I have sometimes altered these or have been more direct. On occasion, my texts of Aquinas have used the online English Dominican Fathers’ Summa Theologiae text as a basis, though edited. Official ecclesiastical documents have been generally taken from the Vatican sources.
I owe thanks to Mr. Caleb Hood, who helped scan the work for me several years ago. Likewise, and most importantly, I wish to thank most warmly and appreciatively Mr. Mitchell Kengor, without whom I would never have finished this labor. Mr. Kengor helped to even out the vexing references in the volume, which are often incomplete in their documentary details. The reader will see that we found it necessary to use brackets on many occasions, due to uncertainty that we had regarding editions being referred to by Fr. Schultes. Given the draft nature of this translation, we chose to leave these references in this form. Nonetheless, Mr. Kengor’s work should suffice for helping a researcher to track down the texts cited.
Because this is only a draft translation, I will provide the text (once I get over a technology issue uploading the file), which is in the open domain. Please remember, though, that I undertook this translation in the spirit of helping the broader community. I did my best on multiple edits but at a certain point, a private project must draw to a close because of other, more pressing duties. (Also, if you ever note something a little strange, it is possible that a small amount of orality might remain accidentally, even after editing. I dictated several of these translations before realizing how much editing such dictation requires, due to technology errors. I’ve edited these files multiple times, so nearly all—hopefully all—such cases have been scrubbed!)
Table of Contents
Ch. 1: On the Notion of Dogma
Ch. 2: On the Development of Dogmas
Sect. 3 (Theological Teaching Concerning the Explication of Faith)
Sect. 4 (The Properties of Dogmatic Progress)
Ch. 3 The History of Dogmas
