SÁENZ CARLOS

(Fr. Bernardus a Vulneris Christi)

November 9th, 2017

DOMUNI UNIVERSITY

FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY
A FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THEOLOGY (THE 112)

FR. AIDAN NICOLS OP

THEOLOGY

This assignment is a description of the overall character of Theology.

 THEOLOGY

First of all, Theology is the disciplined exploration of revelation. This revelation has two
forms. The natural revelation and the supernatural revelation. The first, refers to the creation of
the universe, in which man appears as the only being that combines material (body) and
spiritual dimension (soul). Because of being rational, man can discover from creatures a natural
Theology —i.e. a natural knowledge just based on Metaphysics—which speaks to him of God,
since he discovers that all that exists claims for a cause, which is God, the Creator. But this
natural revelation does not tell him all, but, just, disposes him to receive the supernatural
revelation, as a “preamble to faith”.
The supernatural revelation starts from God towards man, since it necessarily demands
from man an act of faith to be able to accept it. On the contrary to the natural revelation, man
cannot arrive to it just guided by reason, but he needs the action of God who illuminates his
mind and attracts his will to Him, in order to man assent it. The object of this revelation is God
Himself, who wants to reveal to man, and the knowledge about Him and his mysteries. Thus,
natural Theology prepares the way to a supernatural Theology, because it is necessary to
explain how God can supplement the natural revelation, how can man receive it and how to see
it in the particular time-space events.
In this quest for supernatural truths man is not alone, for God has put the Church as his
instrument to bring man to the right truth about Him. It is important to distinguish here two
principles for Theology. God himself acts in relation to his creatures, as cause (ontological
principle) and, at the same time, his acts become a sign that man can “read” and interpret in
order for making him able to open to Him (a principle of sign). Therefore, God, as cause, has
stablished the Church as the mean to read his signs and teach them to the faithful, in order for
them to be brought back to their Creator.
Consequently, it must be said that Theology is essentially ecclesial, i.e., it needs the
Church, for God put it to interpret his signs. A theology that take this truth aside would not be
right. In this vision, the faithful when accepts the faith and receives it in the Baptism, inserts his
faith into the faith of the Church, as a whole body. For those reasons, theologians must obey to
the teachings of the Church, as the instrument stablished by God to confirm the supernatural
revelation, and they cannot intend to “improve” the Revelation, but to serve the Church being
always faithful to the regula fidei (Scripture and Tradition) that was entrusted to her.
Theology, is also a science, because it is knowledge ordered to the supreme cause, which
is God. Different from the rest of the sciences, Theology does not make its own principles, but it
receives them from God Himself. It also has all its contents very well disposed in a perfect order
of knowledges systematically organized. As a science, it uses human reason to approach to its
object, but because of the unique character of its object—which is the Supreme Cause of all,
God—it involves also the faith, and this way, it needs the grace and assistance of the Holy Spirit,
the only one who can approach the theologian to the very reality of God.

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 And because human reason is not enough for its purpose, it is absolutely indispensable for
the theologian to keep in touch with God through a life of prayer—a praying theology—and at
the same time a holy life that takes into account not just orthodoxy but also orthopraxy. It
means that, theologian should learn her knowledge both by reading and praying, making of her
studies a constant contemplation of the mysteries she is approaching to—getting a monastical
heart. And at the same time, this will led her to transform her life according to them.
Similarly, theologian should bring this to the liturgy, the place where she lives, proclaims
and celebrates with all the Church the mysteries of the faith. And because these mysteries are a
matter not just of the mind, but also of the heart (will), she must cultivate a desire toward them,
considering them as actual and desirable realities she must want to achieve. As in the example
of a painter who has fallen in love with his picture, having it in his mind and heart all the time.
Similarly, theologian should let be attracted by God, who is the Love and Beauty.
Moreover, Theology is considered as wisdom, because it touches directly the Supreme
Cause that metaphysics just dares to indicate but cannot say much more about. In fact, man
moves between two levels of realities, God and the world. The world can be known by means of
human natural faculties, and even man can conclude that there is one God with his reason, but
to achieve the supernatural knowledge of God, man needs the grace.
Then, once he gets open to that grace and make effort for succeeding in this knowledge of
God, with the grace of God, he will arrive at a point in which no human knowledge can express
God’s divinity; a point in which the equilibrium between positive Theology—the system of
sentences that explain the mysteries of the catholic faith, in short, the doctrine—and negative
Theology—the incapacity of human language to express about greater realities—gets surpassed
due to the poverty of human knowledge before the infinity of God. Before such a situation, man
can just face down and adore God silently.
What’s more, Theology as an organized system of knowledges is structured around a
principle that sets order to its contents; this principle is, on a first view, a principle of
philosophical order, since it is necessary to begin from a right understanding of creation and
human being as capable to grasp transcendent realities; without this basement, all the building
of Theology would fall down. Theology needs to its healthy development a metaphysics based
on the being, stepping on the firm floor of reality, and also a balance between reason and faith,
and the cooperation between nature and grace.
Such a vision is reflected on St. Thomas Aquinas’ philosophical system, known as
philosophia perennis, which has an eternal value for every theological study, since it sets the
right bases and organizes all the theological matters according to a very accurate order that
reflects a right comprehension of the reality of being (esse). Only, by following such a way it
would be possible to arrive at the top of the stairs where there is the Ens a se, God, the only
One who is, and that gives existence to all that exists by means of participation on his being. For
this reason, St. Thomas’ philosophical principle of order represents the ideal one for theology.
On a second view, Theology is organized around a principle of theological order. In the
case of St. Thomas, he chose a theological principle based on the image of creation as the
“Chalice of God”, this is, creation as a receptacle of God’s grace which flows continuously from

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the Holy Trinity to the creation as life, and it also makes it to return to its creator, transformed
in glory, through the Person of Jesus Christ, the only via ad Deum, whose mysteries are the
center of Theology. But, precisely, the great richness of theological field allows the theologian to
choose another principle of order that manifests, as St. Thomas does, all the immense richness
of Revelation.
In addition, Theology should use also four methods: the analogy of being, that allows a
right understanding on the concept of being and sets the metaphysical foundation; the analogy
of faith, that shows the perfect order and coherence between the contents of Revelation; the
totality thinking, which brings Theology knowledges to all human knowledge, this is, to sciences,
moral and aesthetics; and the convergence thinking, as a mean of returning to the center of
Theology: the mysteries of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God in person and crucified.
Theology is continuously nourished, as well, by two sources from where she takes her
knowledges. The first one, is the Sacred Scripture, as the Word of God that must be read and
interpreted with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, who wrote it, otherwise, it would be
impossible to drawn from it rightly the contents of divine Revelation; theologian, thus, should
always bear in mind that the center of catholic interpretation of the Bible is always the very
Person of Jesus Christ, who gives a new light for understanding the Old Testament, and that no
exegetical method—even H-C method— can intend to be in possession of the truth neither to
leave aside the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Church.
The second one, is the Tradition that consists in a deposit, a treasure which is at the same
time with the Holy Scripture the Word of God (cf. DV 10); it is the doctrine of faith as it has been
handed down from the Apostles until today, and it is reflected in the teachings of the Fathers of
the Church, who kept an exegesis centered in Christ, and along with the doctrine of the faith
they received, as first witnesses of the Tradition, they preached them, wrote them and brought
them to the liturgy; in the Liturgy, whose heart is the Holy Mass, and also in the iconography; in
the Councils and Creeds, which are official formulations of the catholic truths; and even in the
life of saints who put it to the proper use in their own life and for the benefit of the Church and
the world.
There, also, two aids that help the exploration of these sources which are: the Christian
experience and the non-definitive teaching of the contemporary magisterium. The former,
refers to personal experiences of the faithful given by God to them that constitutes, also, when
they are right, part of the sensus fidei. The latter, is referred to the role of the Church as the
instrument stablished by God to discern those experiences saying when they are according to
the right theological wisdom and when they distance from it.
Finally, Theology is divided into different theological disciplines to develop the different
contents of the Revelation. The main of them are: Fundamental Theology, which is concerned
for setting the foundations of the act of faith, being helped by Philosophy to explain how God
can reveal Himself to man, and how man can receive this revelation, bearing in mind to keep a
Christological reading in all its appreciations. Also, it is concerned for determining the criteria
theology will use to explore the contents of Revelation.

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 Dogmatic Theology, which can be considered in two ways: historical or positive theology
and systematic or speculative theology. The former, inquires and gathers all the different
theological contributions along time in order to organize the data about divine revelation. The
latter, goes up one stair more, reflecting of these data to design the principles—both theological
and philosophical— of a system that contains them in an organized way.
Moral Theology, which deals with Christians’ ethical actions, in order to address them to
their goal (the good, the happiness in beatitude) by means of virtues; and also, because she
touches directly the human acts, she formulates her own principles about morality. But she—
different from Ethics—considers, specifically, the data provided by the Revelation about its
object, a contribution that enriches its vision on Christian moral life and along with spirituality it
leads to an “ascetical and mystical theology”.
Practical Theology, is concerned with pastoral, this is either with the requirements and the
role of the sacred ministries and the sacramental life of faithful, and with the spreading of
Christian faith to the different environments and contexts of the world through the apostolic
work in its very wide-ranging field of action.
May Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, guide us to the Heart of his beloved Son, the Eternal
Incarnated Wisdom; She who “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2,19).