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Luis de Molina

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Luis de Molina
SJ
Luis de Molina
Born September 1535, Cuenca
Died 12 October 1600, Madrid
Roles Jesuit priest; theologian; philosopher; jurist
Tradition Second scholasticism; Molinism
Major works Concordia; On Justice and Right; commentaries on Aquinas

Luis de Molina was a Spanish Jesuit priest, scholastic theologian, philosopher, and jurist known for middle knowledge and a major Catholic account of grace and freedom.[1]

Overview

Luis de Molina SJ (29 September 1535 – 12 October 1600) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, jurist, economist and theologian renowned for his contributions to philosophy and economics within the framework of the second scholasticism.

A prominent member of the School of Salamanca, pioneered a distinctive theory of divine grace and human freedom known as Molinism, which defends human autonomy in the face of divine omniscience.[2]

His pro-liberty perspectives influenced not only theological debates on free will but also extended to economic and political thought, making him an intellectual precursor to individual rights and market dynamics. His work in developing early economic principles, particularly regarding human action, voluntarism, and property rights, laid a foundation that later contributed to Austrian economic theory and the evolution of modern libertarian thought.[3]

Life

Molina entered the Society of Jesus and studied and taught largely in Portugal before returning to Spain. Publication of the Concordia drew intense Dominican criticism and led to the Roman Congregatio de Auxiliis, which examined competing accounts of grace and freedom after Molina's death.[4]

Born into a noble and wealthy family in Castile, Luis de Molina followed the aspirations of his parents who wanted him to become a jurist. After learning Latin and literature at the Cathedral School of Cuenca, he enrolled at the University of Salamanca.[5]

During his studies, Molina discovered the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, which led him to join the Society of Jesus and abandon his law studies.[5] In 1553, he became a novice in Alcalá de Henares, where he showed a taste and talent for Christian philosophy. In 1554, he was sent by his superiors to study philosophy at the university of Coimbra.[5]

Following the advice of Pedro da Fonseca, he continued his studies after obtaining his master's degree in 1558 in order to become a priest and obtain a doctorate in theology. Between 1563 and 1567, he was a professor of philosophy and theology in Coimbra.[6] At the request of their superiors, Molina and Fonseca then left to teach at the University of the Holy Spirit in Évora.[6]

After expounding his theological views in his work Liberi Arbitrii cum Gratiae Donis, Divina Praescientia, Providentia, Praedestinatione et Reprobatione Concordia, better known simply as Concordia and which was a commentary on the first part of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, he was violently attacked by Tomas de Lemos and Domingo Báñez. The latter went so far as to denounce Molina to the Spanish Inquisition.[7] As a result, he returned to his village of Cuenca to serve as a parish priest and write his major work, De iure et iustitia.[7]

In 1597, Pope Clement VIII asked Cardinal Michele Bonelli to gather theologians to verify the conformity of Molinism with the Catholic faith. Taking the name of Congregatio de Auxiliis, this assembly would sit until 1607, when Paul V declared this doctrine acceptable.[8]

Sent to Madrid in 1600 by his superiors to teach moral theology at the university of Alcalá. He died in that city on October 12, 1600.[9]

Thought

Molina proposed divine middle knowledge: God knows, prior to the creative decree in the logical order, what every possible free creature would do in any possible circumstance. He used this account to defend providence, predestination, and efficacious grace without making the created will merely passive or physically predetermined.

In law and economics he analyzed rights, ownership, contract, price, slavery, and political authority within the wider second-scholastic tradition. These treatments contain significant developments but also historically conditioned judgments that require moral evaluation rather than retrospective canonization.

Major works

The Concordia of free choice with grace, foreknowledge, providence, predestination, and reprobation is the foundational Molinist text. On Justice and Right belongs to the School of Salamanca's broad reflection on moral, legal, and economic life.

Catholic reception

Paul V ended the de Auxiliis proceedings without defining either Molinism or its Dominican rival as the uniquely required Catholic explanation and forbade mutual charges of heresy. Molinism is therefore a permitted theological school, not dogma, and Catholics remain free to criticize its technical account within the boundaries of defined teaching.

Doctrine

Molinism

Molinism was an attempt to reconcile the Augustinian doctrines of predestination and efficacious grace with the new ideals of the Renaissance concerning free will. Assuming that man is free to perform or not to perform any act whatever, Molina maintains that this circumstance renders the grace of God neither unnecessary nor impossible: not impossible, for God never fails to bestow grace upon those who ask it with sincerity; and not unnecessary, for grace, although not an efficient, is still a sufficient cause of salvation (gratia mere sufficiens, "merely sufficient grace"). Nor, in Molina's view, does his doctrine of free will exclude predestination. The omniscient God, by means of His scientia media ("middle knowledge", a phrase of Molina's invention, though the idea is also to be found in his older contemporary Fonseca), i.e. his 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, which opposed both traditional understanding of Augustinism and Thomism concerning the respective roles of free will and efficacious grace, and the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin, excited violent controversy in some quarters, especially on the part of the Dominican Order and of the Jansenists, and at last rendered it necessary for Pope Clement VIII to intervene. 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 auxiliis Gratiae for the settlement of the dispute, which became more and more a party one. After very numerous sessions the congregation was unable to decide anything, and in 1607 its meetings were suspended by Paul V, who in 1611 prohibited all further discussion of the question de auxiliis and of discussions about efficacious grace, and studious efforts were made to control the publication even of commentaries on Aquinas.

Several regent Masters of the Dominican College of St. Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), were involved in the Molinist controversy. The Dominicans Diego Álvarez (c. 1550–1635), author of the De auxiliis divinae gratiae et humani arbitrii viribus,[10] and Tomás de Lemos (1540–1629) were given the responsibility of representing the Dominican Order in debates before Pope Clement VIII and Pope Paul V.[11]

Contract law

Although he is a convinced supporter of contractual consensualism,[12] Molina remains aware of the differences that still exist between civil law and canon law, but calls for their disappearance.[13] With his opinions, he also prepares the emergence of a theory of the autonomy of the will, later formulated by Pedro de Oñate.[14]

Like most members of the School of Salamanca, he discusses the respect of the principles of equity and commutative justice in contractual exchanges, which he considers fundamental.[15]

But what is introduced for the common good must not be to the detriment of one person rather than another, by excoriating what natural law prescribes, so that you do not do to another what you do not reasonably wish to be done to you. but it would be to the detriment of one rather than the other, if you did not preserve equality

— Luis de Molina, De iustitia et iure, tract.2, disp.350, col.405, n°6

Discussing the "diamond-water paradox", Molina cogitated a theory of just price where the utility wasn't take into account. Thus, in his De jure et Justitia he said, "the just price of a pearl, which can be used only to decorate, is higher than the just price of grain, bread, or horses, even if the utility of these things is superior."

Furthermore, he discusses the effect of defects of consent on the validity of contractual commitments[16] and allows, with Lessius, to distinctly separate the matters of contract law and testamentary law.[17]

Economy

In his writings on economics, Molina helped further develop a theory of price inflation proposed by Juan de Medina and Martín de Azpilcueta in Salamanca, writing that "[i]n equal circumstances, the more abundant money is in one place, so much less is its value to buy things or to acquire things that are not money."[18]

Works

  • De liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, praedestinatione et reprobatione concordia, 4 vols., Lisbona, 1588; 2nd ed. Antwerp, 1595.
  • De Hispanorum primogeniorum origine ac natura (in Latin). Lugduni: Pedro Landri. 1588.
  • De jure et justitia, 6 vols., 1593–1609.
  • Commentaria in primam partem divi Thomae (in Latin) (2 vols., fol. ed.). Cuenca. 1593.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Luis de Molina — One of the most learned and renown theologians of the Society of Jesus, b. of noble parentage at Cuenca, New Castle, Spain, in 1535; d. at Madrid, 12 October, 1600. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Society of Jesus at Alcalá, and, on finishing his novitiate, was sent up to take his philosophical and theological studies at Coimbra in Portugal. So successful was he in his studies that, at the close of his course, he was installed as professor of philosophy at Coimbra, and promoted a few years later to the chair of theology at the flourishing University of Evora. For twenty years, marked by untiring labour and devotion, he expounded with great success the "Summa" of St. Thomas to eager students. In 1590 he retired to his native city of Cuenca to devote himself exclusively to writing and preparing for print the results of his long continued studies. Two years later, however, the Society of Jesus opened a special school for the science of moral philosophy at Madrid, and the renowned professor was called from his solitude and appointed to the newly established chair. Here death overtook him before he had held his new post for half a year. By a strange coincidence on the same day (12 Oct., 1600), the "Congregatio de auxiliis", which had been instituted at Rome to investigate Molina's new system of grace, after a second examination of his "Concordia", reported adversely on its contents to Clement VIII. Molina was not only a tireless student, but a profound and original thinker. To him we are indebted for important contributions in speculative, dogmatic, and moral theology as well as in jurisprudence. The originality of his mind is shown quite as much by his novel treatment of the old scholastic subjects as by his labours along new lines of theological inquiry.

Molina's chief contribution to the science of theology is the "Concordia", on which he spent thirty years of the most assiduous labour. The publication of this work was facilitated by the valuable assistance of Cardinal Albert, Grand Inquisitor of Portugal and brother of emperor Rudolph II. The full title of the now famous work reads: "Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiæ donis, divina præscientia, providentia, prædestinatione et reprobatione" (Lisbon, 1588). As the title indicates, the work is primarily concerned with the difficult problem of reconciling grace and free will. In view of its purpose and principal contents, the work may also be regarded as a scientific vindication of the Tridentine doctrine on the permanence of man's free will under the influence of efficacious grace (Sess. VI., cap v-vi; can iv-v). It is also the first attempt to offer a strictly logical explanation of the great problems of grace and free will, foreknowledge and providence, and predestination to glory or reprobation, upon an entirely new basis, while meeting fairly all possible objections. This new basis, on which the entire Molinistic system rests, is the Divine scientia media. To make clear its intrinsic connection with the traditional teachings, the work takes the form of a commentary on several portions of the "Summa" of St. Thomas (I. Q. xiv, a. 13; Q. xix, a. 16; QQ. xxii-iii). Thus Molina is the first Jesuit to write a commentary upon the "Summa". As to style, the work has little to recommend it. The Latinity is heavy, the sentences are long and involved, and the prolix exposition and frequent repetition of the same ideas are fatiguing; in short, "Concordia" is neither easy nor agreeable reading. Even though much of the obscurity of the book may be attributed to the subject matter itself, it may be safely said that the dispute concerning Molina's doctrine would never have attained such violence and bitterness, had the style been more simple and the expressions less ambiguous. And yet Molina was of the opinion that the older heresies concerning grace would never have arisen, or would have soon passed away, if the Catholic doctrine of grace had been treated according to the principles which he followed for the first time in his "Concordia" and with the minuteness and accuracy which characterized that work. But he was greatly mistaken. For not only was his doctrine powerless to check the teachings of Baius, which began to spread soon after the publication of his work, and to prevent the rise of Jansenism, which sprang from early Protestant ideas, but it was itself the cause of that historic controversy which has raged for centuries between Thomists and Molinists, and which has not wholly subsided even to this day. Thus, the "Concordia" became a bone of contention in the schools, and brought on a deplorable discord among the theologians, especially those of the Dominican and Jesuit orders.

The "Concordia" had scarcely left the press, and had not yet appeared on the market, when there rose against it violent opposition. Some theologians, having gotten a knowledge of its contents, endeavoured by every means in their power to prevent its publication. Molina himself withheld the edition for a year. It 1589 he placed it on the market together with a defence of it, which he had in the meantime prepared and which answered the chief objections made against his work even before it appeared. The defense was published separately under the title "Appendix ad Concordiam, continens responsiones ad tres objectiones et satisfactiones ad 17 animadversiones" (Lisbon, 1589). This precaution, however, was of little avail, and the controversy grew apace. Not only his principal adversaries among the Dominicans, Bañez and de Lemos, but even his own brothers in religion, Henriquez and Mariana, opposed his doctrine most bitterly. Soon the whole of Spain rang with the clamour of this controversy, and Molina was even denounced to the Spanish Inquisition. When the dispute was growing too bitter, Rome intervened and took the matter into its own hands. In 1594 Clement VIII imposed silence upon the contending parties and in 1596 demanded that the documents be sent to the Vatican. To settle the controversy, he instituted in 1598 a special "Congregatio de auxiliis", which at the early stages of the investigation showed a decided opposition to Molina's doctrine. Doubtless Molina took to the grave the impression that Molinism was doomed to incur the censure of the Holy See, for he did not live to see his new system exonerated by Paul V in 1607. (For further details see the article CONGREGATIO DE AUXILIIS.)

Undisturbed by the heat and bitterness of the attack, Molina published a complete commentary upon the first part of the Summa of St. Thomas which he had prepared at Evora during the years 1570-73 (Commentaria in primum partem D. Thomæ", 3 vols., Cuenca, 1592). The chief characteristic of this work, which has been repeatedly re-edited, is the insertion where opportunity offered of most of the dissertations of the "Concordia", which thus became an integral part of the commentary. The increasing bitterness and confusion of ideas occasioned by the controversy induced Molina to publish a new edition of the "Concordia", with numerous additions, in which he endeavoured to correct the many misconceptions and misrepresentations of his doctrine, and at the same time to dispel the important misgivings and accusations of his adversaries. This edition bears the title, "Liberi arbitrii cum gratiæ donis etc. concordia, altera sui parte auctior" (Antwerp, 1595, 1609, 1795; new edition, Paris, 1876). To-day this is the only standard edition. After a lapse of nearly a century the Dominican Father Hyacinth Serry, in his "Historia Congregationis de auxiliis" (Louvain, 1700; Antwerp, 1709) accused Molina of having omitted many assertions from his Antwerp edition of the "Concordia" which were parts of the Lisbon edition. But Father Livinus de Meyer, S. J., subjected the two editions to a critical comparison, and succeeded in showing that the omissions in questions were only secondary in moment, and that Serry's accusation was thus groundless. Meyer's work bears the title, "Historia controversiarum de auxiliis" (Antwerp, 1708). De Molina was not less eminent as a moralist and jurist than as a speculative theologian. A proof of this is his work, "De Justitia et jure" (Cuenca, 1593) which appeared complete only after his death. This work is a classic, referred to frequently even in the present time (7 vols., Venice, 1614; 5 vols., Cologne, 1743). On broad lines Molina develops therein not only the theory of law in general and the special juridical questions arising out of the political economies of his time (e, g,. the law of exchange), but also enters very extensively into the questions concerning the juridical relations between church and State, pope and prince, and the like. It is a sad fact that, in order to justify the brutal persecution of the Jesuits in France, the Benedictine Clémencet ("Extracts des assertions pernicieuses', etc., Paris, 1672) ransacked even this solid work and fancied he found therein lost principles of morality. This is but one of the many misfortunes which, at that time of unrest, fell so heavily, and as a rule so undeservedly, on the Society of Jesus (cf. Döllinger, "Moralstreitigkeiten", I, Munich, 1889, p. 337). The work, "De Hispanorum primigeniorum origine et nature" (Alcalá, 1573; Cologne, 1588) is often attributed to Molina; in reality it is the work of another jurist of the same name, who was born at Ursaon in Andalusia.

As a man, priest, and religious Molina commanded the respect and esteem of his bitterest adversaries. During his whole life his virtues were a source of edification to all who knew him. To prompt obedience he joined true and sincere humility. On his death-bed, having been asked what he wished done with his writings, he answered in all simplicity: "The Society of Jesus may do with them what it wishes". his love for evangelical poverty was most remarkable; in spite of his bodily infirmity brought on by overwork, he never sought any mitigation in that matter of either clothing or food. He was a man of great mortification to the very end of his life.

A biography and bibliography together with a portrait of Molina may be found in the Cologne edition of his De justitia et jure, I (1733). It bears the title, L. Molina, S. J. vitæ morumque brevis adumbratio atque operum Catalogus. There is no modern critical biography. See MORGOTT in Kirkenlex, s. v,; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibl. des éscrevains de la C. de J., V, 1167-70; HURTER, Nomenclator, I (2nd. ed.), 47 sqq.

References

  1. Back to citation Luis de Molina — Biographical overview, chronology, works, and bibliography.
  2. Back to citation "Molinism". www3.nd.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  3. Back to citation Grice-Hutchinson, Marjorie (11 June 1952). The School of Salamanca: Readings in Spanish Monetary Theory, 1544–1605. Mises Institute. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  4. Back to citation Holy See historical account of the Congregatio de Auxiliis — Vatican historical account of the Molinist controversy and Paul V's decision not to define between the schools.
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Back to citation occurrence 5.2 MacGregor 2018, p. 192.
  6. Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 MacGregor 2018, p. 193.
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 MacGregor 2018, p. 194.
  8. Back to citation MacGregor 2018, pp. 194–195.
  9. Back to citation MacGregor 2018, p. 195.
  10. Back to citation "Diego Alvarez". The Original Catholic Encyclopedia. 21 July 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  11. Back to citation "Lemos "lé-", Tomás de". Enciclopedia Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  12. Back to citation Decock 2013, pp. 142 and 160–161.
  13. Back to citation Decock 2013, pp. 135–142.
  14. Back to citation Decock 2013, p. 168.
  15. Back to citation Decock 2013, p. 510.
  16. Back to citation Decock 2013, pp. 231–234 and 297–302.
  17. Back to citation Decock 2013, pp. 399–406.
  18. Back to citation Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015, p.96.

Further reading

A full account of Molina's theology will be found in Gerhard Schneeman's Entstehung der thomistisch-molinistischen Controverse, published in the Appendices (Nos. 9, 13, 14) to the Jesuit periodical, Stimmen aus Maria-Laach.

  • Ernest Renan's article, Les congregations de auxiliis in his Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse.
  • Alonso-Lasheras, Diego. "Luis de Molina's De Iustitia et Iure. Justice as Virtue in an Economic Context", Leiden: Brill 2011.
  • Matthias Kaufmann, Alexander Aichele (eds.), A Companion to Luis de Molina, Leiden: Brill 2014.
  • MacGregor, Kirk. Luis de Molina: The Life and Theology of the Founder of Middle Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2015. [the first full book on Molina]
  • Smith, Gerard (ed.) Jesuit thinkers of the Renaissance, Milwaukee (USA) 1939, pp. 75–132.
  • A critical edition of Treatise on Money was translated and published by Christian's Library Press as A Treatise on Money (2015): Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015.

Translations

  • Luis de Molina (translated by Daniel Schwartz and Joerg Tellkamp), On Slavery and the Slave Trade (De Iustitia et Iure, Book 1, treatise 2, Disputations 32-40), Washington DC Catholic University of America Press, 2024.

Bibliography

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