The diploma thesis focuses primarily on analysing the Christological and soteriological system of Josef Pospíšil, an important representative of the first generation of Czech neo-Thomism. The study includes a brief description of Pospíšils life work with reference to the contemporary context. The author presents Pospíšil not only as a theologian, but also as a major representative of Czech Thomistic philosophy.

La signification de l’œuvre de Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, philosophe et historien espagnol du XVIè siècle ne fait aujourd’hui l’objet d’aucun consensus : s’agit-il d’un scolastique attardé au siècle de la Renaissance, d’un précurseur du catholicisme post tridentin, d’un crypto-luthérien, ou de l’un des grands humanistes de son temps ? Quelle est la portée exacte des thèses qu’il formula en 1550-1551 à Valladolid pour défendre la légitimité des guerres espagnoles dans le Nouveau Monde ? Après avoir suivi pas à pas la formation intellectuelle du philosophe, les débats auxquels il prit part (contre Erasme, Luther, ou Las Casas) et analysé son œuvre d’historien, notre recherche fait apparaître l’orientation profondément rationaliste et universaliste de sa démarche. Elle met en lumière l’importance, pour la pensée politique occidentale, de la définition qu’il donne de la barbarie. Dépourvue de toute connotation inégalitaire fondée sur la race ou la religion, cette définition, politique et morale, décrit la barbarie comme résultant d’institutions publiques attentatoires à la loi naturelle. Elle affirme le pouvoir critique de la Raison humaine à l’égard des institutions et des pouvoirs, dans le Nouveau Monde comme dans l’Ancien. / There is currently no consensus as to the significance of the work of sixteenth-century Spanish philosopher and historian Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda: was he an anachronistic scholastic in the century of the Renaissance, a precursor of post-Tridentine Catholicism, a crypto-Lutheran, or one of the great humanists of his time? What is the actual import of the arguments he put forward in Valladolid in 1550–1551 in defending the legitimacy of Spain's conquests in the New World? Founded on step-by-step examination of his intellectual training and the debateshe took part in (against Erasmus, Luther and Las Casas), and on close study of his work as a historian, my research reveals the deeply rationalist and universalist tendency of his approach and sheds fresh light on the importance, for Western political thinking, of his definition of barbarism. Devoid of all inegalitarian connotations based on race and religion, this political and moral definition describes barbarism as produced by public institutions detrimental to naturallaw, and asserts the critical power of human Reason with respect to institutions and constituted authority in the New World as in the Old.

The task of a reformed apologetics is the application of both theology and philosophy in the confrontation with unbelievers, bridging the gap between the natural man and the Gospel of Christ and trying to do justice to the multi-aspectual, existential and constitutive sides of created reality. In the Festschrift of Cornelius Van Til, two well-known reformational philosophers, Herman Dooyeweerd of the Netherlands and Hendrik Stoker of South Africa, among others, discussed with Van Til the methodology of Christian apologetics (Jerusalem and Athens 1971: viii). The investigation focus on the reflections of Dooyeweerd and Stoker on Van Til’s method, which attempted to break away from classical methods and to reform apologetics biblically. Thence, constructive criticisms, methodological integration of reformational insights and the opening up of new avenues of apologetic discourse follows after a structural evaluation of the dialogue between the three thinkers, leading to a Trinitarian, Modal-spherical method (TMSA) of apologetics, while still presupposing the biblical and triune essence of Van Til’s pressuppositional apologetics. After absorbing and integrating inter-related elements in its Trinitarian framework, the new method of apologetics will be introduced to broader Christianity via two integralist accounts of traditional Christian philosophy, both inspired by an interpretation Neo-Thomism, which in many respects correspond to the Neo-Calvinist vision. So that after non-dualistically expanding TMSA’s methodological foundation and scope of interaction non-, it can be briefly introduced to other nuances of apologetics at the final step of the thesis, in the hope of contributing for the ongoing reformation of the Church and its apologetic endevour. / MA (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The task of a reformed apologetics is the application of both theology and philosophy in the confrontation with unbelievers, bridging the gap between the natural man and the Gospel of Christ and trying to do justice to the multi-aspectual, existential and constitutive sides of created reality. In the Festschrift of Cornelius Van Til, two well-known reformational philosophers, Herman Dooyeweerd of the Netherlands and Hendrik Stoker of South Africa, among others, discussed with Van Til the methodology of Christian apologetics (Jerusalem and Athens 1971: viii). The investigation focus on the reflections of Dooyeweerd and Stoker on Van Til’s method, which attempted to break away from classical methods and to reform apologetics biblically. Thence, constructive criticisms, methodological integration of reformational insights and the opening up of new avenues of apologetic discourse follows after a structural evaluation of the dialogue between the three thinkers, leading to a Trinitarian, Modal-spherical method (TMSA) of apologetics, while still presupposing the biblical and triune essence of Van Til’s pressuppositional apologetics. After absorbing and integrating inter-related elements in its Trinitarian framework, the new method of apologetics will be introduced to broader Christianity via two integralist accounts of traditional Christian philosophy, both inspired by an interpretation Neo-Thomism, which in many respects correspond to the Neo-Calvinist vision. So that after non-dualistically expanding TMSA’s methodological foundation and scope of interaction non-, it can be briefly introduced to other nuances of apologetics at the final step of the thesis, in the hope of contributing for the ongoing reformation of the Church and its apologetic endevour. / MA (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Giovanni Boteros (1544-1617) treatise <i>The Reason of State</i> (1589) seemed somewhat uncharacteristic of sixteenth-century political thought, considering the pride of place given to economics in his text. The Age of Reformation constituted not only a period of new ideas on faith but also one of new political thinking, and as the research into the influences on Boteros economic thought progressed, I began to consider the period as one where economic thinking was becoming more common among theologians of the reforming churches and bureaucrats of the developing states. Having been trained in the schools of the Jesuits, Botero was exposed to one of the most potent and intellectually uniform of all the reforming movements of the period, and I argue it was here that he first considered economics as an aspect of moral philosophy. While it cannot be proven positively that Botero studied or even considered economics during his association with the Jesuits (roughly from 1559-1580), the fact that a number of those who shaped the Jesuit Order in its first few generations discussed economics in their own treatises leads one to a strong circumstantial conclusion that this is where the economic impulse first rose up in his thinking. Indeed, it was this background that readied Botero to consider economics as an important part of statecraft with his reading of Jean Bodins (1530-1596) <i>The Six Books of the Republic</i> (1576), in which economics is featured quite prominently. Bodins own economic theory was informed primarily by his experience as a bureaucrat in the Parlement of Paris, where questions on the value of the currency and on the kings ability to tax his subjects were in constant debate among the advocates. I argue further that, upon his reading of Bodins <i>Republic</i>, Botero saw how economics could be fused with politics, and he then set out to compose his own treatise on political economy (although he certainly would not have called it such). In <i>The Reason of State</i>, Botero brought his Jesuit conception of economic morality together with Bodins writings on political economy to create a work, neither wholly Jesuit nor wholly Bodinian, which in the end outlined an overall political and economic structure of society quite distinct from the sum of its parts.

Giovanni Boteros (1544-1617) treatise <i>The Reason of State</i> (1589) seemed somewhat uncharacteristic of sixteenth-century political thought, considering the pride of place given to economics in his text. The Age of Reformation constituted not only a period of new ideas on faith but also one of new political thinking, and as the research into the influences on Boteros economic thought progressed, I began to consider the period as one where economic thinking was becoming more common among theologians of the reforming churches and bureaucrats of the developing states. Having been trained in the schools of the Jesuits, Botero was exposed to one of the most potent and intellectually uniform of all the reforming movements of the period, and I argue it was here that he first considered economics as an aspect of moral philosophy. While it cannot be proven positively that Botero studied or even considered economics during his association with the Jesuits (roughly from 1559-1580), the fact that a number of those who shaped the Jesuit Order in its first few generations discussed economics in their own treatises leads one to a strong circumstantial conclusion that this is where the economic impulse first rose up in his thinking. Indeed, it was this background that readied Botero to consider economics as an important part of statecraft with his reading of Jean Bodins (1530-1596) <i>The Six Books of the Republic</i> (1576), in which economics is featured quite prominently. Bodins own economic theory was informed primarily by his experience as a bureaucrat in the Parlement of Paris, where questions on the value of the currency and on the kings ability to tax his subjects were in constant debate among the advocates. I argue further that, upon his reading of Bodins <i>Republic</i>, Botero saw how economics could be fused with politics, and he then set out to compose his own treatise on political economy (although he certainly would not have called it such). In <i>The Reason of State</i>, Botero brought his Jesuit conception of economic morality together with Bodins writings on political economy to create a work, neither wholly Jesuit nor wholly Bodinian, which in the end outlined an overall political and economic structure of society quite distinct from the sum of its parts.

Cette thèse analyse les conditions qui ont conduit à l'émergence d'un groupe qui diffusent la doctrine et la pensée de l'Église catholique au XXe siècle dans l'État de Rio Grande do Sul. L'hypothèse générale qui a guidé la recherche est que les Jésuites la promotion d'un processus entre les groupes formant, de un cotê d'uniformiser scolaire par leurs gymnases catholiques, et surtout de l'identité religieuse et intellectuelle à travers les activités dans leurs congrégations Mariannes. Il est démontré, sur la base de plusieurs sources, que le facteur d'homogénéisation du groupe n'est pas dans leur profil social, mais en uniforme scolaire a reçu, et en particulier dans la formation religieuse et intellectuelle résultat de l'action éducative des Jésuites étrangers dans les congrégations mariales. Se déroule cette constatation, le fait que dans un environnement culturel marqué par l'absence d'espaces universitaires, á formation philosophique fournies par ces jésuites, basées sur des interprétations du thomisme, déterminer le substrat idéologique et l’identité intellectuelle du groupe. Cette formation intellectuelle internationalisé déterminé que, parmi les membres du groupe, étant donné la tendance de la réception de la pensée catholique, ne créent pas un système philosophiques original. Avec ce type de formation l’action collective du groupe catholique a été orientée pour les espaces sociaux ils peuvent imposer leur identité intelectuelle, et la doctrine sociale de l'Eglise, comme l'articulation du mouvement catholique en l'état, la conquête des chaires de philosophie et des lois du travail, par exemple, l'Université, et la construction de l'ordre politique à travers l'insertion des postulats catholiques dans las constituants fédéral. / Esta tese analisa as condições que possibilitaram o surgimento de um grupo que difundiu a doutrina e o pensamento da Igreja Católica durante o século XX no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A hipótese geral que norteou a pesquisa é de que os Jesuítas promoveram um processo, entre os grupos que formaram, por um lado, de uniformização escolar, via seus Ginásios Católicos, e, sobretudo, de identificação religiosa e intelectual através das atividades nas suas Congregações Marianas. Demonstra-se, com base em fontes variadas, que o fator homogeneizador do grupo não se encontra em seu perfil social, mas sim na uniformização escolar recebida, e, sobretudo, na formação religiosa e intelectual decorrente da ação educativa dos jesuítas estrangeiros nas Congregações Marianas. Desdobra-se desta constatação, o fato de que, num ambiente cultural marcado pela ausência de espaços acadêmicos, a formação filosófica proporcionada por estes jesuítas alemães baseada nas reinterpretações do Tomismo, pautou o substrato ideológico e a identidade intelectual do grupo. Esta formação intelectual internacionalizada determinou que, entre os membros do grupo, dado o padrão de recepção de pensamento católico, não se produzisse um sistema filosófico original. Com este tipo de formação a ação coletiva do grupo católico direcionouse para os espaços sociais os quais pudessem impor sua identidade intelectual e a doutrina social da Igreja, como a articulação do movimento católico no Estado, a conquista das cátedras de Filosofia e de legislação trabalhista, por exemplo, na Universidade, e a construção da ordem política através inserção dos postulados católicos nas Constituintes. / This thesis analyzes the conditions that allowed the emergence of a group who diffused the doctrine and thinking of the Catholic Church during the twentieth century in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The general hypothesis that guided the research is that the Jesuits promoted a process between the groups that formed on the one hand, standardization of scholar via their gymnasiums Catholics, and especially of religious and intellectual identity through the activities in their Marian Congregations. It is demonstrated, based on various sources, that the group factor homogenizing is not in their social profile, but in standardization scholar received, and especially in religious and intellectual formation resulting from activities educational of the Jesuits in the Marian Congregations. Unfolds this finding, the fact that in a cultural environment marked by the absence of academic spaces, the philosophical background provided by these Jesuits based on interpretations of Thomism, guided the substrate ideological and intellectual identity of the group. This training internationalized determined that, among the group members, given the pattern of reception of Catholic thought, did not produce an original philosophical system. With this type of formation the collective action of the Catholic group is moving on to the social spaces which could enforce its intellectual identity and the social doctrine of the Church as the articulation of the Catholic movement in the state, the conquest of the chairs of philosophy and labor laws, for example, at university, and the construction of political order through the insertion of the postulates Catholics in federal constituencies.

Cette thèse analyse les conditions qui ont conduit à l'émergence d'un groupe qui diffusent la doctrine et la pensée de l'Église catholique au XXe siècle dans l'État de Rio Grande do Sul. L'hypothèse générale qui a guidé la recherche est que les Jésuites la promotion d'un processus entre les groupes formant, de un cotê d'uniformiser scolaire par leurs gymnases catholiques, et surtout de l'identité religieuse et intellectuelle à travers les activités dans leurs congrégations Mariannes. Il est démontré, sur la base de plusieurs sources, que le facteur d'homogénéisation du groupe n'est pas dans leur profil social, mais en uniforme scolaire a reçu, et en particulier dans la formation religieuse et intellectuelle résultat de l'action éducative des Jésuites étrangers dans les congrégations mariales. Se déroule cette constatation, le fait que dans un environnement culturel marqué par l'absence d'espaces universitaires, á formation philosophique fournies par ces jésuites, basées sur des interprétations du thomisme, déterminer le substrat idéologique et l’identité intellectuelle du groupe. Cette formation intellectuelle internationalisé déterminé que, parmi les membres du groupe, étant donné la tendance de la réception de la pensée catholique, ne créent pas un système philosophiques original. Avec ce type de formation l’action collective du groupe catholique a été orientée pour les espaces sociaux ils peuvent imposer leur identité intelectuelle, et la doctrine sociale de l'Eglise, comme l'articulation du mouvement catholique en l'état, la conquête des chaires de philosophie et des lois du travail, par exemple, l'Université, et la construction de l'ordre politique à travers l'insertion des postulats catholiques dans las constituants fédéral. / Esta tese analisa as condições que possibilitaram o surgimento de um grupo que difundiu a doutrina e o pensamento da Igreja Católica durante o século XX no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A hipótese geral que norteou a pesquisa é de que os Jesuítas promoveram um processo, entre os grupos que formaram, por um lado, de uniformização escolar, via seus Ginásios Católicos, e, sobretudo, de identificação religiosa e intelectual através das atividades nas suas Congregações Marianas. Demonstra-se, com base em fontes variadas, que o fator homogeneizador do grupo não se encontra em seu perfil social, mas sim na uniformização escolar recebida, e, sobretudo, na formação religiosa e intelectual decorrente da ação educativa dos jesuítas estrangeiros nas Congregações Marianas. Desdobra-se desta constatação, o fato de que, num ambiente cultural marcado pela ausência de espaços acadêmicos, a formação filosófica proporcionada por estes jesuítas alemães baseada nas reinterpretações do Tomismo, pautou o substrato ideológico e a identidade intelectual do grupo. Esta formação intelectual internacionalizada determinou que, entre os membros do grupo, dado o padrão de recepção de pensamento católico, não se produzisse um sistema filosófico original. Com este tipo de formação a ação coletiva do grupo católico direcionouse para os espaços sociais os quais pudessem impor sua identidade intelectual e a doutrina social da Igreja, como a articulação do movimento católico no Estado, a conquista das cátedras de Filosofia e de legislação trabalhista, por exemplo, na Universidade, e a construção da ordem política através inserção dos postulados católicos nas Constituintes. / This thesis analyzes the conditions that allowed the emergence of a group who diffused the doctrine and thinking of the Catholic Church during the twentieth century in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The general hypothesis that guided the research is that the Jesuits promoted a process between the groups that formed on the one hand, standardization of scholar via their gymnasiums Catholics, and especially of religious and intellectual identity through the activities in their Marian Congregations. It is demonstrated, based on various sources, that the group factor homogenizing is not in their social profile, but in standardization scholar received, and especially in religious and intellectual formation resulting from activities educational of the Jesuits in the Marian Congregations. Unfolds this finding, the fact that in a cultural environment marked by the absence of academic spaces, the philosophical background provided by these Jesuits based on interpretations of Thomism, guided the substrate ideological and intellectual identity of the group. This training internationalized determined that, among the group members, given the pattern of reception of Catholic thought, did not produce an original philosophical system. With this type of formation the collective action of the Catholic group is moving on to the social spaces which could enforce its intellectual identity and the social doctrine of the Church as the articulation of the Catholic movement in the state, the conquest of the chairs of philosophy and labor laws, for example, at university, and the construction of political order through the insertion of the postulates Catholics in federal constituencies.

Scholarship has tended to depict John Owen as a “Reformed catholic” attempting a synthesis of Reformed principles with a largely Thomist doctrine of God. In this thesis, I argue that this depiction risks losing sight of those aspects of Owen's doctrine of God that are intended to support a distinctly Protestant account of the economy of grace. By an examination of the principles of divine government, I argue that Owen employs the theme of God's “dominion” in order to establish the freedom and gratuity of God's grace, and to resist theologies that might otherwise use the doctrine of creation to structure and norm God's government of creatures. In chapter one, I argue against prevailing readings of Owen's thought that his theology of the divine will is, in fact, “voluntarist” in nature, prioritizing God's will over his intellect in the determination of the divine decree. I show that Owen regards God's absolute dominion as an entailment of his ontological priority over creatures. Chapters two and three examine the character of God's dominion over creatures in virtue of their “two-fold dependence” upon him as both Creator and Lawgiver. Chapter four takes up Owen's theology of God's remunerative justice in the context of his covenant theology. I show here that his doctrine of divine dominion underwrites his critique of merit-theology and attempts to establish the gratuity of that supernatural end to which humans are destined. Finally, in chapter five, I examine the principles of God's mercy, expressed in the work of redemption, where I demonstrate how Owen's conception of divine dominion underwrites the freedom of God in election and his account of particular redemption.

Cette thèse analyse les conditions qui ont conduit à l'émergence d'un groupe qui diffusent la doctrine et la pensée de l'Église catholique au XXe siècle dans l'État de Rio Grande do Sul. L'hypothèse générale qui a guidé la recherche est que les Jésuites la promotion d'un processus entre les groupes formant, de un cotê d'uniformiser scolaire par leurs gymnases catholiques, et surtout de l'identité religieuse et intellectuelle à travers les activités dans leurs congrégations Mariannes. Il est démontré, sur la base de plusieurs sources, que le facteur d'homogénéisation du groupe n'est pas dans leur profil social, mais en uniforme scolaire a reçu, et en particulier dans la formation religieuse et intellectuelle résultat de l'action éducative des Jésuites étrangers dans les congrégations mariales. Se déroule cette constatation, le fait que dans un environnement culturel marqué par l'absence d'espaces universitaires, á formation philosophique fournies par ces jésuites, basées sur des interprétations du thomisme, déterminer le substrat idéologique et l’identité intellectuelle du groupe. Cette formation intellectuelle internationalisé déterminé que, parmi les membres du groupe, étant donné la tendance de la réception de la pensée catholique, ne créent pas un système philosophiques original. Avec ce type de formation l’action collective du groupe catholique a été orientée pour les espaces sociaux ils peuvent imposer leur identité intelectuelle, et la doctrine sociale de l'Eglise, comme l'articulation du mouvement catholique en l'état, la conquête des chaires de philosophie et des lois du travail, par exemple, l'Université, et la construction de l'ordre politique à travers l'insertion des postulats catholiques dans las constituants fédéral. / Esta tese analisa as condições que possibilitaram o surgimento de um grupo que difundiu a doutrina e o pensamento da Igreja Católica durante o século XX no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A hipótese geral que norteou a pesquisa é de que os Jesuítas promoveram um processo, entre os grupos que formaram, por um lado, de uniformização escolar, via seus Ginásios Católicos, e, sobretudo, de identificação religiosa e intelectual através das atividades nas suas Congregações Marianas. Demonstra-se, com base em fontes variadas, que o fator homogeneizador do grupo não se encontra em seu perfil social, mas sim na uniformização escolar recebida, e, sobretudo, na formação religiosa e intelectual decorrente da ação educativa dos jesuítas estrangeiros nas Congregações Marianas. Desdobra-se desta constatação, o fato de que, num ambiente cultural marcado pela ausência de espaços acadêmicos, a formação filosófica proporcionada por estes jesuítas alemães baseada nas reinterpretações do Tomismo, pautou o substrato ideológico e a identidade intelectual do grupo. Esta formação intelectual internacionalizada determinou que, entre os membros do grupo, dado o padrão de recepção de pensamento católico, não se produzisse um sistema filosófico original. Com este tipo de formação a ação coletiva do grupo católico direcionouse para os espaços sociais os quais pudessem impor sua identidade intelectual e a doutrina social da Igreja, como a articulação do movimento católico no Estado, a conquista das cátedras de Filosofia e de legislação trabalhista, por exemplo, na Universidade, e a construção da ordem política através inserção dos postulados católicos nas Constituintes. / This thesis analyzes the conditions that allowed the emergence of a group who diffused the doctrine and thinking of the Catholic Church during the twentieth century in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The general hypothesis that guided the research is that the Jesuits promoted a process between the groups that formed on the one hand, standardization of scholar via their gymnasiums Catholics, and especially of religious and intellectual identity through the activities in their Marian Congregations. It is demonstrated, based on various sources, that the group factor homogenizing is not in their social profile, but in standardization scholar received, and especially in religious and intellectual formation resulting from activities educational of the Jesuits in the Marian Congregations. Unfolds this finding, the fact that in a cultural environment marked by the absence of academic spaces, the philosophical background provided by these Jesuits based on interpretations of Thomism, guided the substrate ideological and intellectual identity of the group. This training internationalized determined that, among the group members, given the pattern of reception of Catholic thought, did not produce an original philosophical system. With this type of formation the collective action of the Catholic group is moving on to the social spaces which could enforce its intellectual identity and the social doctrine of the Church as the articulation of the Catholic movement in the state, the conquest of the chairs of philosophy and labor laws, for example, at university, and the construction of political order through the insertion of the postulates Catholics in federal constituencies.