Luis Molina
Luis Molina (born
1535 in
Cuenca,
Spain; died
October 12,
1600 in
Madrid) was a Spanish
Jesuit.
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
Augustinian doctrines of
predestination and
grace with the teachings of Baius, recently condemned by the
Roman Catholic Church. 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. Nor, in Molina's view, does his doctrine of
free will 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.*
An article by Alfred J. Freddoso on Luis Molina's thoughts.
*
Article on Molina from
Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)
*
Article on Molinism from
Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)
