Grace, Actual and Habitual: A Dogmatic Treatise
Overview
Pohle’s volume on grace explores the centrality of grace in Christian belief and practice. He writes at length on the relationship between unbelief and grace, as well as God’s will to save. A significant portion of this volume is devoted to free will, including the understanding of free will in the writings of Luther and Calvin, along with the Council of Trent. Pohle also deals with justification and sanctification—arguably the central and most controversial doctrines of the Reformation.
- Detailed footnotes and bibliographical material
- Contains a detailed topical index
Top Highlights
“‘Actual grace is that unmerited interior assistance which God, by virtue of the merits of Christ, confers upon fallen man, in order, on the one hand, to remedy his infirmity resulting from sin and, on the other, to raise him to the supernatural order and thereby to render him capable of performing supernatural acts, so that he may attain justification, persevere in it to the end, and thus enter into everlasting life.’ This definition is strictly scientific, for it enumerates all the elements that enter into the essence of actual grace.” (Page 18)
“Actual grace is a transient supernatural help given by God from the treasury of the merits of Jesus Christ for the purpose of enabling man to work out his eternal salvation.” (Page 3)
“There can be no reasonable doubt that all men, to be justified and saved, must have an explicit belief in at least two dogmas, viz.: the existence of God and eternal retribution.” (Page 281)
“Considered as gifts of God, the strictly supernatural graces (e. g., justification, divine sonship, the beatific vision) ontologically exceed the bounds of nature.” (Pages 8–9)
“External grace (gratia externa) comprises all those strictly supernatural institutions which stimulate pious thoughts and salutary resolutions in the human soul. Such are, for example, Holy Scripture, the Church, the Sacraments, the example of Jesus Christ, etc. Internal grace (gratia interna) inheres or operates invisibly in the soul, and places it in relation with God as its supernatural end. Internal graces are, e. g., the theological virtues, the power of forgiving sins, etc.” (Pages 11–12)
- Title: Grace, Actual and Habitual: A Dogmatic Treatise
- Author: Joseph Pohle
- Publisher: B. Herder
- Publication Date: 1919
- Pages: 443
Joseph Pohle (1852–1922) studied in Trier, Rome, and was ordained as a priest in 1878. He served as a professor in Baar, Switzerland from 1881 to 1883, as professor at St. Joseph’s College in Leeds, England from 1883 to 1886, and as professor of philosophy in Fulda from 1886 to 1889. In 1889, he moved to America to teach at the newly-founded Catholic University. Pohle returned to Europe in 1894, teaching at Münster and then Breslau, where he served as professor of dogma, and wrote his Dogmatic Theology. He was also a frequent contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia.