Theological Theses · §2239 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Gregory of Rimini: only pagans who lack knowledge of the one God; Grosseteste requires faith in Christ

Vázquez, in the often-cited disputation 191, ascribes this view to Gregory of Rimini, a celebrated Schoolman. He notes that by the unbelievers from whom no good work can come Gregory means unbelievers in the plain sense, that is, Gentiles who have no knowledge of the one true God. He does not mean schismatics and heretics, or those unbelievers who by some faith believe and know that there is one God.

So for someone to act well, that doctor does not think infused and supernatural faith necessary, only some faith and knowledge of the one true God. Still, there are some in the Roman School who require for acting morally well not just any faith but the faith of Christ itself. Among them, Vázquez again reports, is one 'Lincolniensis'.

Latin

XXXII. Hanc sententiam Vasquez, saepius citata disputatione centesima nonagesima prima, tribuit Gregorio Ariminensi, Doctori inter Scholasticos celebri, quem observat per infideles, a quibus nullum bonum opus procedere queat, intelligere eos qui sunt infideles simpliciter, id est, Gentiles qui non habent notitiam unius veri Dei; non autem Schismaticos & Haereticos, eosque ex infidelibus qui aliqua fide credunt & cognoscunt esse unum Deum. Adeoque Doctor ille, ut quis bene operetur, non existimat necessariam esse fidem infusam & supernaturalem, sed quamcunque fidem & cognitionem unius veri Dei. Nec tamen desunt in Schola Romana qui ad operandum bene moraliter, requirant fidem non quamlibet, sed ipsam Christi fidem, quo de numero est Linconiensis quidam, eodem Vasquez referente.

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