Catholic theology


Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This article serves as an introduction to various topics in Catholic theology, with links to where fuller coverage is found.
Major teachings of the Catholic Church discussed in the early councils of the church are summarized in various creeds, especially the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed. Since the 16th century the church has produced catechisms which summarize its teachings; in 1992, the Catholic Church published the official Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church understands the living tradition of the church to contain its doctrine on faith and morals and to be protected from error, at times through infallibly defined teaching. The church believes in revelation guided by the Holy Spirit through sacred scripture, developed in sacred tradition and entirely rooted in the original deposit of faith. This developed deposit of faith is protected by the "magisterium" or College of Bishops at ecumenical councils overseen by the pope, beginning with the Council of Jerusalem. The most recent was the Second Vatican Council ; twice in history the pope defined a dogma after consultation with all the bishops without calling a council.
Formal Catholic worship is ordered by means of the liturgy, which is regulated by church authority. The celebration of the Eucharist, one of seven Catholic sacraments, is the center of Catholic worship. The church exercises control over additional forms of personal prayer and devotion including the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and Eucharistic adoration, declaring they should all derive from the Eucharist and lead back to it. The church community consists of the ordained clergy, the laity, and those like monks and nuns living a consecrated life under their constitutions.
According to the Catechism, Christ instituted seven sacraments and entrusted them to the Catholic Church. These are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony.

Profession of Faith

Human capacity for God

The Catholic Church teaches that "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself." While man may turn away from God, God never stops calling man back to him. Because man is created in the image and likeness of God, man can know with certainty of God's existence from his own human reason. But while "Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God", in order "for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith."
In summary, the church teaches: "Man is by nature and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God".

God comes to meet humanity

The church teaches God revealed himself gradually, beginning in the Old Testament, and completing this revelation by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to Earth as a man. This revelation started with Adam and Eve, and was not broken off by their original sin. Rather, God promised to send a redeemer. God further revealed himself through covenants between Noah and Abraham. God delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and spoke through the Old Testament prophets. The fullness of God's revelation was made manifest through the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Creeds

Creeds are concise doctrinal statements or confessions, usually of religious beliefs. They began as baptismal formulas and were later expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith.
The Apostles Creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator. Each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was apparently used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome.
The Nicene Creed, largely a response to Arianism, was formulated at the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381 respectively, and ratified as the universal creed of Christendom by the Council of Ephesus in 431. It sets out the main principles of Catholic Christian belief. This creed is recited at Sunday Masses and is the core statement of belief in many other Christian churches as well.
The Chalcedonian Creed, developed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451,
though not accepted by the Oriental Orthodox Churches, taught Christ "to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably": one divine and one human, and that both natures are perfect but are nevertheless perfectly united into one person.
The Athanasian Creed says: "We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance."

Scriptures

regards the Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts, as authoritative. It is believed by Christians to have been written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Protestants believe the Bible contains all revealed truths necessary for salvation. This concept is known as Sola scriptura. Catholics do not believe the Bible contains all revealed truths necessary for salvation.
The Catholic Bible includes all books of the Jewish scriptures, the Tanakh, along with additional books. This bible is organised into two parts: the books of the Old Testament primarily sourced from the Tanakh, and the 27 books of the New Testament containing books originally written primarily in Greek. The Catholic biblical canon include other books from the Septuagint canon, which Catholics call deuterocanonical. Protestants consider these books apocryphal. Some versions of the Bible have a separate apocrypha section for the books not considered canonical by the publisher.
Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual. The literal sense of understanding scripture is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation.
The spiritual sense has three subdivisions: the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses.
Catholic theology adds other rules of interpretation which include:
  • the injunction that all other senses of sacred scripture are based on the literal meaning;
  • the historical character of the four Gospels, and that they faithfully hand on what Jesus taught about salvation;
  • that scripture must be read within the "living Tradition of the whole Church";
  • the task of authentic interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the pope.

    Celebration of the Christian mystery

Sacraments

There are seven sacraments of the church, of which the source and summit is the Eucharist. According to the Catechism, the sacraments were instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church. They are vehicles through which God's grace flows into the person who receives them with the proper disposition. In order to obtain the proper disposition, people are encouraged, and in some cases required, to undergo sufficient preparation before being permitted to receive certain sacraments. And in receiving the sacraments, the Catechism advises: "To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition." Participation in the sacraments, offered to them through the church, is a way Catholics obtain grace, forgiveness of sins and formally ask for the Holy Spirit. These sacraments are: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
In the Eastern Catholic Churches, these are often called the holy mysteries rather than the sacraments.

Liturgy

Sunday is a holy day of obligation, and Catholics are required to attend Mass. At Mass, Catholics believe that they respond to Jesus' command at the Last Supper to "do this in remembrance of me." In 1570 at the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V codified a standard book for the celebration of Mass for the Roman Rite. Everything in this decree pertained to the priest celebrant and his action at the altar. The participation of the people was devotional rather than liturgical. The Mass text was in Latin, as this was the universal language of the church. This liturgy was called the Tridentine Mass and endured universally until the Second Vatican Council approved the Mass of Paul VI, also known as the New Order of the Mass, which may be celebrated either in the vernacular or in Latin.
The Catholic Mass is separated into two parts. The first part is called Liturgy of the Word; readings from the Old and New Testaments are read prior to the gospel reading and the priest's homily. The second part is called Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the actual sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. Catholics regard the Eucharist as "the source and summit of the Christian life", and believe that the bread and wine brought to the altar are changed, or transubstantiated, through the power of the Holy Spirit into the true body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. Since his sacrifice on the Cross and that of the Eucharist "are one single sacrifice", the church does not purport to re-sacrifice Jesus in the Mass, but rather to re-present his sacrifice "in an unbloody manner".