Disputationum Roberti Bellarmini Politiani Societatis Jesu, De Controversiis Christianae fidei, adversus huius temporis Haereticos [...]. Lugduni: Claudium Michaelem, 1590, folios.
The Disputations of Robert Bellarmine of the Society of Jesus, On the Controversies of the Christian Faith, against the Heretics of this Age [...]. Lyons: Claude Michel, 1590, folios.
THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC COUNTER-REFORMATION WORK: AN EARLY EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORKS OF THE PERIOD.
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One of, if not the, most important works of Counter-Reformation scholarship, Bellarmine’s Disputationes de Controversiis was the first comprehensive attempt to systematise Catholic theology in response to the Protestant Reformation. Originally delivered as lectures at the Roman College, the work was published in three volumes between 1581 and 1593 and swiftly became the standard reference for Catholic controversialists throughout Europe. This is an exceptionally early, important, and exceedingly rare edition.
Robert Bellarmine, later canonised and declared a Doctor of the Church, was among the most brilliant Jesuit theologians of his age. A professor, rector of the Roman College, Cardinal Inquisitor, and eventually Archbishop of Capua, he combined formidable learning in Scripture, the Fathers, and scholastic theology with a clear, polemical style. His Controversiae addressed virtually every point disputed between Catholics and Protestants: Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the authority of the Pope and councils, justification, the sacraments, and the nature of the Church itself.
The work was enormously influential: admired for its erudition, feared for its force, and bitterly attacked by Protestant scholars such as William Whitaker and James I of England. Pope Clement VIII declared that “the Church of God had not his equal in learning,” and the Controversiae were placed in the hands of Catholic clergy and missionaries as an armoury of arguments. Even opponents recognised Bellarmine’s precision and breadth of knowledge, which helped define the lines of confessional debate well into the 17th century.
An important witness to the intellectual battlelines of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, presented in contemporary full vellum bindings. Extremely rare.
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Size: 229 x 359 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
Circa early 18th century full vellum bindings, tape repairs to spines and board edges. Joints cracked, front board of volume one detached, other boards attached some of which by means of the tape. Bindings rubbed with some minor discolouration as typical. Bookplate to front pastedowns from the New York General Theological Seminary Library, with their inventory slip to the rear pastedowns. Inscription to ffep recto dated 1769 with some other inscriptions to the title pages. None-intrusive blindstamp of the General Theological Seminary Library to a few leaves. Tape to edge of title leaf in volume one. Text blocks toned throughout, sporadic foxing, some damp staining to the first few leaves in the second volume with an extensive pencil inscription to the rear of the second volume (theological commentary). Slight loss to the final leaf of the index of volume three with the other leaves of the index slightly ragged at the edges. The text is generally free of marginalia, legible throughout, paper a little weak.
