The magnum opus of preeminent nineteenth-century German theologian Matthias Scheeben, the Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics is among the most substantial, erudite, and compelling works of Catholic dogmatic theology in the modern era. Scheeben addresses with clarity and depth the fundamental mysteries of divine revelation, the triune God, creation, grace, sin, and salvation, deftly interweaving biblical, historical, and speculative concerns. Presented here for the first time in English in Michael J. Miller’s masterful translation, the eight volumes of Scheeben’s six-book Dogmatics include:
Book One: Theological Epistemology
1.1 The Objective Principles of Theological Knowledge
1.2 Theological Knowledge Considered in Itself
Book Two: Doctrine about God, Or Theology in the Narrower Sense
Book Three: God in His Fundamental, Original Relation to the World
Book Four: Sin and the Kingdom of Sin as a Contradiction and a Combat against the Supernatural Order of the World
Book Five: Soteriology
5.1 The Person of Christ the Redeemer
5.2 The Work of Christ and the Role of His Virgin Mother
Book Six: The Realization of the Salvation Merited by Christ in Individual Human Beings through the Justifying Grace of Christ
About the Author
MATTHIAS JOSEPH SCHEEBEN (1835–1888) was a German priest and scholar whose theology points to the inner coherence of the Christian faith and its supernatural mysteries. Notable in his own time, Scheeben later received praise from Pope Pius XI, who in 1935 encouraged study of the late theologian’s works, reflecting: “The entire theology of Scheeben bears the stamp of a pious ascetical theology.” Hans Urs von Balthasar credited Scheeben as “the greatest German theologian to date.” Scheeben’s works include Nature and Grace, The Mysteries of Christianity, and the unfinished Handbook of Catholic Dogmatics.
