Disputationes de Controversiis

Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos
Title page of the first volume, 1586
AuthorRobert Bellarmine
LanguageLatin
Publication placeIngolstadt, Duchy of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire

Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos ('Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics of this Time'), usually referred to as Disputationes, De Controversiis or Controversiae, is a work on dogmatics in three volumes by Robert Bellarmine.

The Disputationes has been described as "the definitive defence of papal power".[1] After its publication, Bellarmine's Disputationes was regarded as the Catholic Church's foremost defence of its doctrine, and especially the papal power.[2]

It was written while Bellarmine was lecturing at the Roman College, and was first published at Ingolstadt in three volumes (1586, 1588, 1593[3][4]).[1] This work was the earliest attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time, and made an immense impression throughout Europe, the strength of its arguments against Protestantism so acutely felt in Germany and England that special chairs were founded in order to provide replies to it.[5] Thomas Hobbes,[1] Theodore Beza, Conrad Vorstius[6] and John Rainolds[7] were among those who wrote counter-arguments against the work.

"The complete edition, reviewed and corrected by the author, which became the standard for all further editions, appeared in Venice in 1596."[8]

  1. ^ a b c Springborg, Patricia. "Thomas Hobbes and Cardinal Bellarmine: Leviathan and 'the ghost of the Roman empire' ". History of Political Thought. XVI:4 (January 1995), pp. 503-531: 506.
  2. ^ Springborg, Patricia. "Thomas Hobbes and Cardinal Bellarmine: Leviathan and 'the ghost of the Roman empire' ". History of Political Thought. XVI:4 (January 1995), pp. 503-531: 515-516.
  3. ^ "Robert Bellarmine | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  4. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bellarmine, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Duc de" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 695.
  5. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Robert Bellarmine". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  6. ^ Cees Leijenhorst; Christoph Lüthy (2021). "The Erosion of Aristotelianism. Confessional Physics in Early Modern Germany and the Dutch Republic". The Dynamics of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century. Brill Publishers: 393–395. doi:10.1163/9789004453319_019. ISBN 9789004453319.
  7. ^ Springborg, Patricia. "Thomas Hobbes and Cardinal Bellarmine: Leviathan and 'the ghost of the Roman empire' ". History of Political Thought. XVI:4 (January 1995), pp. 503-531: 516.
  8. ^ Richgels, Robert W. (1980). "The Pattern of Controversy in a Counter-Reformation Classic: The Controversies of Robert Bellarmine". The Sixteenth Century Journal. 11 (2): 3–15. doi:10.2307/2540028. ISSN 0361-0160. JSTOR 2540028.