RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Poland, Christianity in Polemics
dence against the others, they were brought to the scaffold. Meanwhile, in 1541, Pole had been appointed legate of the patrimony, i.e., governor of the Papal States, and was thus led to fix his residence at Viterbo. There certain colloquies on religious questions were held, the participants including Vittoria Colonna, Pietro Carnesecchi, and Marco Antonio Flaminio. These discussions, however, were afterward deemed heretical by the Inquisition, because both the point of departure and the mainstay of the argument lay in the doctrine of justification by faith, the merit of good works being excluded.
After the death of Edward VI., Pole, in 1554, again beheld his native land, this time as papal legate. He found Queen Mary already married to Philip II., and the reaction in full swing. He took active part in the work and urged the enforcement of the stern ancient laws against the Protestants. But all his zeal could not induce his enemy, Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, who, in 1555, ascended the papal throne as Paul IV (q.v.), to forget that Pole himself was at one time under suspicion of heresy. The new pontiff recalled the English legation, and summoned Pole before the tribunal of the Holy Office in Rome. Only his procrastination, and then his death, delivered him from appearing there.
K. Benbath.
Bibliography: Among the works of Pole the following are most significant: Ad Henricum Octavum Brittanice regent, Pro ecclesiastic m unitatis defensione, Rome, 1554 (extract in English, The seditious and blasphemous Oration of Cardinal Pole, . Translated . . by Fabyane Wythers, London, 1560); Deconcilio, Venice, 1562; De summopontificeChristi in terris vicario, Louvain, 1569; Reformatio Anylios, London, 1556; A Treatise of Justification, Louvain, 1569.
The one authoritative life was written in Italian by Beccatelli, Lat. transl. by A. Dudith, found in Ital. and Lat. in Epistolce Reginaldi Poli, 5 vols., 1744-57, an Eng. transl. is by P. Pye, London, 1760. A life still worth consulting is that in English by T. Phillips, Oxford, 1764. Consult further: the anonymous life prefixed to Christ. Longolii Orationes, Epistolce et Vita, Florence, 1524; W. F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. viii., London, 1869; N. Pocock, Records of the Reformation, 2 vols., Oxford, 1870 (contains original documents); N. Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, London, 1877 (Roman Catholic); F. G. Lee, Reginald Pole . an historical Sketch, London, 1888 (deals only with the beginning and end of the cardinal's career); A. Zimmerman, Kardinal Pole, Sein Leben und seine Schriften, Regensburg, 1893 (accurate); W. Clark, The Anglican Reformation, New York, 1897; F. A. Gasquet, Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, London, 1899; J. Gairdner, The English Church in the Sixteenth Century, London, 1903 (many details); Cambridge Modern History, vol. ii. passim, Cambridge, 1903; C. M. Antony, The Angelical Cardinal Reginald Pole, London, 1909; M. Haile, Life of Reginald Pole, London and New York, 1910; J. Gillow. Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics, v. 336-341, London, n.d.; DNB, xlvi. 35-46.
POLEMICS.
Nature, Place, and Function (§1).
Pre-Reformation and Roman Catholic Polemics (§ 2).
Protestant Polemics (§3).
The Modern Phase (§ 4).
In Great Britain and America (§5).
Polemics is that department of theology which is concerned with the history of controversies maintained within or by the Christian Church, and with the conducting of such controversies in defense of doctrines held to be essential to Christian truth or m support of distinctive denominational tenets. It
is, however, a question whether polemics belongs to
the special departments of dogmatics, ethics, or
practical theology, or whether it con-
i. Nature, stitutes an independent branch of
Place, and study. Christianity has had, from the
Function, first, to battle with scientific weapons
against Jews, heathens, heretics, and
schismatics, so that a rich and varied controversial
literature was early developed in all branches of
theology; though the means and the methods have
varied according to the nature of the subject under
discussion and the persons engaged.
Theoretically there is no distinct department of theological polemics; but practically there is a very real need of an independent branch of this nature. Theological polemics, therefore, scientifically combats erroneous conceptions and mistaken attitudes toward Christianity in its various phases, with the aim of defending the position of the communion to which the controversialist belongs. As the ancient Church had to fight against the classes of opponents already named, so modern polemics must defend the spirit of Christianity against non- Christian philosophies, sectarianism, indifferentism, and separatism. The problem next arises as to what place is occupied by polemics in the general field of theology. Schleiermacher divided theology into " philosophical," " historical," and " practical," and subdivided " philosophical theology " into " polemics " and " apologetics," apologetics being directed outwardly, and polemics inwardly. This division, however, is unsatisfactory. In the first place, polemics is applied dogmatics, for the polemic starts with certain dogmatic presuppositions. Again, it is applied symbolics, since dogmatic conceptions develop best in the orderly growth of a communion fully conscious of its distinctive organization. Theologically, therefore, polemics finds a place after dogmatics and apologetics. If, in addition to questions of doctrine, it takes into consideration the conduct of life, it becomes related to ethics, and may extend to organization and law, as well as to liturgies, missions, science, and art. The limits of the subject depend upon practical circumstances, the needs of the period, and the disposition of the controversialist. False doctrines were combated by the apostles, and the Church Fathers followed along the same lines, so that polemic literature has existed since the time of Justin Martyr (q.v.), though his work " Against all Heresies " has been lost. 2. Pre- Extant polemic literature begins with Reforma- the " Against Heresies " of Irenaeus tion and (q.v.). The Apologeticum and De Roman prcescriptione hcereticorum of Tertullian Catholic (q.v.) followed; and Hippolytus (q.v.) Polemics, continued in the third century with his work on heresies. The dogmatic theology of the Greek Church was strongly polemic from the fourth to the eighth century; and during the same period the theology of the west assumed a polemic character through its strife with Donatism, Pelagianism, Semipelagianism, and Manicheism, a large number of Augustine's writings being of this character. The polemic literature of the Middle Ages against heretics, Jews,
Polemics Poliander