The Certitude of Hope

THE CERTITUDE OF HOPE T HE OBJECT of theological hope is eternal beatitude. If, then, certitude can be ascribed to this virtue it would seem that this certitude must pertain in some way to that object of hope. As a matter of fact, in the works of most modern theological writers there is always the assumption that the certitude of hope pertains to the actual attainment of eternal life. Of course, it is a matter of Catholic faith that no one can be absolutely certain of attaining eternal life unless he receives a special revelation to that effect from God. Consequently , the common doctrine among the theological writers is that the certitude of hope is conditional, that is, this person will be saved if he perseveres.· Likewise many apply a distinction to the effect that hope is certain from the point of view of the help of God, but it is not certain considered from the part of the peccable subject hoping. If the certitude of hope was a matter to be dealt with by natural .and experimental sciences we should conclude that this modern theory is the point of farthest advance in the problem of hope's certitude. In those sciences, because of their experimental character, it is generally true that the latest pronouncement of the reputable scholars in the field are th~ farthest points of advancement along a particular line. However, in the speculative sciences, especially in sacred theology, the same principle may not be applied with equal freedom. Indeed, progress is most surely made in theology. Nevertheless, in this science it is often true that the advancement is not by way of finding something new, but rather by way of a return to something old. Thus, in differing with modern theologians relative to the certitude of hope, ours is not an advancement in the sense of finding something new, but rather it is a rest~:J.tement and a plea for the restoration of something old, which; nevertheless, has been lost to modern thinkers. 75 76 WALTER M. CONLON When we contrast the position of the moderns to that of St. Thomas Aquinas on this question we are not confronted with the antagonism between the new and the old. In truth the theory of conditional certitude antedates St. Thomas. Its reassertion by so many modern scholars merely emphasizes two things: 1) that St. Thomas is inadequately known by them, and 2) that the surgence and resurgence of such theories run in cycles. In his time, St. Thomas combatted the theory of conditional certitude, and gained a victory which l.asted as long as true Thomism sat in the chairs of theology. However when the clear sky of his precise theologcal thought became more and more obscured by the ever darkening clouds of humanism, nominalism, and the so-called reformation, the foundation was laid for a less scientific approach to theological problems, and among them the certitude of theological hope. Hence, from this point of view, the resurgence in modern times of the theory of conditional certitude is not surprising, and only serves to illustrate the manner in which theories rise and fall in cycles. Given the background just described, the pronouncement of the Council of Trent to the effect that no one can be absolutely certain of attaining eternal life, was itself an occasion for the return to the theory of conditional certitude. However, St. Thomas was well aware of the truth later defined by the Council and neither ignored nor jeopardized it in the elaboration of his theory of the certitude of order and of divine ordination. Nevertheless, the almost universal acceptance of the "conditional " theory in our times is most astonishing in view of the really Thomistic thought on this matter to be found in the works of the great commentators on the Summa Theologica. In their writings we find no trace of this theory of conditional certitude. In the Summa Theologica itself St. Thomas gives but little space to the discussion of this subject. However, his study of it in the Commentary on the Sentences is more extensive, and here we find a satisfactory refutation of the theory of conditional certitude prevalent among so...