WorkBoethius

On the Catholic Faith

The plainest of Boethius's tractates and long thought not his: a straight statement of Christian belief, with none of the logic that marks the others.

by Boethius12 passages held

English, a translation held here, and your language

Original title: De Fide Catholica
First published: 520(aged 40)
Original language: Latin

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Overview

Of the five theological tractates that pass under Boethius's name, this is the odd one, and for a long time scholars doubted it was his at all. It carries none of the logical machinery that marks the others — no axioms, no analysis of terms, no argument with a named opponent — but sets out the content of Christian belief plainly, running from creation and the fall through the incarnation to the church, in the manner of a confession of faith rather than a demonstration. Its very plainness is what raised the suspicion that a different hand had written it. The doubt was never settled by an external list — the early catalogue of his writings names the other tractates and pointedly not this one; its return to the set rests instead on the manuscript tradition, which carries it with the rest, and on the judgement that the style is his after all. The record here is thin, and honestly so — this is a statement of belief, not one of the arguments on which Boethius's reputation rests.

Key concepts

What is On the Catholic Faith?

One of the five theological tractates that pass under Boethius's name, and the plainest of them. Rather than arguing, it sets out the content of Christian belief straight through, running from creation and the fall, through the history of God's dealings and the incarnation, to redemption and the church. It reads as a confession of faith, a statement of what is believed, not a demonstration of why, unlike the logical tractates beside it.

Why was its authorship doubted?

Because it lacks everything that marks the other tractates: no axioms, no analysis of terms, no argument with a named opponent, just a plain profession of belief. That bareness raised the suspicion that a different hand wrote it, and an early catalogue of Boethius's works lists the others but not this one. Its place in the set was never settled by an external list.

Why is it now counted among Boethius's works?

Its return to the set rests not on any ancient catalogue but on the manuscript tradition, which transmits it alongside the other tractates, and on the scholarly judgement that its style is his after all. The evidence is admittedly thin, and honestly so. It is included on the weight of how the text was handed down and how it reads, rather than on external testimony.

How does it differ from Boethius's other tractates?

The others treat theology as a problem in logic, defining terms and reasoning from stated principles to hold a doctrine steady; this one simply states the faith. It is the only tractate of the five with no logical machinery at all, which is exactly why it stands apart. On it, unlike The Trinity or the tractate against the heretics, Boethius's reputation as a reasoner does not rest.

Themes of the book

What this book returns to, gathered into themes and ordered by how much of the text each one occupies.

The faith stated plainly, without the logic

What does the Christian story look like told straight through, with none of the argument? Boethius sets out the content of belief, from creation and the fall to the church, as a confession rather than a proof.

Long doubted to be his, it carries none of the logical machinery that marks the others, no axioms, no analysis of terms, no named opponent, but runs plainly through the arc of Christian belief: creation, the fall, the long history of God's dealings, the incarnation, redemption and the church. Its very plainness raised the suspicion of a different hand; an early catalogue of his writings names the other tractates and pointedly not this one. Its return to the set rests on the manuscript tradition and the judgement that the style is his. It is a statement of belief, not one of the arguments on which his reputation rests.

grace
creation
incarnation
salvation
resurrection
original sin
history
salvation history
prophecy
virgin birth
allegory

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Within this work

passages held: 12
distinct concepts: 45
by passages held, corpus-wide: #806

Works held

The author's work in order, this book marked in place. Your-language title first, the original beneath it where the two differ; side chips show which full texts are held.

512 A Treatise Against Eutyches and Nestorius (Contra Eutychen et Nestorium)
Aimed at two opposite Christological heresies, this short tractate is remembered less for the quarrel that occasioned it than for a definition of person that medieval thought adopted as standard.
EN
520 How Substances Can Be Good In Virtue of Their Existence Without Being Absolute Goods (Quomodo substantiae in eo quod sint bonae sint cum non sint substantialia bona)
Argued from stated axioms rather than scripture, this is the most purely philosophical of Boethius's theological tractates, and important enough that Aquinas later wrote a commentary on it.
EN
520 On the Catholic Faith (De Fide Catholica) you are here EN
520 The Trinity (De Trinitate)
Prompted by a sixth-century controversy over the Trinity, it brings the Aristotelian logic Boethius spent his life translating to bear on the doctrine, and drew close attention from later medieval schools.
EN
524 The Consolation of Philosophy (De Consolatione Philosophiae)
Written in prison as Boethius awaited execution, this dialogue of alternating prose and verse became the most widely read book of the Latin Middle Ages after the Bible, translated by kings and poets for a thousand years.
EN

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