Kent-Drury
English 420
Definitions for Candide from the
Catholic Encyclopedia
Auto-da-fe—public
ceremony in which Inquisitor passed sentence or carried it out.
Inquisition—“ The
Inquisition was a permanent institution in the Catholic Church charged with the
eradication of heresies…. The judge, or inquisitor, could bring suit against
anyone. The accused had to testify against himself/herself and not have the
right to face and question his/her accuser. It was acceptable to take testimony
from criminals, persons of bad reputation, excommunicated people, and heretics.
The accused did not have right to counsel, and blood relationship did not
exempt one from the duty to testify against the accused. Sentences could not be
appealed Sometimes inquisitors interrogated entire
populations in their jurisdiction. The inquisitor questioned the accused in the
presence of at least two witnesses. The accused was given a summary of the
charges and had to take an oath to tell the truth. Various means were used to
get the cooperation of the accused. Although there was no tradition of torture
in Christian canon law, this method came into use by the middle of the 13th
century. The findings of the Inquisition were read before a large audience; the
penitents abjured on their knees with one hand on a bible held by the
inquisitor. Penalties went from visits to churches, pilgrimages, and wearing
the cross of infamy to imprisonment (usually for life but the sentences were
often commuted) and (if the accused would not abjure) death. Death was by
burning at the stake, and it was carried out by the secular authorities. In
some serious cases when the accused had died before proceedings could be
instituted, his or her remains could be exhumed and burned. Death or life
imprisonment was always accompanied by the confiscation of all the accused's property.” (Source: http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Things/inquisition.html)
Leibniz on Optimism
“In the center of the vast harmonious system of …. the universe is God….. His power, His wisdom, His goodness
are infinite. When, therefore, He created the system of monads[universe],
He created them as good as they could possibly be, and established among them
the best possible kind of harmony. The world, therefore, is the best possible
world, and the supreme law of finite being is the lex
melioris. The Will of God must realize what His
understanding recognizes as more perfect. Leibniz represents the possible
monads as present for all eternity in the mind of God- in them was the impulse
towards actualization- and the more perfect the possible monad the more
strongly did it possess this impulse. There went on, therefore, so to speak, a
competition before the throne of God, in which the best monads conquered, and,
as God could not but see that they were the best, He could not but will their
realization. Behind the lex melioris is therefore, a more fundamental law, the law
of sufficient reason, which is that "things or events are real when there
is a sufficient reason for their existence." This is a fundamental law of thought, as well as a primary law of being. “
Deism—(Catholic Encyclopedia) “The term
used to denote certain doctrines apparent in a tendency of thought and
criticism that manifested itself principally in England towards the latter end
of the seventeenth century….[although] there have been French and German deists
as well as English; while Pagan, Jewish, or Moslem deists might be found as
well as Christian.
“... deists were what nowadays would be called freethinkers, … the main attitude that they adopted [was]. in agreeing to cast off the trammels of authoritative
religious teaching in favour of a free and purely
rationalistic speculation…. deism not only distinguishes the world and God as
effect and cause; it emphasizes the transcendence of the Deity at the sacrifice
of His indwelling and His providence. He is apart from the creation which He
brought into being, and unconcerned as to the details of its working. Having made
Nature, He allows it to run its own course without interference on His part. In
this point the doctrine of deism differs clearly from that of theism. …. In
general they rejected the miraculous element in Scripture and ecclesiastical
tradition. They would not admit that there was any one "peculiar
people", such as the Jews or the Christians, singled out for the reception
of a truth-message, or chosen to be the recipients of any special grace or
supernatural gift of God. They denied the doctrine of the Trinity and
altogether refused to admit any mediatorial character
in the person of Jesus Christ. The atonement, the doctrine of the "imputed
righteousness" of Christ--especially popular with orthodoxy at the
time--shared the fate of all Christological doctrines at their hands. And above
all things and upon every occasion--but with at least one notable
exception--they raised their voices against ecclesiastical authority…. Men like
…. exemplify a tendency of philosophic thought which
has very much in common with what in
Manicheism—St. Augustine: “The Manicheans affirm, that human nature was not created by God good, and corrupted by sin; but that man was formed by the prince of eternal darkness of a mixture of two natures which had ever existed--one good and the other evil.” (Catholic Encyclopedia). Consequently, manicheism is the belief that there are equal amounts of good and evil in the world, and that people also have an equal mixture in their makeups
Anabaptist—“Protestant sectarian of a
radical movement arising in the 16th century and advocating the baptism and
church membership of adult believers only, nonresistance, and the separation of
church and state (Webster). The name Anabaptists, etymologically applicable, and sometimes
applied to Christian denominations that practise
re-baptism is, in general historical usage, restricted to those who, denying
the validity of infant baptism, became prominent during the great reform
movement of the sixteenth century. The designation was generally repudiated by
those to whom it was applied, as the discussion did not centre around the
question whether baptism can be repeated, but around the question whether the
first baptism was valid. The distinctive principles upon which Anabaptists
generally agreed were the following: