Gabriel Biel - Works

Works

Biel's first publication, on the Canon of the Mass, is of permanent interest and value. His second and most important work is a commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, which would come to play a major influence on Martin Luther during the coming Reformation. In this he calls Occam his master, but the last three books show him more Scotist than Nominalist. Matthias Scheeben describes him as "one of the best of the Nominalists, clear, exact, and more positive as well as more loyal to the Church than any of the others" (Dogmatik, no. 1073). The historian Janssen declares that he was one of the few Nominalists who erected a theological system without incurring the charge of unorthodoxy. (Cf. Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, I, 127, 15th ed.)

Biel was neither narrow nor excessively speculative. Though a Nominalist, he was tolerant of Realism, which also flourished at Tübingen under the leadership of Konrad Summenhart. A Scholastic, he was, to quote Janssen, "free from empty speculations and ingenious intellectual juggling, being concerned with questions and needs of actual life" (ibid.), was interested in the social movements of his time, and maintained friendly relations with the Humanists. One of the latter, Heinrich Bebel, gave him the title of "monarch among theologians". His theological writings were repeatedly brought into the discussions of the Council of Trent.

Living as he did in a transition period, Biel exhibits characteristics of two intellectual eras. According to some, he was a Scholastic who expounded Aristotle rather than the Scriptures; according to others, he defended freer theological teaching, and opposed the ancient constitution of the Church and the authority of the pope.

In May of 1459, a controversy arose when Diether von Isenburg was elected as Archbishop of Mainz, yet failed to pay the required annates, and so, Adolph von Nassau was given the position. When Deither began appealing to antipapal sentiments present throughout the Holy Roman Empire, escalading the conflict, Biel became involved. He campaigned unequivocally for Adolph, and was forced to flee Mainz. While in hiding, he wrote the Defensorium obediente apostolice, an ecclesiastical treatise on the extent of papal authority (and the Church authority) and the role that scripture has on these. In it, he takes a position similar to Bernard of Clairvaux's potentudo potestatis. As a matter of fact, he acknowledged the primacy and supreme power of the Roman Pontiff, but, in common with many other theologians of his time, maintained the superiority of general councils, at least to the extent that they could compel the pope's resignation. And he displayed no more theological freedom than has been claimed and exercised by some of the strictest theologians.

Because of Biel's insistence on maintaining the precarious balancing act between his scholastic and modern views of theology, it is often the case that "His philosophical thought is not straightforwardly innovative, but has more of a synthetic nature; his generally recognized clarity of expression if often achieved by contrasting diverse positions with each other (Gracia, A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages).

Among the opinions defended by Biel concerning matters controversial in his day, the following are worthy of mention: (a) That all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, even that of bishops, is derived either immediately or mediately from the pope. In this connection it is to be noted that his defence of the episcopal claims of Diether von Isenburg won him the thanks of Pius II. (b) That the power of absolving is inherent in sacerdotal orders, and that only the matter, i.e., the persons to be absolved, can be conceded or withheld by the ordinary. (c) That the minister of baptism need have no more specific intention than that of doing what the faithful, that is, the Church, intends. (d) That the State may not compel Jews, or heathens, or their children to receive baptism. (e) And that the contractum trinius is morally lawful. All of these opinions have since become the prevailing theological doctrine.

Biel's other works include: Sacri canonis Missae expositio resolutissima literalis et mystica (Brixen, 1576); an abridgment of this work, entitled Epitome expositionis canonis Missae (Antwerp, 1565); Sermones (Brixen, 1585), on the Sundays and festivals of the Christian year, with a disquisition on the plague and a defence of the authority of the pope; Collectorium sive epitome in magistri sententiarum libros IV (Brixen, 1574); and Tractatus de potestate et utilitate monetarum.