How Sure Are We? The Theological Notes
Not everything Catholics believe is held with the same certainty. Some teachings were defined by councils as revealed by God. Others are firmly taught but never defined. Others again are theologians’ opinions that Catholics may freely accept or reject. Theologians use labels called theological notes to mark the difference.
Every lesson in this course gives the note of its main teaching. This page explains what each note means.
The notes used in this course
| Note | What it means | How a Catholic holds it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| De fide (of faith) | Revealed by God and proposed by the Church as revealed, by solemn definition or by her ordinary and universal teaching. | Believed with divine and catholic faith. Obstinate denial is heresy. | Christ is one Person in two natures. |
| Certain | Not proposed as revealed, but taught definitively by the Church or following necessarily from revealed truth. | Firmly held. Denial is a grave error. | Public revelation was completed with the apostles. |
| Common teaching | Taught by the Church and held generally by theologians, but not definitively. | Accepted with religious submission of mind and will. | Each person has a guardian angel. |
| Opinion | A view on a question the Church has left open. | Freely held or rejected, with respect for other views. | Whether Mary died before her Assumption. |
The older, finer scale
The classic manuals, such as Pohle-Preuss on this site and Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, use a more detailed scale. You will meet these terms in the tracts:
- De fide definita: defined by a solemn judgement of a council or a Pope.
- De fide: revealed and taught as such by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.
- Sententia fidei proxima (close to faith): generally regarded by theologians as revealed, but not yet proposed as such by the Church.
- Sententia theologice certa (theologically certain): following with certainty from a revealed truth.
- Sententia communis (common teaching): held generally by theologians, within the area of free discussion.
- Sententia probabilis, probabilior, bene fundata (probable, more probable, well-founded): opinions with varying degrees of support.
- Sententia tolerata (tolerated): a weakly supported opinion the Church tolerates.
Remember that these labels, when they appear in a manual, are the judgement of that theologian, not of the Church. For the most important teachings, this course gives the council or papal document instead, so you can check it yourself.
The Church’s three levels of assent
The Church’s own current framework is set out in the Profession of Faith (1989) and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Doctrinal Commentary on it (1998). It describes three levels:
- Truths to be believed as divinely revealed. These are the de fide teachings. Example: the articles of the Creed.
- Truths to be firmly held as definitively proposed. These are closely connected with revelation, and the Church teaches them definitively, though not as revealed. They correspond roughly to certain in the table above. Example: the legitimacy of the election of a Pope.
- Teachings that call for religious submission of mind and will. These are authentic teachings of the Pope or bishops that are not proposed definitively. They correspond roughly to common teaching.
Opinions fall outside all three levels.
Errors and censures
The manuals also have labels for teachings the Church rejects. You will meet these when reading condemnations:
- Heresy: obstinate denial or doubt, after baptism, of a truth that must be believed with divine and catholic faith (Code of Canon Law, canon 751).
- Error in faith: opposed to a truth that is certain or definitively held.
- Temerarious (rash): opposed to common teaching without good reason.
- Offensive to pious ears, ill-sounding, scandalous: wording that is misleading or harmful, even if not strictly false.
A word of caution
Two mistakes are equally common. One treats every pious belief or theologian’s opinion as dogma, and so makes the faith heavier than it is. The other treats everything that is not solemnly defined as optional, and so makes it lighter. The notes exist to avoid both.