Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Adam Tanner
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
Jesuit · 1572–1632
In the Index: Tanner
In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index
- “Tanner, Adam, S.J., German (1572-1632), wrote Universa theologia scholastica, speculativa, practica ad methodum D. Thomae, 3 folio volumes, Ingolstadt 1626.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
- [**: weighty, probabilist] “Tanner Adam, German, S.J., born at Innsbruck, taught theology at Ingolstadt and Munich for 20 years; but, his fame increasing, the Emperor Matthias summoned him to Vienna, that he might explain theology in place of Martinus Becanus; Ferdinand II, however, gave him as chancellor to the University of Prague when he entrusted it to the Society of Jesus. Finally, with health opposing him and Gustavus Adolphus invading Bavaria, having returned into Tyrol, he died on the journey itself. Skilled in various languages, lover of ecclesiastical history, unwearied investigator of the holy Fathers, he possessed great authority, which religious virtues still increased; born 1572, died 1632.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XXX, sign read on the page)
His Moral System, as Our Authors Report It
Every report quoted in the author's own words and linked to its place; point at a name to see his words. Haringer's signs give St. Alphonsus's judgment as Haringer found it in St. Alphonsus's works (his notice, Gury-Ballerini, 1884, p. XI); a sign on a writer the 1884 editor added to the list is the editor's own, and is said to be his.
| Probabilist | |
|---|---|
| “Tanner Adam, German, S.J., born at Innsbruck, taught theology at Ingolstadt and Munich for 20 years; but, his fame increasing, the Emperor Matthias summoned him to Vienna, that he might explain theology in place of Martinus Becanus; Ferdinand II, however, gave him as chancellor to the University of Prague when he entrusted it to the Society of Jesus. Finally, with health opposing him and Gustavus ”Haringer marks him **, giving St. Alphonsus's judgment of him (weighty and probabilist) | Haringer's index, Index of writers, p. XXX |
Where Our Authors Discuss Him
Each read in its full passage; the words quoted are the author's own. Where several authors say the same thing, one is quoted and the others follow “in nearly the same words”; point at a name to see his words.
| “The precept of the love of God obliges at the point of death”Daniel quotes him among the Jesuit theologians who taught the strict precept of loving God | Daniel, Apology, ¶ 68 |
| “Adam Tanner (+ 1632)”Koch-Preuss name him among those who, after Trent, joined a systematic exposition with its defense against the Reformers | Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, history of moral theology |
In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
“Adam Tanner”, vol. 14, by Anthony Charles Cotter. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.
Controversialist, born at Innsbruck in 1571; died at Unken, 25 May, 1632. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1589, and taught at first Hebrew, apologetics, and moral theology. When in 1601 the religious debate between Catholics and Lutherans was arranged at Ratisbon, Tanner aided his fellow Jesuit Gretser in proving that the dead word of the Bible could not be the supreme arbiter in matters of faith. He himself published an account of the proceedings (Mainz, 1602) and in subsequent apologies hurled back the charges brought against the Catholics by the Reformers. In 1603, the Bavarian duke invited him to occupy the chair of Scholastic theology in the University of Ingolstadt. A stranger in no field of science and gifted with a keen intellect, Tanner now developed an increasing activity both in teaching and writing on theological subjects. In his "Anatomiæ confessionis augustanæ" (Ingolstadt, 1613), he points out the fallacies of the Augsburg Confession, both from Luther's own assertions and from the qualities essential to the true Church. Against the so-called Utraquists, he wrote several works, both in Latin and in German, defending the Church's practice of giving Communion under one species only, and the sacrifice of the Mass. Other pamphlets were issued by him to clear his order from the false accusations of its enemies. When the conflict between the Venetians and Pope Paul V (q. v.) broke out, an able defence from his pen, "Defensionis ecclesiæ libertatis libri duo" (Ingolstadt, 1607), vindicated the Church's freedom against the tyrannical aggressions of the State.
After fifteen years spent at Ingolstadt, he was called by the Emperor Matthias to the University of Vienna. While there he published his greatest work, the "Universa theologia scholastica" (Ingolstadt, 1626-27), which resembles the "Summa" of St.Thomas not only in its arrangement, but also in its solidity of doctrine and conciseness of diction. Ferdinand II, Matthias's successor on the throne of the Habsburgs, appointed him chancellor of the University of Prague. Fleeing from the Swedes, Tanner died at Unken, an insignificant village near Salzburg. There he still rests amid unlettered peasants in an unknown grave. But, as Cordara says, "his virtues, coupled with his eminent erudition, will ever be his most splendid epitaph and mausoleum."
CORDARA, Hist. Soc. Iesu, VI, 583; GUILHERMY, Ménologe, I, 470; THÖLEN, Menologium, 325; HURTER, Nomenclator, I, 254; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothéque VII, 1843, sqq.
A. C. Cotter.