GOUDIN, ANTOINE

Dominican philosopher and theologian; b. Limoges, c. 1639; d. Paris, Oct. 25, 1695. He entered the order in 1657 and achieved recognition first as a student and later as a master at the Limoges convent. Sent to Avignon to reorganize theological studies, Goudin rendered a considerable service to scholastic philosophy in his interpretations and expositions of the schoolmen. In 1669 he was elected prior at Brives. He taught theology at Saint-Germain, Paris, and later became a doctor of theology at the University of Paris. He joined the faculty at Saint-Jacques and subsequently became its prior. Goudin remains a controversial figure in the 17th-century struggle between Molinists and Thomists over physical premotion and efficacious grace. In spite of the famous letter of R. Simon remonstrating with Goudin for his theological treatises, an exact evaluation of Goudin's position in reference to St. Thomas's doctrine awaits the discovery and publication of his own MSS. His most frequently published work is Philosophia juxta inconcussa tutissimaque divi Thomae dogmata (Lyons 1671; Paris 1674, 1692, 1851, etc.), which constitutes a representative compendium of scholastic-Thomistic philosophy. At the time of his death, Goudin was preparing a Cursus theologiae; its doctrine on such subjects as knowledge, ideas, will, freedom, providence, predestination, grace, and reprobation may be gleaned in part from certain Tractatus theologici published posthumously in Cologne (1723) and Louvain (1874).

Bibliography: quÉtif-Échard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum (New York 1959) 2.2:739–740. r. coulon, Dictionaire de Théologie Catholique (Paris 1903–1950) 6.2:1508–1515. e. filthaut, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–) 2 4:1149. l. pagello, Enciclopedia Filosofica (Venice-Rome 1957) 2:871. h. hurter, Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (Innsbruck 1903–1913) 4:320. Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europa-Americana (Barcelona 1908–1930) 26:778.

[f. j. roensch]