TANNER, ADAM

Jesuit theologian; b. Innsbruck, April 14, 1572; d. Unken, near Salzburg, May 25, 1632. Tanner, whom Mathias Scheeben singled out as the one great German theologian of the 17th century [Handbuch der Dogmatik v. 1 (Freiburg 1873) 452], entered the Society of Jesus in 1590. In Ingolstadt he studied under Gregory of Valencia and Jacobus Gretser. After ordination in 1597, he lectured on controversial and moral theology in Munich for five years. His Relatio compendiaria (Munich 1602) gave an account of the Catholic-Lutheran debates in Regensburg (Nov. 28 to Dec. 8, 1601). Tanner went to Regensburg as alternate speaker for the Catholic side. On the third day Gretser's sickness and lack of preparation forced his replacement by Tanner, who proceeded to turn the tide of argument. This success led to his appointment as professor in Ingolstadt (1603–18). In this period he defended Paul V against the Venetian government, wrote Ketzerische Luthertum (Ingolstadt 1608) against the Lutheran doctrine of justification, and compiled his controversial lectures in Dioptra Fidei (Ingolstadt 1617). A call to the University of Vienna (1618) interrupted Tanner's Ingolstadt teaching. In Vienna he began his magnum opus, Theologia Scholastica, but the Viennese libraries proved insufficient; and so, despite pressure from the Austrian emperor and the cardinal of Vienna, Tanner returned to Ingolstadt in the summer of 1619. After eight years his summa appeared in four volumes (v. 1, 2 Ingolstadt 1626; v. 3, 4 Ingolstadt 1627). Immediately after its publication Tanner was sent to Prague to serve as first Jesuit chancellor of the university. After 13 months doctors ordered him to return to the air of his native Tirol. In May 1631 he was back in Ingolstadt; but within a year illness and the advancing Swedish troops forced him to flee, and he died while en route to his native land.

Tanner's Theologia Scholastica follows the order of St. Thomas's Summa Theologiae, but is doctrinally dependent on Vasquez, Lessius, and especially Suárez. Noted for clarity and conciseness, he was careful to distinguish between dogma, the Molinist system, and his own opinions. Tanner's treatment of scientia media is a model of argumentation. To the question an sit? he responds with the classic Molinist texts (1 Samuel 23.10–12; Matthew 11.21) and with selected patristic citations. Tanner intimates his preference for congruous efficacious grace by arguing for scientia media from Augustine's words, "cuius autem miseretur, sic eum [Deus] vocat, quomodo scit ei congruere, ut vocantem non respuat" (Ad Simplicianum 1.2.13; PL 40:119). After adding four rational arguments for scientia media, Tanner turns to the question quid sit? and gives his original speculative explanation of the medium-in-quo of this knowledge. Whereas molina had stressed the eminent perfection of divine knowing to the exclusion of any kind of object, Tanner postulates a quasi reflex grasp of the divine essence, specifically as the ratio objectiva for all possible universes of created being. Supposing scientia media, Tanner so explains providence, predestination, and reprobation as to stress God's loving choice more than the free decisions of men. He departs from Molina and Lessius to hold predestination before God's vision of final merit. God prevails by selecting perfectly adapted graces that are certain to produce consent in the elect; the reprobate are denied these congruous graces.

Some notable positions taken by Tanner were: in certain transactions interest can be licitly demanded; infidels (but not heretics) are mostly in invincible ignorance and should have full liberty of conscience; Mary was not excepted from original sin; the heavens are an incorruptible Aristotelian firmament. Tanner wrote forcefully against the irresponsible prosecution of witchcraft raging in southern Germany in his time. In his treatise on angels, he charged that many people were simply deluded on witchcraft; and, writing on justice, he excoriated the methods of torture, forced denunciation, and wholesale execution. This position left him open to suspicion of being in league with evil powers, but in condemning abuses he helped bring some moderation in the second half of the century.

Bibliography: j. goetz, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables Générales 1951–) 15.1:40–47. w. lurz, Adam Tanner und die Gnadenstreitigkeiten des 17. Jahrhundert (Breslau 1932). c. sommervogel et al., Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 11v. (Brussels-Paris 1890–1932; v.12, suppl. 1960) 7:1843–55. b. duhr, Die Stellung der Jesuiten bei den deutschen Hexenprozessen (Cologne 1900).

[j. wicks]