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1. Theology of Molina The term “Molinism” refers to theological systems like that of Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina (1535–1600), who, in his Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis (The harmony of free will with gifts of grace), highlighted the role of human cooperation over that of God’s sovereignty in the salvific operation of divine grace. The doctrine of grace as formulated by the Council of Trent (1545–63) is open to interpretation. It clearly postulates a cooperation of divine grace and the human will as constitutive to salvation (Synergism)…

1. Doctrine of Grace Jansenism takes its name from Cornelius Jansen the Younger (1585–1638), who gave the movement its theological basis with his Augustinus (published posthumously in Lyons in 1640). As a student and professor at the University of Lyons, and later as bishop of Ypres, Jansen was in continual conflict with the Jesuit-scholastic doctrine of grace (Scholasticism). In the Lyons tradition he focused on the anti-Pelagian writings of Augustine (354–430; Augustine’s Theology) and methodologically, with an antis…

The slogan Cuius regio eius religio (whose the region, his the religion) was coined at the beginning of the 17th century by the jurist J. Stephani (1544–1623) to describe the right that the Peace of Augsburg (1555) granted to secular rulers to determine the confession that would be binding on all their subjects. This principle thus transferred to Protestant rulers both spiritual jurisdiction and episcopal power (Bishop, Episcopate) along the lines of Episcopalianism. In a broader sense the formula formed part of the ius reformandi that traditionalists brought to the Augsburg de…