Semina Verbi Extra Ecclesiam

I realized in writing about hipsters and Catholics (see my previous post) that I never posted my findings from my research papers this past semester.  I kind of want to post the 17 page papers here, but I'm fairly certain that no one would read them.  So instead I will do my best to summarize some of what I found.  I am going to address first my paper for Theological Foundations. Probably half of this post about the paper will be explaining the premise of the paper.

One day in class, Dr. Sirilla took a tangent (tightly related to the class actually) to mention that the Fathers of the Church talked about the semina Verbi, or seeds of the Word, found in pagan culture -- that something of goodness and truth existed among the pagans.  My mind took off running with all the implications of this idea and before class was over (I don't have very good notes for that day, other than tangents to investigate further) I had connected it to another idea that intrigued me: the statement of the Council of Trent extra ecclesiam nulla salus, outside of the Church there is no salvation.  What were seeds of the Word doing among pagans if there was no salvation outside the Church?  What exactly were these seeds?  How do they relate to the Church's belief that people with invincible ignorance of the Gospel can still be saved?

That last question especially tugged at me, and after talking to Dr. Sirilla, I decided to start investigations there.  He directed me to a couple passages from encyclicals and conciliar documents that dealt with that question.  My paper was a literature review, which meant the assignment read: Read ALL THE THINGS ever written about your topic.  I tried to construct my topic as narrowly as possible while still giving myself enough room that someone had written about it: How do Catholic thinkers, post Vatican II, relate the idea of the semina verbi to the soteriological value (i.e. their power to save) of non-Christian religions?  I excluded Judaism and Islam from my reading, because both of them explicitly acknowledge the same God Christianity does.

I found the beginnings of the questions more than the answers in three Vatican II documents: Ad Gentes (On Missionary Activity), Nostrae Aetate (On Other Religions), and Lumen Gentium (On the Church).  Ad Gentes article 11 reads:

[Missionaries] should be familiar with their national and religious traditions and uncover with gladness and respect those seeds of the Word which lie hidden among them… [they] should know and converse with those among whom they live, that through sincere and patient dialogue they themselves might learn of the riches which a generous God has distributed among the nations.  They must at the same time endeavor to illuminate these riches with the light of the Gospel, set them free, and bring them once more under the dominion of God the savior.

Nostrae Aetate article 17 says essentially the same thing, but specifically about institutions/communities with "traditions of asceticism and contemplation."  Lumen Gentium doesn't use the phrase semina Verbi, but rather speaks in article 18 of the good "found sown in the minds and the hearts of men" that are to be "not only preserved from destruction, but are purified, raised up, and perfected for the glory of God, the confusion of the devil, and the happiness of man."  The idea comes up in a few more places without those exact words, but these bits give you a good feel.


As with many other parts and pieces of the Council documents, these phrases have been interpreted in various ways.  Paul VI (I read this great book, Missionary Pope on him) saw these semina as natural elements, the growth of natural law in different cultures.  JPII on the other hand seems to understand them more as supernatural elements present within other religions (see Redemptoris Missio and Crossing the Threshold of Hope).  Among theologians, there is a legitimate debate (albeit with some unorthodox participants) as too exactly how much these seeds contribute to the salvation of those outside the Church.  Are they somehow viae or ways to God or are they preparatio evangelii, preparation for the Gospel?  (Orthodox people tend more toward the latter, but the dialogue continues.)  The bottom line is that Jesus is the one Savior and the Church the ordinary means to salvation, but debate rages around the meaning of these terms and phrases.


I didn't read nearly enough to know nearly enough to contribute to the debate.  I have hunches about where I fall in the discussion, but I have a lot  more reading to do before I say anything with any confidence.  Other than that it is possible that hipsters have semina verbi strewn in their culture.