A Mirror to Bossuet: Intra-Catholic Variations and the Irony of Doctrinal Uniformity

A Mirror to Bossuet: Intra-Catholic Variations and the Irony of Doctrinal Uniformity

J. Neil Daniels

In History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches, Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704) famously launched a polemic against Protestantism on the grounds of its internal diversity. He wrote:

"When in expositions of faith, variations were seen among Christians, they were ever considered as a mark of falsehood and inconsistency, if I may so speak, in the doctrine propounded. Faith speaks with simplicity; the Holy Ghost sheds pure light; and the truth which he teaches has a language always uniform."[1]

Bossuet’s critique assumes that theological consistency, universality, and antiquity are essential marks of true faith. However, what he applied to Protestantism can, upon closer inspection, be turned inward toward Roman Catholicism itself. The Catholic Church is by no means monolithic in belief or practice, despite its claims to magisterial authority. The historical and theological record reveals striking and enduring divisions that mirror, if not exceed, the diversity he condemns in Protestantism.

For instance, consider the long-standing theological disputes between the Dominicans and Jesuits over grace and predestination. The Dominican Bañezian school, following Thomist rigor, maintained a strong view of predestination and efficacious grace, whereas the Jesuits, under Luis de Molina, defended human freedom more robustly in their doctrine of middle knowledge (scientia media). The Catholic hierarchy was so divided on this matter that Pope Paul V issued a gag order in 1607 forbidding either side from condemning the other—a silence that persists to this day.

Similarly, consider the intra-Catholic conflicts between Gallicans and Ultramontanists. Gallicans, particularly in France, sought to limit papal authority and emphasized national ecclesiastical independence, while Ultramontanists insisted on the supreme authority of the pope over all local churches. This division reached a climax in the First Vatican Council (1869–70), which dogmatically defined papal infallibility, an outcome that many French and German Catholics, including entire national churches, resisted. In modern times, the post-Vatican II era has only heightened internal tensions, as progressive and traditionalist camps clash over liturgy, moral theology, and ecclesial authority. The rise of the SSPX (Society of St. Pius X), the ongoing tensions over the Latin Mass, and the emergence of competing visions of Catholic social teaching (e.g., liberation theology vs. integralism) all underscore the deep fractures within Roman Catholicism. Thus, Bossuet’s critique may ironically prove more devastating to the communion he sought to defend.

Endnote

1. James Benign Bossuet, History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches, vol. 1 (New York: D. & J. Sadlier, 1845), 3.