THEOLOGICAL CONCLUSION. — A phrase used to denote the deduction made from two premises, one of which is of faith, the other of reason. E.g.: the one divine nature is common to all the Persons of the Holy Trinity (= truth of faith, revealed); now nature is the proximate principle of operation (= truth of reason, philosophy); therefore operation (ad extra) is common to all the Persons of the Holy Trinity. For there to be a true and proper theological conclusion, it must be drawn from its principles by rigorous demonstration, obtained through a deductive syllogism, not merely explicative or analytic, as would be the following: Jesus Christ is a man; man consists of soul and body; therefore Jesus Christ consists of soul and body.
All admit that the theological conclusion, being indissolubly connected with Revelation, falls within the scope of the Church’s infallibility, but there is dispute as to whether it pertains to the indirect or direct object of infallibility, i.e., whether it is an object of ecclesiastical or divine faith and thus definable as a dogma. This divergence of opinion arises from the difficulty, often encountered, in distinguishing the deductive syllogism from the merely analytic one, and consequently the true theological conclusion from one that is such only in a broad sense, and virtual revelation from formal revelation. Thus, for example, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a formally revealed truth, before the bull *Ineffabilis Deus* was accepted by many only as a theological conclusion, as a virtually revealed truth. The value of the theological conclusion and its applicability in theology have been vigorously contested recently by L. Charlier in the work *Essai sur le problème théologique* (Thuin 1938), which was placed on the Index by decree of the Holy Office on 4 February 1942.
THEOLOGICAL CONCLUSION – CONCORDATS