Fides qua creditur et Fides quæ creditur : Retour sur une distinction qui n'est pas chez Augustin

The distinction between fides qua creditur and fides quæ creditur is habitually attributed to Augustine in the De Trininate (XIII, 2, 5). Today this distinction is the object of renewed interest in French-speaking theology, partly because of the work of Denis Villepelet. The subject of this article is, on the one hand, to show that the distinction is not Augustinian and that, on the other hand, its use is, at the least, problematical. Astonishingly Lutheran in its origins in the 17th century the expression fides quæ creditur runs the risk of inferring a representation of the object of faith in terms of "content", or "doctrine" whereas it concerns God and his Word.