Thinking Theologically about the Divine Ideas

Reexamining the Summa of Thomas Aquinas
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-51150-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 11, 248 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 557 g

Reihe: Brill's Studies in Catholic Theology

Thinking Theologically traces Aquinas’s subtle grammatical and thematic engagements with the doctrine of the divine ideas throughout the Summa Theologiae. This study offers new insights into the contributions of Aquinas’s doctrine to debates about eschatology, christology, providence, natural law, virtue, and creation’s participation in the trinitarian life of God. It argues that Aquinas adapts the doctrine to support his pedagogical goal of guiding readers from the confession of faith to the wisdom of sacra doctrina. In turn, this demonstrates that Aquinas’s reading of the divine ideas reinforces his understanding of the dynamic exchange between philosophical reasoning and theological inquiry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

DeSpain, Benjamin R

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements IX

Abbreviations XI

1 Introduction: Making a Case for Rereading Thomas’s Doctrine of the Divine Ideas

1.1 Problematic Methodologies: Interpreting Thomas’s Doctrine of the Divine Ideas

1.2 An Argument for the Fitting Gestures of the Divine Ideas in the Summa Theologiae

1.3 Notes on Method, Audience, and Scope

1.4 Outline

2 The Habit of Thinking Theologically: Faith Seeking Understanding in the Summa Theologiae

Introduction

2.1 There and Back Again: From Pedagogy to Reception

2.2 The First Question, the Oldest Question … A Note on the Summa’s Audience

2.3 Knowing the Unknown God through Faith

2.4 Hold Tight and Pretend It’s a Plan: The Structure of the Summa

2.5 Conclusion: Thomas Aquinas as Teacher of the Divine Ideas

3 A Case for the Theological Validity of the Divine Ideas

Introduction

3.1 The Theological Intelligibility of the Divine Ideas

3.2 Revisiting Josef Pieper’s Hidden Key

3.3 Divine Difference in Creational Imitation

4 The Grounds for a Trinitarian Rereading of the Divine Ideas

Introduction

4.1 An Excursus on Thomas’s Formal and Applied Vocabularies for the Divine Ideas

4.2 The Logic of Theological Fittingness

4.3 Stick to the Plan: The Unity of the Summa’s Treatise on God

4.4 The Fittingness of Speaking about the Trinitarian Processions as Rationes

4.5 Conclusion

5 Peripheral Preface: A Metaphysical Prefix to Thomas’s Doctrine of the Divine Ideas

Introduction

5.1 Worlds Apart: The Curious Practice of Bifurcating Theology and Philosophy

5.2 Overture to the Intelligibility of God

5.3 Theological Appropriation of the Divine Ideas in the Doctrine of Divine Providence

6 Virtuous Vision of the Divine Ideas: The Theological Appropriation of Macrobius

Introduction

6.1 Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius as Medieval Authority

6.2 Conduit for the Divine Ideas: Macrobius in Summa Theologiae 1a2ae.61.5

6.3 Identifying the Exemplar Virtues

6.4 Eschatological Glimmers: Actualizing Divine Similitude

6.5 The Nexus of Moral Illumination: Natural Law and Moral Development

6.6 Conclusion: A Note on Interpretive Trajectories

7 The Theological Metaphysics of Hope (and Spiritual Despair)

Introduction

7.1 Supernatural Complement to a Natural Capacity: Some Background Notes

7.2 Eschatological Fulfillment: Humanity’s Happy Ending

7.3 Motus Spei: Incedens Deo et Divinae Ideae Sui Ipsius

7.4 Spiritual Despair: Denying One’s True Meaning

7.5 Conclusion

8 Conclusion

Introduction

8.1 Ressourcement’s Double-Edged Sword

8.2 The End is Silence: A Final Plea for Reclaiming the Doctrine of the Divine Ideas

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Benjamin R. DeSpain, Ph.D. (2016), Durham University, is a Research Fellow at Australian Catholic University. He has previously published on the theological reception of the divine ideas. His current research focuses on Aquinas's notions of divine and human understanding.