Speaking The Incomprehensible God: Thomas Aquinas On The Interplay Of Positive And Negative Theology Project Muse Upcc Books

How can the Church speak of the God who transcends all thought and speech? This book is a comprehensive retrieval of Thomas Aquinas’s theological epistemology of the divine names, which is his profound contribution to that perennial question. His theology of the divine names is a rich and complex tapestry that weaves together the twin themes of negative and positive theology. Tempering any extreme agnosticism, Aquinas sets out a multi-layered negative theology respectful of God’s incomprehensibility, while he also proposes a view of theological analogy that places it at the heart of his positive theology. Finally, he grounds his epistemology in the fundamental theological truth that God is the infinitely perfect and self-subsistent Creator. Gregory Rocca's nuanced discussion prevents Aquinas's thought from being capsulized in familiar slogans and is an antidote to unilateralist or monochrome views about God-talk. Rocca laces Aquinas's negative and positive theology together, because only that intertwining can do justice to the mystery of God. This study finds that, contrary to the views of some, Aquinas's analogy is more a matter of judgment and truth than of concept and meaning; despite his own presuppositions, Aquinas bases his theological analogy more on the insights of faith than those of reason. Aquinas's theology of the divine names encourages contemporary dialogue to keep the tensioned truth of God in view and to remember that only a fruitful interplay of positive and negative theology can do justice to the Elusive One who evades our linguistic capture and yet desires to be acknowledged and worshiped as Creator and Sustainer. The book will prove helpful to specialists in Aquinas and to others who are interested in the God-talk dialogue and can profit from an in-depth retrieval of Aquinas. Contents Foreword Preface Abbreviations Part One. God the Incomprehensible and Negative Theology A Brief Survey of Negative Theology in the Hellenistic and Patristic Traditions Authors before Pseudo-Dionysius Pseudo-Dionysius and John Damascene God’s Dual Incomprehensibility in Aquinas God as Supereminent Darkness Our Nonquidditative Knowledge of God No Intellect Sees God by Its Natural Powers The Graced Vision of God’s Essence Finite Intellectual Creatures and God’s Infinity Our Noncomprehensive Knowledge of God Conclusion Aquinas’ Via Negativa The Threefold Way to God The Via Negativa Three Types of Negative Theology Growth and Progress of Negative Theology Negation and Preeminence The Way of Preeminence Conclusion Part Two. Analogy and the Web of Judgment Analogy in Aristotle The Various Meanings of Analogy in Aquinas Critique of Analogy Analogy as Proportion and Proportionality Analogy as Referential Multivocity Analogy of Attribution, Proper Proportionality, and Cajetan’s Interpretation The Primacy of Analogy as Referential Multivocity The Logical Status of Multivocal Analogy The Unity and Diversity of Analogy as a Web of Predication Primary and Secondary Meanings Reference to an Individual Reality or Nature God and Creatures The Analogical Community Analogy’s “Common Meaning” and “Different Meanings” Analogy as Judgment in Aquinas Judgment and Truth Judgment and Concept Analogy as Judgment Theological Analogy as the Mean between Univocity and Equivocity The Place of Theological Analogy in Aquinas’ Treatise on God The Graced Judgment of Faith Conclusion Part Three. Crucial Truths about God Aquinas and the Existence of God the Creator Aquinas’ View of Aristotle’s First Principles The Unmoved Mover of Aristotle’s Physics The Primary Substance of Aristotle’s Metaphysics The Richness of God’s Existence in Aquinas’ Theology Aquinas and the Philosophers on God the Creator Creation and Creator The World’s Eternity God the Creator Philosophically Interpreted as Subsistent Being The Radical Contingence of Creatures PhilosophicallyInterpreted as the Real Distinction between Being and Essence Conclusion Aquinas’ Crucial Theological Truths God Is the Infinite, Pure, and Perfect Act of Subsistent Being A Perfect God An Infinite God God Is the Creator and Conserver of the Universe A Transcendent Creator An Immanent Creator A God Who Freely Creates from Nothing Creation Is a Likeness to God Creatures Are Both Like and Unlike God God’s Essence and God’s Ideas Vestige, Image, Similarity Participation: Aquinas’ Christian View of the Universe Truth and Epistemology Part Four. The Divine Names Aquinas’ Positive Theology of the Divine Names Divine Names Theory of Names On Naming God Aquinas’ Positive Theology Proper Name of Divinity Proper versus Metaphorical Predication Taxonomy of the Divine Names Primacy and Dependence in Divine Predication Different Meanings of the Divine Names The Distinction between the Reality Signified and the Manner of Signification Historical Background The Res/Modus Distinction in Aquinas God’s Modelessness and the Creature’s Finite Mode The Human Manner of Understanding The Human Manner of Signification The Res/Modus Distinction and the Analogical Nature of Divine Predication Conclusion: Speaking the Incomprehensible God Bibliography Index of Texts of Aquinas Index of Names Index of Subjects Since Aquinas' chief source for his understanding of negative theology and God's incomprehensibility in the Christian tradition is indisputably Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite-with John Damascene playing a supporting role-and since these two writers, as well as the earlier authors that paved the way for them, both Christian and non-Christian, come largely from the Hellenistic world on the border between East and West, it is important to become familiar with the terminology and traits of that world's understanding of God's incomprehensibility and negative theology. Gregory P. Rocca. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 357-386) And Indexes.