"fire, water, women, wind".
Laurence Sterne, The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent., IV.16 (GBWW, 1st ed., 1952, vol. 36, p. 350).
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sterne on Aquinas and "the gulf of school-divinity"
"This at once started a new dispute, which they [(the two theological faculties of Strasburg, the Lutheran and the Popish)] pursued a great way, upon the extent and limitation of the moral and natural attributes of God—That controversy led them naturally into Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas Aquinas to the devil.
"The stranger's nose was no more heard of in the dispute—it just served them as a frigate to launch them into the gulf of school-divinity—and then they all sailed before the wind.
"Heat is in proportion to the want of true knowledge.
"The controversy about the attributes, etc., instead of cooling, on the contrary had inflamed the Strasburger's imaginations to a most inordinate degree—The less they understood of the matter, the greater was their wonder about it—they were left in all the distresses of desire unsatisfied—saw their doctors, the Parchmentarians, the Brassarians, the Turpentarians, on one side—the Popish doctors on the other, like Pantagruel and his companions in quest of the oracle of the bottle, all embarked out of sight.
"—The poor Strasburgers left upon the beach!"
Laurence Sterne, The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent., IV.Tale (GBWW, 1st ed., 1952, vol. 36, p. 334). How funny is that? Sterne can get away with just about anything in my book, even a dig at Thomas Aquinas as ridiculous as this one. (I wonder, though, if he doesn't have the positions of the two theological faculties reversed.)
"The stranger's nose was no more heard of in the dispute—it just served them as a frigate to launch them into the gulf of school-divinity—and then they all sailed before the wind.
"Heat is in proportion to the want of true knowledge.
"The controversy about the attributes, etc., instead of cooling, on the contrary had inflamed the Strasburger's imaginations to a most inordinate degree—The less they understood of the matter, the greater was their wonder about it—they were left in all the distresses of desire unsatisfied—saw their doctors, the Parchmentarians, the Brassarians, the Turpentarians, on one side—the Popish doctors on the other, like Pantagruel and his companions in quest of the oracle of the bottle, all embarked out of sight.
"—The poor Strasburgers left upon the beach!"
Laurence Sterne, The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent., IV.Tale (GBWW, 1st ed., 1952, vol. 36, p. 334). How funny is that? Sterne can get away with just about anything in my book, even a dig at Thomas Aquinas as ridiculous as this one. (I wonder, though, if he doesn't have the positions of the two theological faculties reversed.)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Garrigues on the inalienable prerogatives of the Jews
"Paul continues to say, in the bosom of the apostolic Church that gathers together into the one Body of Christ both Jews and Gentiles (cf. 1 Cor 12:13, Rom 9:24): 'we [Jews]' (Eph 1:11) and 'you [pagans]' (Eph 1:13, 2:11; Rom 11:13)."
Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 147.
Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 147.
Aquinas on the inalienable prerogatives of the Jews
"the Jews have a privilege in the contemplation of divine things: 'In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel" (Ps 75:1 [RSV]) . . . . They have also a privilege in their prayers, in the promises and in their descent: 'They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen' (Rom 9:4-5 [RSV]). And in each of these prerogatives, their superiority is not slight, but great and principal."
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, cap. 3, lect. 1, no. 249 (trans. Stroubant de Saint-Éloy, p. 158), as quoted by Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 149, italics mine. If this article is indeed fully representative, then Aquinas' theology of Judaism was quite simply astounding. And yet Garrigues' larger and more striking point is that this position was by the time of Aquinas largely traditional. The problem wasn't the doctrine but that the doctrine hadn't yet passed "into acts of justice and charity" (157). For that there was only the apostolic age, and then the period after the Holocaust (Vatican II and the pontificate of John Paul II) (145).
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, cap. 3, lect. 1, no. 249 (trans. Stroubant de Saint-Éloy, p. 158), as quoted by Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 149, italics mine. If this article is indeed fully representative, then Aquinas' theology of Judaism was quite simply astounding. And yet Garrigues' larger and more striking point is that this position was by the time of Aquinas largely traditional. The problem wasn't the doctrine but that the doctrine hadn't yet passed "into acts of justice and charity" (157). For that there was only the apostolic age, and then the period after the Holocaust (Vatican II and the pontificate of John Paul II) (145).
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Aquinas on what is natural
"we call that natural which is produced by an agent to which the patient is naturally subject, even if what is produced is not conformed to the nature of the patient. . . ."
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, cap. 11, lect. 3, no. 910 (trans. Stroubant de Saint-Éloy, p. 404), as quoted by Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 156.
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, cap. 11, lect. 3, no. 910 (trans. Stroubant de Saint-Éloy, p. 404), as quoted by Jean-Miguel Garrigues, "Les prérogatives inaliénables du peuple juif selon saint Thomas commentant saint Paul à propos de La promesse par le Cardinal J.-M. Lustiger," Revue thomiste 103, no. 1 (2003): 156.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Bonino on Aquinas on the theology of the religions
"The Fathers did not find the seeds of the Word in the great religions, but in philosophy, i.e. in the application of critical reason to the [(le processus de la raison critique face aux)] religions."
Joseph Ratzinger, Chemins vers Jésus, trans. Linnig (Parole et Silence, 2004), 73-74, as quoted by Serge-Thomas Bonino, "'Toute vérité, quel que soit celui qui la dit, vient de l'Esprit-Saint': autour d'une citation de l'Ambrosiaster dans le corpus thomasien," Revue thomiste 106, no. 1/2 (2006): 102n6. But Bonino qualifies this considerably for Aquinas, who "discovered [these seeds] first in philosophy" (102), but "did not limit the illuminative action of God exercised among the pagans to the rational speculation of the philosophers alone" (104). For St. Thomas there was always "the possibility that [even] the religious institutions of the Gentiles--in particular their prophecy and their scriptures--functioned as vectors directing them to some of the supernatural truths that come from the Holy Spirit and lead to Christ (though not without passing [ultimately] through Jerusalem!)" (126, italics mine). That "non sans passer d'ailleurs par Jérusalem!" is important. Because this is no abandonment of the orthodox denial of an extra ecclesiam. "Clearly, this revelation made to the Gentiles does not institute a way of salvation that would be complementary (still less parallel) to the economy of biblical revelation that culminates in Jesus Christ. It is strictly ordained to Jesus Christ, [the one] Mediator and Redeemer, whose mystery it announces and in an embryonic fashion explicates, in such a way as to prepare the minds and hearts of pagans to accept him" (114). Hence, "it belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ to purify these traditions, to recapitulate these captive and partial truths in order that they might be reintegrated into their 'natural place': the Church's confession of faith. It is only in this whole, to which they are ordained, that they find their full signification" (128).
Joseph Ratzinger, Chemins vers Jésus, trans. Linnig (Parole et Silence, 2004), 73-74, as quoted by Serge-Thomas Bonino, "'Toute vérité, quel que soit celui qui la dit, vient de l'Esprit-Saint': autour d'une citation de l'Ambrosiaster dans le corpus thomasien," Revue thomiste 106, no. 1/2 (2006): 102n6. But Bonino qualifies this considerably for Aquinas, who "discovered [these seeds] first in philosophy" (102), but "did not limit the illuminative action of God exercised among the pagans to the rational speculation of the philosophers alone" (104). For St. Thomas there was always "the possibility that [even] the religious institutions of the Gentiles--in particular their prophecy and their scriptures--functioned as vectors directing them to some of the supernatural truths that come from the Holy Spirit and lead to Christ (though not without passing [ultimately] through Jerusalem!)" (126, italics mine). That "non sans passer d'ailleurs par Jérusalem!" is important. Because this is no abandonment of the orthodox denial of an extra ecclesiam. "Clearly, this revelation made to the Gentiles does not institute a way of salvation that would be complementary (still less parallel) to the economy of biblical revelation that culminates in Jesus Christ. It is strictly ordained to Jesus Christ, [the one] Mediator and Redeemer, whose mystery it announces and in an embryonic fashion explicates, in such a way as to prepare the minds and hearts of pagans to accept him" (114). Hence, "it belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ to purify these traditions, to recapitulate these captive and partial truths in order that they might be reintegrated into their 'natural place': the Church's confession of faith. It is only in this whole, to which they are ordained, that they find their full signification" (128).
Sunday, February 1, 2009
"But in the end the Word is given, and one touches it with one's hand"
"the atmosphere of negative theology, so respectful of the mystery [(l'ambiance mystérique de la théologie négative)], . . . is, as it were, condensed and concentrated in the constant moment, in the incorruptible moment of the theology of eminence, Verbum abbreviatum. This procedure does not render pointless the old debate over the apophaticism of Saint Thomas. . . . But in the end the Word is given, and one touches it with one's hand."
Philippe Vallin, "Henri de Lubac et Saint Thomas d'Aquin: ouverture et structure en théologie," Revue des sciences religieuses 77, no. 2 (2003): 248.
Verbum abbreviatum ("the Man-God, Verbum abbreviatum" (248)) was, apparently, a medieval expression dear to de Lubac (248n96, which cites Histoire et esprit, pp. 345-346). Cf. the verbum [ab]breviatum of Is 10:22-23 and Rom 9:28, as quoted by, for example, Aquinas (Index Thomisticus, Corpus Thomisticum).
Abbreviatum derives from ML se abbreviare, to abase or humble or lower oneself, to stoop down, to condescend, and was used in the context of the theology of the Incarnation (Blaise, Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi (Brepols, 1975), 2). So Verbum abbreviatum would be something like "the Word self-abased", "the Word [who] humbled himself", etc. I'm working not from the texts directly but from Blaise, but Niermeyer gives other senses, too, ones that we today would associate with a term like abbreviare: to summarize, write with abbreviations, shorten, or contract (Niermeyer & Kieft, Mediae Latinitatis lexicon minus, 2nd ed., ed. Burgers (Brill, 2002), 4-5). So the Verbum abbreviatum was probably also "the Word contracted", "the Word sized down", "the Word contained" by the womb of Mary, the crib, etc. (Or so I'm just guessing.)
Philippe Vallin, "Henri de Lubac et Saint Thomas d'Aquin: ouverture et structure en théologie," Revue des sciences religieuses 77, no. 2 (2003): 248.
Verbum abbreviatum ("the Man-God, Verbum abbreviatum" (248)) was, apparently, a medieval expression dear to de Lubac (248n96, which cites Histoire et esprit, pp. 345-346). Cf. the verbum [ab]breviatum of Is 10:22-23 and Rom 9:28, as quoted by, for example, Aquinas (Index Thomisticus, Corpus Thomisticum).
Abbreviatum derives from ML se abbreviare, to abase or humble or lower oneself, to stoop down, to condescend, and was used in the context of the theology of the Incarnation (Blaise, Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi (Brepols, 1975), 2). So Verbum abbreviatum would be something like "the Word self-abased", "the Word [who] humbled himself", etc. I'm working not from the texts directly but from Blaise, but Niermeyer gives other senses, too, ones that we today would associate with a term like abbreviare: to summarize, write with abbreviations, shorten, or contract (Niermeyer & Kieft, Mediae Latinitatis lexicon minus, 2nd ed., ed. Burgers (Brill, 2002), 4-5). So the Verbum abbreviatum was probably also "the Word contracted", "the Word sized down", "the Word contained" by the womb of Mary, the crib, etc. (Or so I'm just guessing.)
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