The Mendicant Conflict over Prophecy: Thomas Aquinas and Peter John Olivi

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian FitzGerald
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Understanding

This chapter shows how unauthorized claims of inspiration began to take more serious form, a development which gave greater urgency to theoretical reflections about prophecy. The chapter begins with a treatment of the thought of Thomas Aquinas, who consolidated the Dominican position in opposition to the challenge of apocalyptic or eschatological prophecy found in Joachim of Fiore’s writings. Aquinas attempted to define the limits of supernatural inspiration without excluding the Holy Spirit from the contemporary Church. He emphasized that the best form of prophecy was not prediction but ‘intellectual’ prophecy, or theological understanding. The chapter then contrasts Aquinas’s work with that of the Franciscan Peter John Olivi, who drew on Joachim’s teachings, as well as Hugh of St Victor’s, to promote visionaries with special insights into history. This contrast reveals how Aquinas makes prophecy appear more ordinary than Olivi’s, while also making it more difficult to discern who is inspired.

Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Beatific Vision ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theology And Philosophy ◽  
Key Questions

Contemplation, according to Thomas Aquinas, is the central goal of our life; yet a scholarly study on this topic has not appeared for over seventy years. This book fills that obvious gap. From an interdisciplinary perspective this study considers the epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the contemplative act; the nature of the active and contemplative lives in light of Aquinas’s Dominican calling; the role of faith, charity, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in contemplation; and contemplation and the beatific vision. Key questions addressed are: What is contemplation? What is truth? How can we know God? How do faith and reason relate to one another? How does Aquinas envisage the relations between theology and philosophy? What role does charity play in contemplation? Throughout this book the author argues that Aquinas espouses a profoundly intellective notion of contemplation in the strictly speculative sense, which culminates in a non-discursive moment of insight (intuitus simplex). In marked contrast to his contemporaries Aquinas therefore rejects a sapiential or affective brand of theology. He also employs a broader notion of contemplation, which can be enjoyed by all Christians, in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit are of central importance. This book should appeal to all those who are interested in this key aspect of Aquinas’s thought. It provides a lucid account of central aspects of Aquinas’s metaphysics, epistemology, theology, and spirituality. It also offers new insights into the nature of the theological discipline as Aquinas sees it, and how theology relates to philosophy.

The Inspiration of the Bible

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Efficient Cause ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church

Dealing with biblical inspiration within the scheme of the Word of God in its threefold form (as preached, written, and revealed), Karl Barth distinguished between divine revelation and the inspired Bible. He insisted that the revelation to prophets and apostles preceded proclamation and the writing of Scripture. He interpreted all the Scriptures as witness to Christ. While the human authors of the Bible ‘made full use of their human capacities’, the Holy Spirit is ‘the real author’ of what is written. Raymond Collins, in dialogue with Thomas Aquinas, Barth, and others, interpreted biblical inspiration in the light of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Divine Revelation. He spoke of the Holy Spirit as the ‘principal, efficient cause’ (with the human authors as the ‘instrumental’ causes), rejected dictation views of inspiration, and examined the scope of biblical truth and the authority of the Bible for the Church.

The Holy Spirit and Human Personality

1976 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendel D. Craker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Personality ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Personality Changes ◽  
Conflict Model ◽  
Quest For Meaning ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
Consistency Models

Concepts of an ultimate and eternal reality in the universe can no longer be taken for granted. People living within a contemporary frame of reference often find it difficult even to talk about the Holy Spirit as an interacting personality with the spirit of man. Yet the experience of life for even the most “modern” of men forces him to move outside of his closed system in order to satisfy his underlying quest for meaning. It is at this point that talk about the Holy Spirit once more becomes possible. The search for an understanding of the complex aspects of human personality is by no means over. The conflict model of personality structure generated by Freud and the fulfillment models exemplified in Adler, Maslow, and others have each made their contribution to understanding. Current trends often focus on the consistency models that emphasize the role of interaction with one's environment in the process of becoming. With the theological understanding of God as person, and man as person, not only the possibility, but the necessity of man's personality (spirit) interacting with the personality (Spirit) of God is before us. This is described by H. Wheeler Robinson's phrase, “the pressure of Spirit upon spirit.” Too often this spiritual dimension of man is overlooked when one talks about interaction with the environment. But the “environment of the Spirit” is an ever present factor and in itself may account for personality changes within man. This is reflected in the biblical concept of the goal directed man (andra telion) and his search for integration and completeness.

A Charismatic Learning: Open and Affirming Ministry in a Methodist Congregation

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210
Author(s):  
Darryl W. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
Participant Observer

Abstract “Open and affirming” connotes ministry that is fully inclusive of LGBTQIA+ persons. As a participant-observer, the author employed narrative theory to learn how members of a congregation recently committed to this ministry understood their faith in relation to the queer experiences of their sisters and brothers in Christ. This article offers a descriptive and interpretative account of their theological understanding of open and affirming ministry. Prior commitments—trust, respect for differences of opinion, and ongoing theological learning—created openness to the surprising work of the Holy Spirit. This research identifies radically inclusive love as a charism enabling this congregation to overcome not only LGBTQIA+ exclusion but also to address many other human-created barriers to loving God and neighbor.

Conciliatory reflections on the procession of the Holy Spirit in Giles of Viterbo's Sentences commentary

2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Nodes
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Related Question ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Classical Humanism ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Intellectual Environment ◽  
Scholastic Tradition

AbstractGiles of Viterbo's early sixteenth-century commentary on Peter Lombard's Libri sententiarum includes a discussion of the controversial Western doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son (Filioque) in its regular place at distinction 11 of book 1. In treating this issue Giles remained true to his aim of producing a commentary ‘according to the mind of Plato’ (ad mentem Platonis). Giles had access to the dialogues of Plato but only limited access to original texts of the Greek Fathers. Nevertheless, he reviewed the Filioque controversy in a manner which respects the sententia Graecorum, even disagreeing with a line of argumentation championed by scholastic supporters of the Augustinian tradition, including Thomas Aquinas, over the related question of whether it should be said that there is one spirator or plural spiratores. Giles' conciliatory position owes much to his intellectual environment, which fostered a renewed admiration for Hellenism and classical humanism. Working largely without benefit of the emerging rediscovery of Eastern patristic theology Giles nevertheless reassesses the arguments for and against the Filioque which he received from the Latin scholastic tradition, seeking, as he does throughout his commentary, what is true on both sides of apparently divergent teachings on divine mystery.

The Holy Spirit

2018 ◽  
pp. 182-197
Author(s):  
Thomas Joseph White
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Christian Teaching ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Nicene Creed ◽  
The Church ◽  
Latin Version

This chapter explores the basic structure of Christian teaching about the Holy Spirit—pneumatology. The chapter considers, first, the biblical presentation of the Spirit and then explores the decisive contribution of theological debates in the fourth century ad. The contributions of the Cappadocian fathers and St Augustine of Hippo are considered. The chapter then focuses on the Filioque clause in the Latin version of the Nicene Creed, and the contribution of St Thomas Aquinas. It then goes on to explores the possibilities for ecumenical convergence on pneumatology, with a final discussion emphasizing the Spirit’s role as the soul of the Church.

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