scholarly journals A Loving Kind of Knowing: Connatural Knowledge as a Means of Knowing God in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Duke
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Parallel Path ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Romans 8

In his exegesis of Romans 8:15-16, Thomas Aquinas asks how it is that the Holy Spirit bears testimony in us that we are the children of God. He responds that the Spirit bears testimony “through the effect of filial love he produces in us. ” At least in some circumstances, Aquinas suggests, we can come to know God through our experience of loving him. But Aquinas, following a long tradition, teaches that we love things insofar as we know them as good (cf: I-II, q.9, a.1, corpus and ad.3). How then can love give rise to knowledge?Aquinas’s teaching in the Summa Theologica on the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom provides a key to this question. The gift of wisdom makes use of the love of charity to know God (II-II, q.45). Charity, by making us “connatural” with God, can give rise to knowledge of God. I will then consider how the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom relates to the science of theology. The gift of wisdom, however, does not offer an independent or parallel path to knowledge of God, but rather, depends on faith and is the perfection to which the science of sacred is oriented. 

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.

scholarly journals An Exegetico-Theological Study of Romans 8:1-8: Toward a Pneumatological-Ecclesiology

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-142
Author(s):  
Isaac Boaheng
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church ◽  
Romans 8

This article focuses on Paul’s teachings on how the believer’s life in the Spirit contrasts the believer’s previous life of sin, with particular reference to Romans 8:1-8. It first employed the exegetical method—comprising contextual analysis, literary analysis, detailed analysis of lexicology (the meaning of words), morphology (the form of words), grammatical function of words (parts of speech), syntax (the relationships of words) and figures of speech—to explore the text. The next step was a systematic theological formulation of pneumatological-ecclesiology based on the results from the exegetical study of the text. The main argument is that the Spirit applies Christ’s salvific work to the believer in a way that does not only put the believer right forensically but also puts him/her right behaviorally. Thus, the believer walking in the Spirit is both justified by the cross and by good deeds performed through the enabling presence of the Spirit. The article contributes to the academic disciplines of systematic theology and biblical studies by exploring what pneumatological-ecclesiology is embedded in the text and applying this formulated theology to the life of the contemporary church, drawing attention to the fact that since the Holy Spirit breathes upon and through the church, the activities of the Spirit in the church should be the plumb line for assessing the nature and conduct of the church. This contribution serves as an effective tool for enhancing ethical and religious renewals in believers in a way that eventually enhances their relationship with God, other humans and the environment. Keywords: Death, Flesh, Law, Spirit

Der Geist und das Reich im Lukanischen Werk: Konkurrenz oder Konvergenz zwischen Pneumatologie und Eschatologie?

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-345
Author(s):  
Klaus B. Haacker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Church

Since 1950, studies of Luke–Acts have been influenced by a downgrading of eschatology (at least of the expectation that the goal of history would be near). Conzelmann's slogan ‘Die Mitte der Zeit’ (the earthly mission of Jesus as the ‘centre of history’) suggested a long ‘time of the Church’ with the gift(s) of the Holy Spirit as a substitute (and not a foretaste) of the kingdom of God. The present study challenges this influential view of Luke's theology and its impact on definitions of the genre of Acts.

John Zizioulas

2018 ◽  
pp. 466-486
Author(s):  
Paul McPartlan
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Further Development ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The chapter explores three deeply interlinked aspects of John Zizioulas’s highly influential ecclesiology: the relationship between the church and the Trinity; the relationship between the church and the Eucharist; and finally the consequences of those relationships for the structure of the church. The church is a communion through its participation in the life of the Trinity. In Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, it receives and re-receives the gift of communion in every Eucharist, and communion has a shape that reflects the life of God. The Trinity is centred on the Father, and so in the church at various levels the communion of the many is centred on one who is the head. This is the purely theological reason why the synodality of the church requires primacy at the local, regional, and universal levels. The chapter concludes that, while prompting many questions and needing further development, Zizioulas’s proposal has great ecumenical value.

Spirit-Baptism and Pentecostalism

1970 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. G. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Great Weight ◽  
Spirit Baptism ◽  
Distinct Event ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Two Stages

Within Christianity down through the centuries there has always been a strain of teaching which holds that salvation, so far as it may be known in this life, is experienced in two stages: first the event of becoming a Christian; then, as a later and distinct event, some special and distinctive operation or gift of the Holy Spirit. In the history of Christian thought this disjointedness was first clearly formulated in the Catholic sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. According to A. J. Macdonald, the idea that Confirmation confers the gift of the Spirit was held without question until the time of Wyclif. And today in anglo-catholic tradition, although the episcopal laying on of hands is commonly thought of as bestowing a strengthening gift of the Spirit, some continue to speak as though the Spirit is first received at that time. Indeed, since the question was reopened by F. W. Puller in 1880, it has been regularly argued, often with great weight, though not infrequently with greater ingenuity, that far greater significance (in terms of the Spirit) should be attributed to Confirmation than to Baptism.

The Old Syrian Baptismal Tradition and its Resettlement under the Influence of Jerusalem in the Fourth Century

1965 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
E. C. Ratcliff
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Comprehensive Description ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit

It is well known that the old Syrian, or to give it a more comprehensive description, the old Eastern liturgical usage of Baptism differed markedly from that which obtained in the West. The most obvious difference is one of pattern, and appears in connection with the ceremony known to us as Confirmation. In Western usage, as we find it in North Africa, described by Tertullian at the beginning of the third century in his De Baptismo, the act of baptising is followed by two ceremonies. The first of these is an anointing with oil. Tertullian connects this anointing with that of Aaron by Moses, and ascribes to it an undefined spiritual benefit. The second ceremony is the last of the rite, and its culmination; it conveys, according to Tertullian, the gift of the Holy Spirit. ‘Dehinc,’ he says, ‘manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans et invitans spiritum sanctum. . . . Tunc ille sanctissimus spiritus super emundata et benedicta corpora libens a patre descendit.’ Shortly after the writing of De Baptismo, we meet with evidence for the existence of a similar rite at Rome. The text of Apostolic Tradition, as it has been put together from its several versions, requires to be treated with caution; but there is no doubt that Hippolytus knew a post-baptismal ceremony, comparable with the use of oil after the bath, and held to apply, ώς μύρῳ, the powers of the Holy Spirit, to those who have newly come up from the ‘bath’ (λουτρόν) of Baptism.

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.

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.

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