Aquinas: God and Action

218 Pages·2016·6.64 MB·English

by  David B. Burrell

AQUINAS
God and Action
David B. Burrell, C.S.c.
University of Scranton Press
Scranton and London
© 2003 Univmity o/Scranton Press
All rights rmrvd.
Library o/Congms Cataloging-in.Publication Data
(Has bun appliedf or but is not available at time '!fpublication.)
Burrell. David B.
Aquinas: God and a«ion / David B. Burrell.
p.em.
Originally published: Notre Dame. Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press. C1979.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-\8966-161-\ (pbk.)
I. God··Proof··History of doctrines. 2. Thomas. Aquinas. Saint. I22S?·1274. I. Title.
BTlo).T4 B87 1008
23I'.042··dc22
2008021740
Distribution:
University o/Scranton Press
Chicago Distribution Center
II030 S. Langley Avenue
Chicago, IL 60623
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To Frederick]. Crosson
Teacher. Scholar. Dean

Contents
Foreword to Second Edition xi
Preface xiii
Part I. Scitntia Divina: 'The Grammar of Divinity
Background: Philosophical Grammar 3
1.1 Examples 4
I. J. J Concrete ilnd abstract terms \
loLl. Two senses ar"co be" 7
I. 1.3 Res signified!a and modus significandi 9
I.. Concluding observations: linguistic tools and their usc II
The Unknown 13
•• 1 Structure of the inquiry .1.\
••• God's simpleness .0
• ••• 1 God is no' bodily
2.2..2. God is not composed of matter and form
1.1.3 God is his own nature
2.2.4 God is to·bc
2..2..5 God is not in il genus. nor is he il substance
Why simpleness is not il deficiency in God
1.3.1 God's goodness
1.3.1 God's limitlessness and unchangeableness
1.3.1.1 Limitlessness
2.3.2.2. God's existence in things
2.3.2.3 God's unchangeableness
'.3-'.4 E,ernicy of God
2.;.3 God is one
3 Showing a Way: Em 43
3.1 Grammar of esse SO
3.1.1 Aquinas' uses \1
3.1.l. A systematic review \\
3·' How we are (not) able to use tsSt 53
4 Analogical Predication
4.1 Naming God
4.1.1 Diverse ways of speaking
4.1.l. Grammatical observations about religious uses
VIn A~INAS: GOD AND ACTION
4·> Aquinas' treatment 7'
4·2.1 The words arc used literally of God 7>
4·2.2 The words arc used truthfully ofG od 74
4·) Analogy 7\
T.r.u th in Matters Religious 78
\ Art of using analogical expressions 79
j.> Respecting divine transcendence 8.
S·2.1 In the face of many religions 8.
\.) Sta.m. s of Aquinas' account 84
\.) Putting it to the test 86
6 A Philosophical Objection: Process Theology 89
6. • Alternative roles for philosophy 89
6.> On conceiving God 9'
6.) An operative distinction 9)
6.4 Relating levels of discourse 9\
6.\ God and the world 97
6.6 Grammar and religious affirmation .00
7 A Psychological Objcction:Jung and Privatio Boni 104
7·' Positions outlined .0\
7·> Mediating the positions .09
7·2.1 Conventional wisdom v. therapeutic insight .09
7·2.2 Good/evil, or good actions and evil actions II>
7·>·) How else can evil be explained? 114
7·>·4 The limiting case: refusal 118
7·>·\ Reflection on method .,0
.u
7·) Reinstating the devil
7-4 Concluding observations .>8
.).
Part 2. ActllS: The Operative Analogous Expression
8 Actlls: An Inherently Analogous Expression '33
8. • Characteristic uses ofa ctlls 135
8.> The paradigm use .)6
8.) Order of treatment ')7
9 Intentional Activity and Performance: Paradigm for Actlts 133
9·' Understanding as active receptivity .)8
9·> Performance and understanding '40
9·2.1 Consent to the end '4'
9.2.2 Counsel concerning means '44
CONTENTS IX
9·3 Habitus or "first act"
9·4 Summary
10 Natural Process: Actlls and Causality ISO
10.1 From actus [0 rliatio lSI
10.2. Role actllS plays 151
10.3 Conclusion 1\4
II Divine Activity: Creative and Immanent
I 1.1 Creation
1 I. 1.1 Logic of creation
11.1.2. Argumems fora picture
1 1.1.3 Sense of the picture
1 I. 1.4 Creation as a selfpinvolving affirmation
1 1.2. Activity immanent to God: persons as relations
11.2..1 A logic germane: to revelation
11.2..2. Relating as activity
11 The Act of Understanding: A Theory and an Analogy
11.1 Aquinas' theory of knowledge
I 2..1.1 Knowing as producing a word
12..1.2. Towards an analogical use:
11.1 Language and "Word" in God
12..2..1 Ime:rpreting Aquinas' terminology
11.1.1 An analogy for "Word ofG od"
12..3 Love as the tendency completing expression
12..3.1 The analogy oflovc in divinity
11.p Role of Trinity in Iheology
12..4 Concluding reflections
13 Paradoxes of Action: Some Structural Parallels
Some contrasting uses ofa ctus
1 3.1.1 Martyrdom as an act of fortitude
13.1.2. Active or contemplative life?
Action and accomplishment
13·2.
13·3 Actions and movements
13·4 Actlls as primarily imentional
Actlls as the transcendent expression
13·5

Foreword to Second Edition
University of Scranton Press (~oo8)
111is exploration of Thomas Aquinas' philosophical theology. decidedly
"unorthodox" at the time of ies original publication. had the good fortune
to be employed excensively. notably at y;.le and Cambridge. by my emi
nent colleagues George Lindbeck and Nicholas Lash. For it essayed a "non
foundational" reading of the SlImma The%gille. unabashedly beholden to
Wittgenstein. thereby preparing the way for a postmodern yet thoroughly
tmditional appreciation of the central role which Aquinas played in adapting
Hellenic thought to form the hybrid discipline of "philosophical theology."
Such a reading proved a welcome alternative to the neo-Thomist attempt
to separate "philosophy" from "theology". in an effort to show the wider
world that the Catholic f..ith was "based on reason." Yet while this unfor
tunate divide has been fixed in the departmental structure of Catholic col
leges and universities throughout the world. it was effectively undermined by
the universally respected expositor of Aquinas. Josef Pieper. noting that free
creation is "the hidden element in Aquinas' pbi/osopby." So however propi
tious it may have appeared to Catholic apologists in the heyday of modern
ism to sever "philosophy" from "theology; it would have made no more sense
to Aquinas than it could have to Anselm or Augustine before him. And iron
ically enough. a postmodern sensibility presaged by John Henty Newman in
of
his Grammar Assent finds the neo-Thomist construction of reason unadul
cerated by faith to be JUSt that-an abstract construction-alier Hans-Georg
Gadamer succeeded in showing how any inquity is fiduciary in its inception.
and as Alasdair Maclntyre has reminded us that all inquity is in fact "tra
dition-directed." whatever its ostensible attitude towards "tmdition." So a
"non-foundational" reading of Aquinas was to prove amenable to current phi
losophers. as well as more faithful to the thought-world of Aquinas himself.
Catholic theologians took somewhat longer to appreciate this reading of
Aquinas. since their early training in neo-Thomism had obscured Aquinas
himself. so that the focus of Vatican Il on biblical sources could only encour
age theologians to look elsewhere for their inspimtion. Firmly indoctrinated
in separate doctrinal traces of de neD linD and de neD /rinD. they could not
XII A~lNAS: GOD AND ACTION
help bm read the initial questions of the Summa Theologiae as "philosoph
ical" and so "founding" theology in something alien to revelation! My own
serendipitous theological formation with Bernard Lonergan (whose imprint
graces this study throughom) had initiated us into another picture of the rela
tion between reason and faith. more traditionally Augustinian-"faith seek
ing understanding" - and so more inclined to using reason informed by faith
to expound the mysteries of salvation. Moreover. careful historical retrievals
of Aquinas in the intervening decades have restored him to a central place
in contemporary theological inquiry in a relatively short period. It is that
place. and the role reason plays in it. which Aquinas: God and Action seeks
to explore. precisely by apprenticing students to Aquinas in the manner to
which Lonergan had introduced us: following the ways revelation challenged
him to appropriate the novelry of Hellenic philosophical inquiry. so inspir
ing him to transform its categories in the service of understanding. And as
we were invited to do likewise with "philosophy" as presented to us. a thor
oughly "contemporary" Aquinas emerged: the more we located his inquiry in
its context. the more he could assist us in appropriating ours. It is in that spirit
of "f.,ith seeking understanding" that I have responded to the desire of Stu
dents to gain access to this work. assisted by the generous offers ofJeffGainey
and the Universiry of Scranton Press to re-issue it. as well as of Simon Oliver
of Lampeter University in W.,les to introduce it to his generation. May we all
discover the liberating joys Of"f.lith seeking understanding."
Much has been accomplished along this vein since the original publica
cion, but let me simply men cion, for those interested in exploring the more
recondite metaphysical reaches of this thesis. Barry Miller's triprych: From
Existence to God (London: Routledge. 1991). A Most Unlikely God (Notre
of
Dame. IN: University of Notre Dame Press. 1996). Tile Fullness Being
(Notre Dame. IN: Universiry of Notre Dame Press. 2002); while anyone fas
cinated by analogues in Eastern thought (suggested in chapter 13) will want
to treat themselves to Sara Grant's Teape lectures: Toward an Alternative
of
Thtology: Conftssions a Non-Dualist Christian (Bangalore: Asian Trading
Corporation. 1991). new edition edited by Bradley Malkovsky (Notre Dame.
IN: Universiry of Notre Dame Press. 2002).
David B. Bmrell. C.S.c.
Hesburgh Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology
Universiry of Notre Dame (Indiana. USA)