DESIRE TO ACCORDING TO OMAS AQUINAS AND HIS INTERPRETERS Lawrence Feingold

254 Pages·2010·15.63 MB·English

u r a l D e sir e t o
ACCORDING TO
omas Aquinas
and His In terp reters
SECOND EDITION
Lawrence Feingold
Sapientict Press
of Ave Maria University
Second edition. Copyright © 2010 by Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University,
Naples, Florida. All rights reserved.
Originally published by Apollinare Studi, Rome, 2001.
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ISBN: 978-1-932589-54-2
en, nor ear beard, nor has it entered
heart of man, what God has prepared
for those who love him. ”
1 Corinthians 2:9
“And if, my dear Socrates,” Diotima went on,
.. it were given to man to see the heavenly beauty face to face,
would you call his, ” she asked me, “an unenviable life, whose eyes
had been opened to the vision, and who had gazed upon
it in true contemplation until it had become his own forever?”
Plato, Symposium 21 ld-e
“No desire leads so high as the desire to understand the truth.
For all our other desires, whether of delight or anything else
that is desired by man, can come to rest in other things.
However, the afore-mentioned desire does not come to rest
until it reaches God, the supreme foundation and maker
of all things. For this reason Wisdom aptly says: “I dwelt in high places,
and my throne was in a pillar of cloud” (Sir 24:4). And in Prov 9:3
it is said that'She has sent out her maids to call
from the highest places in the town. ’ Let them therefore
be ashamed who seek the beatitude of man,
so highly situated, in base thing. ”
tg& St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles III, ch. 50

List of Abbreviations..................... xvii
Acknowledgements............................................................................................ xxi
Introduction........................................................................................................xxiii
Chapter 1 • The Natural Desire to See God............................... 1
Man Has a Twofold End................................................................................. 1
The Natural Desire to See God in 57T-II, q. 3, a. 8 ................................. 3
Platonic and Aristotelian Sources for the Natural Desire to See God....... 6
C hapter 2 • Natural Desire according to St. Thomas........... 11
Appetite Is an Analogical Reality....................................... 11
Innate Natural Inclination of the Faculties of the Soul............................... 13
Natural Acts of the Will................................................................................... 17
The Objects of Natural Desire........................................................................ 19
Natural Necessitation of the Will................................................................... 20
Natural Desire Can Be Conditional: Christ’s Prayer in Gethsemane....... 23
Summary............................................................................................................ 25
Chapter 3 • St. Thomas's Texts on the Natural Desire
to See God................................................... 27
Can We See Gods Essence?............................................................................ 27
St. Thomas’s First Defense of the Possibility of the Beatific Vision........... 28
Chronology of the Texts of St. Thomas on the Natural Desire
to See God.................................................... 30
THE NATURAL DESIRE TO S;EE GOD
St. Thomas’s Texts on the Natural Desire to See God
Speak of an Elicited Natural Desire............................................................... 34
ScG III, ch. 25, nn. 11-13...................................................................... 35
ScG III, ch. 25, n. 11........................................................................ 35
ScG III, ch. 25, n. 12...................................................................;.. 37
ScG III, ch. 25, n. 13........................................................................ 37
The Natural Desire to Know the Essence of God
according to ScG III, chs. 50-51........................................................... 38
Set? Ill, ch. 50, n. 2 ......................................................................... 38
ScG III, ch. 50, n. 3 ......................................................................... 38
ScG III, ch. 50, n. 4 ......................................................................... 39
ScG III, ch. 50, n. 5......................................................................... 39
ScG III, ch. 50, n. 6 ......................................................................... 41
ScG III, ch, 50, nn. 8-9.................................................................. 42
ScG III, ch. 51, n. 1....................... 42
Comp, theol. I, ch. 104............................................................................. 43
Preliminary Conclusions on the Basis of the Texts...................................... 43
Problems Left Unresolved............................................................................... 44
C hapter 4 • Scotus................................................................................. 47
Natural Appetite of the Will Is Only an Innate Inclination...................... 48
Natural Appetite for the Beatific Vision........................................................ 51
Scotuss Distinction of the Natural and the Supernatural........................... 53
Scotus’s Definition of Natural Potency.................................................. 53
According to Scotus, the Supernatural End of Man
Could Be Naturally Known.................................................................... 57
Demonstrative Value of the Natural Desire to See God...................... 60
Conclusion........................................................................................................ 63
C hapter 5 • Denis the Carthusian.................................................. 67
Denis the Carthusian’s Critique of Scotus.................................................... 68
Denis’s Critique of the Natural Desire to See God...................................... 70
“Natural Desire Does Not Extend beyond Natural Capacity”........... 70
There Can Be No Rational Demonstration
of a Supernatural Mystery........................................................................ 71
St. Thomas’s Argument Seems to Imply That the Vision
of God Would Be Our Natural End...................................................... 72
The Created Intellect Naturally Desires to Know God
with a Perfection Proportionate to Its Natural Capacity.................... 73
Importance of Denis’s Arguments......................................................... 76
The Value of Denis the Carthusian’s Contribution.................................... 77
C ontents
Chapter 6 * Can There Be a Natural Inclination
for a Supernatural Perfection? Cajetan's Refutation
of Scotus.......................................................................... 81
Cajetan’s Critique of Scotus in De potentia neutra............................. 82
Texts of St. Thomas in Support of Cajetan’s Position,
Denying a Natural Inclination for a Supernatural End...................... 85
De veritate, q. 27, a. 2: The Distinction of Grace and Charity . 86
Sri-II, q. 62, a. 1 ......................................................................... 88
STl-ll, q. 62, a. 3 .......................................................................... 89
Ill Sent., d. 23, q. 1, a. 4, qla. 3.................................................... 90
De veritate, q. 14, a. 2: Necessity of Faith.................................... 92
Despe, q. un., a. 1, ad 8: Necessity of Hope.............................. 93
Ill Sent., d. 27, q. 2, a. 2, ad 4: Necessity of Charity............... 93
Ill Sent., d. 27, q. 2, a. 3, ad 5 .................................................... 96
In II Cor. 5:5.................................................................................... 96
Conclusion............................................................................................. 97
Chapter 7 • Cajetan and Obediential Potency........... 101
Contestation of Cajerans Position..................................................... 102
The Notion of Obediential Potency.................................................. 105
Natural Active and Passive Potencies and Obediential Potency 106
History of the Notion of Obediential Potency......................... 108.
Obediential Potency Is Not Limited to Miracles...................... 110
Specific Obediential Potency Unique to the Spiritual Creature 112
History of the Notion of Specific Obediential Potency,
Proper to Spiritual Nature.................................................................... 114
St. Augustine................................................................................... 114
St. Thomas Aquinas...................................................................... . 114
Theologians after St. Thomas...................................................... . 117
Response to de Lubac.................................................................... . 120
Three Arguments of Cajetan against Scotus...................................... . 120
Some Gifts of God Are Intrinsically Supernatural.................... . 121
Natural Passive Potencies Are Always Parallel
to Natural Active Powers............................................................... . 123
Cajetan’s Third Argument: There Can Be No Natural
Knowledge of Supernatural Mysteries......................................... . 132
THE NATURAL DESIRE TO .SEE GOD
Has Cajetan Been Faithful to St. Thomas’s Teaching on
Obediential and Natural Potency?................................................................. 136
S7TII, q. 1, a. 3, ad 3 ............................................................................. 137
De veritatey q. 29, a. 3, ad 3.................................................................... 138
STlll, q. 11, a. 1...................................................................................... 141
De veritate, q. 8, a. 4, ad 13.................................................................... 146
De veritate, q. 8, a. 12, ad 4.................................................................... 148
Comp, theol. I, ch. 104............................................................................. 149
De virtutibus, q. un., a. 10, ad 13........................................................... 150
Is Justification of the Sinner a Miraculous Work of God?............................154
IV Sent., d. 17, q. 1, a. 5, qla. 1............................................................. 156
S7T-II,q. 113, a. 10............................................................................... 158
The Interpretation of Cajetan................................................................. 159
Response to the Criticism Directed against Cajetan.................................... 162
Conclusion........................................................................................................ 165
Chapter 8 • Cajetan's Interpretation of the
Natural Desire to See God......................................................................167
Commentary on S7T, q. 12, a. 1.................................................................. 167
Cajetan’s First Objection.....................................,...................................167
Cajetan’s Second Objection.................................................................... 169
Cajetan’s Solution: St. Thomas Is Speaking as a “Theologian”........... 170
Evaluation of Cajetan’s Commentary on STI, q. 12, a. 1....................171
An Alternative Response to Cajetan’s First Objection............................173
Cajetan’s Commentary on STI-II, q. 3, a. 8............................................... 175
First Solution: There Can Be a Natural Desire
for the Fulfillment of a Specific Obediential Potency......................... 175
Second Solution: St. Thomas Is Considering Man
as Ordered to the Vision of God....................... 177
Third and Definitive Solution................................................................. 178
Comparison of Cajetan, Scotus, de Lubac, and St. Thomas...................... 179
Conclusion..........................................................................................................181
Chapter 9 « Francis Sylvester of Ferrara (Ferrariensis).......183
Sylvester of Ferrara’s Interpretation of the Natural
Desire to See God............................................................................................ 184
Sylvester’s Response to the First Difficulty........................................... 186
Sylvester’s Response to the Second Difficulty........................................ 188
Evaluation of Sylvester’s Interpretation.......................................................... 188
Twentieth-Century Rejection of Sylvester’s Thesis...................................... 190
Contents
Chapter 10 • An Eclectic Recourse to Scotus:
Domingo de Soto and Francisco de Toledo...................................197
Domingo de Soto........................................................................................ 197
De Soto’s Interpretation of the Natural Desire of the Will
as an Innate Inclination............................................................................. 197
Evaluation of de Soto’s Thesis of a Non-elicited Natural Desire
of the Will.................................................................................................. 199
Arguments Used by de Soto in Support of His Position,
and Responses on the Basis of the Principles of St. Thomas.................200
Conclusion.................................................................................................206
Francisco de Toledo (Toletus)..........................................................................207
Abandonment of the Interpretation of de Soto and Toledo..........................210
Chapter 11 ® Medina, Banez, Suarez, and
the Formation of a Consensus: The Natural Desire
to See God Is Not an Innate Inclination.........................................211
Bartolomd de Medina......................................................................................212
Bdnez................................................................................................................216
Vazquez..............................................................................................................218
Suarez: Debitum Naturae and the Possibility of a State
of Pure Nature............................................................. 221
Terminological Clarification: Innate and Elicited Appetite................221
Innate Appetite Is Always Correlative with Natural
Active Forces...............................................................................................222
“Nature’s Due” according to St. Thomas.................................................223
Sudrez’s Argument for the Possibility of a Natural
Final End.....................................................................................................230
Texts of St. Thomas Speaking of a Natural Final End...........................236
57*1, q. 62, a. 1....................................................................... 236
S7T-II, q. 62, a. 1..............................................................................238
II Sent, d. 31, q. 1, a. 2, ad 3.........................................................242
De malo, q. 4, a. 1, ad 14, and De malo, q. 5, a. 1, ad 15.............244
De malo, q. 16, a. 2, ad 17...............................................................245
Texts on Limbo: II Sent, d. 33, q. 2, a. 2,
and De malo, q. 5, a. 3 ......................................................................247
Suarez Argues That Innate Appetite Cannot Be Twofold....................250
An Innate Appetite for the Vision Would Imply That It Is Due.......256
THE NATURAL DESIRE TO SEE GOD
Chapter 12 • The Formation of a Consensus, Part 2:
The Natural Desire to See God Is a
Conditional Desire......................................................................................261
The Natural Desire to See God Is a Conditional Desire...............................261
Medina and Bdnez......................................................................................261
Sudrez..........................................................................................................263
John of St. Thomas to Garrigou-Lagrange.............................................267
St. Thomas’s Argument in ST1, q. 12, a. 1, Is an Argument
of Fittingness and Not a Strict Demonstration.............................................269
Bartolome de Medina.................................................................................269
Bdnez............................................................................................................270
Suirez............................................................................................................272
Chapter 13 • Jansenius's Rejection of the Possibility
of a State of Pure Nature........................................................................277
The Vision of God Is Our “Natural” End......................................................277
Jansenius’s Argument Based on the Necessity of Charity.............................283
Jansenius’s Account of the Gratuitousness of Grace......................................286
Summary of the Jansenist Position..................................................................292
Chapter 14 • Henri de Lubac's interpretation
of the Natural Desire to See God................................... 295
1. A Supernatural Finality Is Imprinted on Our Nature Itself................297
2. The Natural Desire to See God Is a Consequence
of Our Supernatural Destiny..................................................................299
3. The Desire to See God Is the “Desire of Our Nature” ........................301
4. The Natural Desire to See God Constitutes Our Being......................302
5. The Natural Desire to See God Is God’s “Call”
to the Supernatural Implanted in Our Nature......................................303
6. The Natural Desire to See God Is an Absolute Desire........................304
7. A Natural Desire to See God Is Not Necessarily Present
in the Rational Creature...........................................................................305
8. The Demonstrative Value of the Argument.........................................307
9. The Gratuitousness of the Supernatural.................................................309
10. A Positive Argument for the Gratuitousness of the Supernatural:
We Desire the Vision of God Precisely as a Gift..................................312
11. The Possibility of a State of Pure Nature Is Irrelevant
to the Gratuitousness of the Supernatural.............................................313
12. De Lubac’s Charge against the Thomisdc Consensus.........................314