Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustine's Theory of Knowledge (Challenges in Contemporary Theology)

264 Pages·2011·0.88 MB·English

by  Lydia Schumacher

DIVINE ILLUMINATION
Challenges in Contemporary Theology
Series Editors: Gareth Jones and Lewis Ayres
Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK and Durham University, UK
Challenges in Contemporary Theology is a series aimed at producing clear orientations in, and
research on, areas of “ challenge ” in contemporary theology. These carefully co - ordinated books
engage traditional theological concerns with mainstreams in modern thought and culture that
challenge those concerns. The “ challenges ” implied are to be understood in two senses: those
presented by society to contemporary theology, and those posed by theology to society.
Published
These Three are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology
David S. Cunningham
After Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy
Catherine Pickstock
Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology
Mark A. McIntosh
Engaging Scripture: A Model for Theological Interpretation
Stephen E. Fowl
Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ
William T. Cavanaugh
Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way into the Triune God
Eugene F. Rogers, Jr
On Christian Theology
Rowan Williams
The Promised End: Eschatology in Theology and Literature
Paul S. Fiddes
Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy, and Gender
Sarah Coakley
A Theology of Engagement
Ian S. Markham
Alien Sex: The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology
Gerard Loughlin
Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology
Matthew Levering
Faith and Freedom: An Interfaith Perspective
David Burrell
Keeping God’ s Silence
Rachel Muers
Christ and Culture
Graham Ward
Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy and Nation
Gavin D’ Costa
Rewritten Theology: Aquinas After His Readers
Mark D. Jordan
God ’ s Companions: Reimagining Christian Ethics
Samuel Wells
The Trial of the Witnesses: The Rise and Decline of Postliberal Theology
Paul J. DeHart
Theology and Families
Adrian Thatcher
The Shape of Theology
David F. Ford
The Vietnam War and Theologies of Memory
Jonathan Tran
In Adam’ s Fall: A Meditation on the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin
Ian A. McFarland
Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustine’ s Theory of Knowledge
Lydia Schumacher
DIVINE ILLUMINATION
The History and Future of Augustine’s
Theory of Knowledge
Lydia Schumacher
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
This edition fi rst published 2011
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1 2011
For my parents, R ichard and Pam
Realities … must be learned and sought out not
from names, but rather through themselves.
Plato, C ratylus 439B
Realities signifi ed are to be valued more highly than their signs.
Augustine, De magistro 9.25
It would be unreasonable and silly to look at words rather
than at the power of the meanings. Anyone seeking to
understand divine things should never do this, for this is the
procedure followed by those who … do not wish to know
what a particular phrase means or how to convey its
sense through equivalent but more effi cient phrases.
Pseudo - Dionysius, De divinis nominibus 708C
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Editions x
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
Augustine on Divine Illumination 4
Interpretations of Divine Illumination in Augustine’s Thought 7
Interpretations of Divine Illumination in Medieval Thought 14
Re-interpreting the History of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge 16
1 Augustine 25
Introduction 25
The Doctrine of God 29
Creation in the Image of God 30
The Fall and Redemption 39
Conforming to the Image of God 42
Divine Illumination 58
2 Anselm 66
Introduction 66
The Image of God 74
Conforming to the Image of God 76
Divine Illumination 82
Anselm the Augustinian 83
3 Divine Illumination in Transition 85
Introduction 85
New Schools 85
New Translations 88
viii Divine Illumination
New Religious Challenges 100
New Religious Orders 101
New Intellectual Traditions 103
4 Bonaventure 110
Introduction 110
The Doctrine of God 117
Creation in the Image of God 121
The Fall and Redemption 132
Conforming to the Image of God 135
Divine Illumination 141
Bonaventure the Augustinian? 143
5 Aquinas 154
Introduction 154
The Image of God 160
Conforming to the Image of God 165
Divine Illumination 173
Aquinas the Augustinian 178
6 Divine Illumination in Decline 181
Introduction 181
Peter John Olivi 182
Henry of Ghent 186
John Duns Scotus 194
Augustinian and Franciscan Thought 201
Franciscan and Modern Thought 208
7 The Future of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge 217
Introduction to a Theological Theory of Knowledge 217
Reason in a Theological Theory of Knowledge 223
Faith in a Theological Theory of Knowledge 226
Conclusion 234
Index 240
Acknowledgments
I am extremely grateful to those who have commented on aspects or all
of this manuscript at different stages in its development, including Nicholas
Adams, Lewis Ayres, Olivier Boulnois, David Burrell C.S.C., Mark D.
Jordan, Fergus Kerr O.P., John Montag S.J., Isabelle Moulin, Sara Parvis,
Oliver O’ Donovan, Karla Pollmann, Janet Soskice, and the Archbishop
Rowan Williams.
I would like to say a very special thanks to my parents, the Revd
Richard and Pamela Schumacher. Together, my parents have been the
greatest source of every conceivable kind of help in the years leading up
to the completion of this book, which is a testimony to the immense and
unwavering power of their love for God, for one another, and for me.
I wish to acknowledge the institutions that helped make it fi nancially
feasible for me to undertake this project: the University of Edinburgh New
College School of Divinity, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the
Medieval Academy of America, and the Catholic Foundation of Scotland.
Finally, I would like to thank the editors and publishers who have
granted me permission to reproduce material from the following articles
here:
Chapter 1 : “ The Theo- Logic of St. Augustine’ s Theory of Knowledge
by Divine Illumination” (A ugustinian Studies )
Chapter 2 : “ The Lost Legacy of Anselm ’ s Argument: Rethinking the
Purpose of Proofs for the Existence of God” (M odern Theology )
Chapter 7 : “ The Logic of Faith: Prolegomena to a Theological Theory
of Knowledge” (N ew Blackfriars )