The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology

565 Pages·2015·5.432 MB·English

by  Thomas Joseph White

The Incarnate Lord
thomistic ressourcement series
Volume 5
series editors
Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
Thomas Joseph White, OP, Dominican House of Studies
editorial board
Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, Pontifical University
of St. Thomas Aquinas
Lawrence Dewan, OP, Dominican College of Ottawa
Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg
Reinhard Hütter, Duke University
Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University
Emmanuel Perrier, OP, Dominican Studium, Toulouse
Richard Schenk, OP, Katholische Universität
Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Kevin White, The Catholic University of America
The Incarnate Lord
A Thomistic Study in Christology
Thomas Joseph White, OP
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2015
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standards for Information
Science—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials ,
ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
White, Thomas Joseph, 1971–
The incarnate Lord : a Thomistic study in Christology /
Thomas Joseph White, OP.
pages cm. — (Thomistic ressourcement series ; Volume 5)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8132-2745-0 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Jesus
Christ—Person and offices. 2. Jesus Christ—History of
doctrines—Middle Ages, 600–1500. 3. Thomas, Aquinas,
Saint, 1225?–1274. I. Title.
BT198.W463 2015
232—dc23 2014043100
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4–5
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood,
is Incarnation.
Here the impossible union
Of spheres of evidence is actual,
Here the past and future
Are conquered, and reconciled
T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages
If you believe in the divinity of Christ, you have to cherish
the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.
Flannery O’Connor, Letter to A., Autumn 1955
I saw, above the many thousand lamps,
a Sun that kindled each and every one
as ours lights up the sights we see above us,
and through that living light poured down
a shining substance. It blazed so bright
into my eyes that I could not sustain it.
O Beatrice, my sweet beloved guide!
To me she said: “What overwhelms you
is a force against which there is no defense.
Here is the Wisdom and the Power that repaired
the roads connecting Heaven and the earth
that had so long been yearned for and desired.”
Dante, Paradiso, XXIII

The Incarnate Lord
White, Thomas Josepth
Published by The Catholic University of America Press
White, Josepth.
The Incarnate Lord: A Study in Thomistic Christology.
Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2015.
Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/.
For additional information about this book
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41567
Access provided by Tulane University (8 Dec 2018 10:50 GMT)
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations of Works of St. Thomas Aquinas xiii
Introduction: The Biblical Ontology
of Christ 1
Prolegomenon: Is a Modern Thomistic
Christology Possible? 31
part 1. the mystery of
the incarnation
1. The Ontology of the Hypostatic Union 73
2. The Human Nature and Grace of Christ 126
3. The Likeness of the Human and
Divine Natures 171
4. Why Christology Presupposes
Natural Theology 203
5. The Necessity of the Beatific Vision in
the Earthly Christ 236
viii Contents
part 2. the mystery of
the redemption
6. The Obedience of the Son 277
7. Did God Abandon Jesus? The Dereliction
on the Cross 308
8. The Death of Christ and the Mystery of
the Cross 340
9. Did Christ Descend into Hell? The Mystery
of Holy Saturday 380
10. The Ontology of the Resurrection 438
Conclusion: The Promise of Thomism:
Why Christology Is Not Primarily a
Historical Science 467
Selected Bibliography 511
Index 529