AQUINAS ON GOD It would be diffi cult to fi nd a more astute retrieval of Thomas Aquinas on God than this seamless account, which presents erudition lightly yet competently, culminating in the startling assertion that Aquinas cannot be dubbed a ‘theist’. Finding out how and why this is the case embodies the joy of discovery attendant upon this text. David Burrell, C.S.C., Hesburgh Professor in Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Aquinas on God presents an accessible exploration of Thomas Aquinas’ conception of God. Focusing on the Summa theologiae – the work containing Aquinas’ most systematic and complete exposition of the Christian doctrine of God – Rudi te Velde acquaints the reader with Aquinas’ theological understanding of God and the meta- physical principles and propositions that underlie his project. Aquinas’ conception of God is dealt with not as an isolated metaphysical doctrine, but from the perspective of his broad theological view which underlies the scheme of the Summa. Readers interested in Aquinas, historical theology, metaphysics and metaphysical discourse on God in the Christian tradition will fi nd this new contribution to the studies of Aquinas invaluable. ASHGATE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY Ashgate Studies in the History of Philosophical Theology provides students and researchers in the fi eld with the means of consolidating and re-appraising philosophy of religion’s recent appropriation of its past. This series offers a focused cluster of high-profi le titles presenting critical, authoritative surveys of key thinkers’ ideas as they bear upon topics central to the philosophy of religion. Summarizing contempor- ary and historical perspectives on the writings and philosophies of each thinker, the books concentrate on moving beyond mere surveys and engage with recent interna- tional scholarship and the author’s own critical research on their chosen thinker. Each book provides an accessible, stimulating new contribution to thinkers from ancient, through medieval, to modern periods. Series Editors Professor Martin Stone, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Professor Peter Byrne, King’s College London, UK Professor Maria Rosa Antognazza, King’s College London, UK Professor Carlos Steel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Also in this series Hegel’s God A Counterfeit Double? William Desmond Mill on God The Pervasiveness and Elusiveness of Mill’s Religious Thought Alan P. F. Sell Duns Scotus on God Richard Cross Aquinas on God The ‘Divine Science’ of the Summa Theologiae RUDI TE VELDE University of Tilburg, The Netherlands © Rudi te Velde, 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Rudi te Velde has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington Hants GU11 3HR VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Velde, Rudi A. te Aquinas on God : the ‘divine science’ of the Summa theologiae. – (Ashgate studies in the history of philosophical theology) 1. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?–1274. Summa theologiae 2. God – History of doctrines – Middle Ages, 600–1500 I. Title 231 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Velde, Rudi A. te. Aquinas on God : the ‘divine science’ of the Summa theologiae / Rudi A. te Velde. p. cm. – (Ashgate studies in the history of philosophical theology) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7546-0754-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 0-7546-0755-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. God – History of doctrines – Middle Ages, 600–1500. 2. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?–1274. Summa theologica. I. Title. II. Series. BT100.T4V43 2005 231'.092–dc22 2005018595 ISBN 0 7546 0754 2 (Hardback) 0 7546 0755 0 (Paperback) Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin, Cornwall Contents Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations viii Introduction: Thinking Systematically about God from Within the Christian Tradition 1 1 A Masterpiece of Theology Aims, Method and Composition of the Summa theologiae 9 Introduction 9 The Structure of the Summa theologiae 11 Sacred Doctrine and Revelation 18 The Scientia of Sacred Doctrine 23 The ‘Catholic Truth’ and Philosophy 28 2 The First Thing to Know: Does God Exist? On the Five Ways 37 Interpreting the Five Ways 37 The Meaning of the Question An Sit 40 The Middle Term of the Demonstration that God Exists 42 The Five Ways as Examples of the Manuductio by Reason 47 The First Argument on the Basis of Motion 48 The Transition from Physics to Metaphysics 51 The Analysis of the Concept of Motion 55 3 The Heart of the Matter: What God Is (Not) 65 Introduction: the Question of God 65 The Threefold Division of the Treatment of God 67 Knowing what God is Not: Negative Theology? 72 The Dialectical Relationship between Simplicity and Perfection 77 God and Being 85 4 Divine Names On Human Discourse about God 95 Introduction: God and Language 95 The Semantic Triangle of Reality, Knowledge and Language (res– ratio–nomen) 98 Affi rmative and Absolute Names (Art.2) 102 Metaphorical and Proper Names (Art.3) 104 Are All Names Synonymous? 107 v vi Aquinas on God The Analogy of the Divine Names 109 Divine Names and the Analogy of Being 115 5 God’s Proper Action On the Causality of Creation 123 Introduction: Metaphysics of Creation 123 The Triadic Structure of the Causality of Creation 125 The Argument for Creation 128 Towards the Metaphysical Consideration of Being 132 Creation as Participation 139 6 A God of Grace On Human Freedom and Divine Grace 147 Introduction 147 Some Aspects of the Relationship between Nature and Grace 150 The Twofold Happiness 155 Grace as Participation in the Divine Nature 160 Epilogue: Aquinas’ God and the Language of Participation 171 Select Bibliography 181 Index 189 Acknowledgements The present work is the fruit of a long-standing engagement with the metaphysical thought of Thomas Aquinas. In fi nding my way in the immense labyrinth of his writ- ings I have profi ted much from the indispensable help of teachers and ‘friends of Thomas’. Among the many who have been important to me I would like to mention with gratitude Jan Aertsen, David Burrell, Ferdinand de Grijs and also the present members of the Thomas Institute at Utrecht, with whom I share a common interest in Thomas the ‘theologian’. I wish to thank Carlos Steel, from the Catholic University of Leuven, for persuad- ing me to accept the challenge of writing this book and for his enduring interest in its progress over so many years. I also wish to thank Martin Stone, who has read the manuscript carefully and suggested many improvements, and Peter Byrne for his warm and encouraging interest in my labours on the subject of Thomas’ God. I am also immensely grateful to Bryony Lee for her help in improving the English. For all remaining imperfections in style, however, I bear the full responsibility. I also thank the Radboud Foundation in the Netherlands for its fi nancial support. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the ‘silent forces’ in the background: my wife Annelies and my two daughters, Hanna and Lisa, who helped me to fi nd the neces- sary rest and concentration by the precious gift of their cheerful presence. vii Abbreviations Comp. theol. Compendium theologiae De pot. Quaestiones disputatae De potentia De spir. creat. Quaestio disputata De spiritualibus creaturis De subst. sep. De substantiis separatis De ver. Quaestiones disputatae De veritate In Boet. De hebd. Exposito libri Boetii De hebdomadibus In De causis In librum De causis expositio In De div. nom. In librum Beati Dionysii De divinis nominibus expositio In Metaph. In XII libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis expositio In Peri Herm. In libros Peri Hermeneias Aristotelis expositio In Physic. In XIII libros Physicorum Aristotelis expositio In Post. Anal. In libros Posteriorum Analyticorum Aristotelis expositio In Sent. Scriptum super IV Libros Sententiarum S.c.G. Summa contra gentiles S.th. Summa theologiae Super Boet. De Trin. Super Boetium De Trinitate expositio viii Introduction Thinking Systematically about God from Within the Christian Tradition Throughout his whole career as a Dominican professor in theology, working in the medieval academy during the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) was occupied with the question of God.1 The principal theme and focus of his theological thought concerned the truth of that absolute reality which people name ‘God’. In this book we are going to follow Thomas in the way he, especially in his major work, the Summa theologiae, conceives of God and develops a metaphysical account of the divine as the prima causa of everything which exists. Since our aim is primarily to expound and explain Thomas’ analysis of the concept of God, with the accent on the way in which the ‘theological’ and the ‘philosophical’ are hereby interwoven, it may be useful to consider fi rst, by way of introduction, how the question of God is approached in his work, what his position is with regard to the tradition of Christian faith and its sacred writings, and what precisely it means to call his way of thought ‘theological’. Thinking and writing about God may happen in various ways, from different per- spectives, in different styles and with different questions to ask. What the word ‘God’ stands for is never a matter of indifference, which one can decide freely to think about or not. God is always, in one way or another, a matter of ultimate concern, and as such the name is already invested with a complex web of meaning, in the light of which human beings interpret their life by giving it a determinate form and orienta- tion. One cannot, therefore, think about God without being in some way related to and engaged in a particular context of human culture in which ‘God’ enjoys a certain objectivity in religious beliefs and practices of worship, in ecclesiastical institutions, in ethical regulations of human behaviour, or even in the form of an existing philo- sophical tradition of searching for wisdom and truth, leading to God along the way of speculative knowledge. In this sense ‘God’ is never to be approached without pre- suppositions and on neutral ground, but is always the focus of a complex whole of thoughts, feelings, attitudes of hope and fear, of longing and love, and so on, and thus the object of the highest human aspirations, and at the same time the object of dog- matic regulations and stipulations by which the religious community tries to estab- lish a normative consensus of orthodox truth. What God is and what the implications of belief in God are for human life is never something that can be freely decided on as a matter of individual preference; belief in God, especially in the Middle Ages, has an objective reality insofar as it shapes a collective form of life in all its aspects. In view of these inescapable cultural and religious contexts of human life in which ‘God’ has its concrete meaning and signifi cance, it is important to underline the fact that the principal focus of Thomas’ thought, embedded as it is in the tradition of Christian faith, is directed to the reality of God. Thomas is not primarily interested, 1