God and Creation in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, who have increasingly put them into conversation on debated questions over analogy and the knowledge of God. However, little explicit dialogue has occurred between their theol- ogies of God. This book offers one of the first extended analyses of this fundamental issue, asking how each theologian seeks to confess in fact and in thought God’s qualitative distinctiveness in relation to creation. Wittman first examines how they understand the correspondence and distinction between God’s being and external acts within an overarch- ing concern to avoid idolatry. Second, he analyses the kind of relation God bears to creation that follows from these respective understand- ings. Despite many common goals, Aquinas and Barth ultimately dif- fer on the subject matter of theological reason with consequences for their ability to uphold God’s distinctiveness consistently. These mutu- ally informative issues offer some important lessons for contemporary theology. Tyler R. Wittman is Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY (USA). His research and writing concentrate on issues surrounding the theology of God’s perfections, the Trinity, and Christology. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and Pro Ecclesia. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Theological Society. God and Creation in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth TYLER R. WITTMAN The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108470674 DOI: 10.1017/9781108556927 © Cambridge University Press 2019 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2019 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. A cataloge record for this publication is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-108-47067-4 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For Jessie. God is very good indeed. Contents Acknowledgments page ix List of Abbreviations xi Note on Citations and Translations xiii Introduction 1 Confessing That God Is God: The Relation between Theology and Economy 3 The Problem of Confessing God as God 4 The Procedure 14 Part I God’s Being and Activity According to Thomas Aquinas 2 Aquinas on God’s Being and Activity 27 Approaching Divine Actuality: Formal and Material Objects 29 The Ways of God: The Formal Orientation of Theological Inquiry 32 Simplicity, Perfection, and the Grammar of Divine Naming 48 God Himself: The Material Object of Theology Inquiry 54 Conclusion 71 3 Aquinas on the Creative Act and God’s Relation to Creation 74 Creative Causality and the Question of God’s Self-Correspondence 75 The Principle of Creation 79 The End of Creation 99 vii viii Contents The Relation of Creation 111 Conclusion 125 Part II God’s Being in Act According to Karl Barth 4 Barth on God’s Being in Act 129 The Theological Approach to Divine Actuality 133 Necessity and Decision: The Formal Orientation of Theological Understanding 135 Loving in Freedom: The Material Object of Theological Understanding 150 Conclusion: Theology and Economy 170 5 God’s Self-Correspondence and Barth’s Critique of Nominalism 176 Correspondence as Analogy and Dialectic 178 The Simplicity of God’s Self-Correspondence in Christ 188 6 Barth on the Electing God’s Relation to Creation 199 The Decree’s Necessity and the Question of God’s Self-Correspondence 202 The Decree’s Form and Content as God’s Internal Activity 206 The Decree’s Form and Content as Christ’s Election 220 Conclusion: God’s Relation to Creation 243 Conclusion 7 Confessing God as God 253 Actuality and Theological Reason 254 Being and Activity 269 Relation and the Confession of God 285 Bibliography 297 Index 313