1,719 research outputs found

    Thomas and Barth in Convergence on Romans 1

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    This article summarizes research on the natural knowledge of God and the construal of sacred doctrine in question one of the Summa Theologiae and chapter 1 of Thomas's Romans commentary, with a comparison to Karl Barth. It takes as its challenge and motivation to uncover some of the affinities (indeed, to create a convergence) between Karl Barth and Thomas Aquinas just where both modern Barthians and modern Thomists would have thought convergence least likely: on the natural knowledge of God. It seeks to do so on the basis of their reading of Romans 1:20 in Barth's Shorter Commenta and Thomas's Super epistolam S. Pauli ad Romanos? where each of them ends up saying surprising things about the natural knowledge of God under the pressure of following Paul. Part II of the article simply asserts the reading of Thomas on Romans and takes theologian's licence to do so in theses defended elsewhere. Part III makes the comparison of the two commentaries (Barth's and Thomas's), arguing a convergence, and it too concludes in theses. Some readers may find the procedure circular. If so, I can only hope the circle is attractive enough to make them curious enough to seek more information. Part of what I hope to do is provide a reading of Thomas's theological procedure that resembles in a smaller way Barth's account of Anselm's

    PARTICIPATING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE TRINITARIAN EPISTEMOLOGY OF T. F. TORRANCE

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    The overall aim of this thesis is to assess the viability of a particular understanding of participation in the knowledge of God for the postmodern, scientific context in which it is now located. Through a critical engagement of the Trinitarian epistemology of T. F. Torrance, this thesis provides a more holistic, complex vision of participation in the knowledge of God that moves beyond the problems of reductionist accounts. Part I of the thesis identifies and defines the modern problem of reductionist accounts of theological epistemology. To overcome these problems, this thesis proposes a complex vision of the knowledge of God through an engagement and expansion of Torrance’s Trinitarian epistemology. Part II delineates and analyzes seven general dynamics which comprise the nature of the knowledge of God for Torrance. Before moving to the center of his theological epistemology, this section provides an introduction and assessment of the general dynamics at work throughout his discussions of the knowledge of God. Part III goes to the heart of Torrance’s epistemology, the Triune God. This section begins by examining how the persons and relations of the ontological Trinity exercise a governing influence upon Torrance’s theological epistemology. From this Trinitarian framework, this section then turns to expand and appraise three epistemological dynamics which consequently become centrally important: knowledge of God as personal, relational, and participatory. This section contends that these forms of knowledge involve the whole person and a way of life. This vision of participation extends the Trinitarian epistemology of Torrance with priorities to which his theological writings clearly point but which he himself did not develop. Part IV concludes the thesis by drawing together the assessments made along the way concerning knowledge of God in a postmodern, scientific age and proposing an epistemological model that moves beyond the problems of reductionism

    St. Thomas\u27 Principle of Individuation, Materia Quantitate Signata

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    How the Mind of Christ is Formed in Community: The Ecclesial Ethics of Richard Hooker

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    How do practices contribute to the formation of the mind of Christ in community such that the community truly becomes the body of Christ?” This dissertation demonstrates that Christ acts on his Church through a complex interaction of community and practices to generate the identity, diversity, and virtue of his body. This is a controversial claim because many hold that the matter of virtue rightly consists of adherence to cherished foundations like Scripture and tradition accompanied by calls to obedience. Nonetheless, this study seeks to identify resources to help the Church imagine a virtue ethics appropriate to a 21st century communion ecclesiology. It does so by reading Richard Hooker as an ecclesial ethicist. Examining Hooker’s accounts of Scripture, participation, and liturgical practices, the dissertation develops a Hookerian account that extends the ecclesial ethics of Stanley Hauerwas and Sam Wells on both ends. On the front end, it derives from first principles an account of how humans come to see themselves as part of the theodrama in which improvisation is required. On the back end, it grounds improvisation in a theory of mimetic virtue. Along the way it shows how a largely Barthian Christology coheres with a positive account of sacramental practices and that a Hauerwasian emphasis on practices is not sectarian. Hooker’s repudiation of appeals to timeless absolutes in ethical reasoning and his demonstration that the self-ordering of the Church is phronetic action means that contemporary “liberal accommodationism” and “postliberal traditionalism” can no longer coopt Hooker to justify their ideologies

    The human person as imago dei: christian and jewish perspectives

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    This thesis explores the evolution of the biblical concept of imago Dei. Written from the perspective of Christian theology, the thesis engages select Jewish and Christian voices in analysis of the shared theological premise that the human person is created in the image of God The discussion will begin with the scriptural origins of the concept, drawing upon exegetical interpretations as well as the early perspectives of the Rabbinic and Patristic period. It will then offer a comparative account of the contributions of Maimonides and Aquinas, in their intellectualist conceptions of human distinctiveness. From there, the discussion will turn to the Christological appropriation of the concept in work of Karl Barth and then to the covenantal, dialogical interpretation of David Novak. In both of these thinkers, we will observe a rejection of the intellectualism of Aquinas and Maimonides in favour of relational interpretations which are, in their integrative understanding of the person as body and soul, more consistent with the biblical - and Rabbinic - view of the person. The desire for an integrated view of the person will also emerge as significant when the discussion turns to feminist engagements with the concept, which also emphasise the inclusive potential of imago Dei. The thesis will conclude with a consideration of the enduring relevance of the concept of imago Dei in the context of contemporary Jewish and Christian theology

    Thomas Aquinas\u27 Concept of the Word in his Contemporary on First Corinthians

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    Yet in the Thomistic synthesis, which has so strong an appeal as a philosophical structure, the Holy Scriptures are, according to Thomas, to be accorded the highest place. The question, therefore, a rises as to the exact manner in which the Scriptures take their place. Or, to put the question in a broader framework, in what manner does the Word of God, that is, the intelligible revelation of God, fit into the Thomistic structure? Is Thomas’ philosophical and theological structure really complete without that Word? That in a certain sense it is not complete without it is clear. Still in a certain sense it is complete

    From corruption to glory: the son's redemptive assumption of fallen humanity in dogmatic dialogue with T. F. Torrance

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    For much of the Western theological tradition, divine-human reconciliation has been marred with a form of dualism between God’s saving work and the humanity of Jesus Christ, claims T.F. Torrance, a manifestation of what he dubbed the “Latin Heresy”. Here we examine Torrance’s attempt to recontextualise reconciliation within the constitution of the incarnate Son, to recover the soteriological principle of the Eastern Fathers that what is “unassumed is unhealed”, and thus move away from external, forensic or juridical categories of atonement by threading Christ’s assumption of fallen human nature through the very heart of his doctrine of the incarnation. Where contemporary debate of such a notion has struggled is in ambiguity of terms - some clarity must be brought to defining “fallenness”, particularly in relation to the Classical-Reformed categories of original guilt and corruption. The state of Christ's humanity also renders several dogmatic questions surrounding, namely, the integrity of His suffering and temptation; the temporal consistency of incarnational atonement being instantaneous and continuous; the consistency in application of the non-assumptus to human "person" as well as "nature"; the success of the non-assumptus in preventing the instrumentality of Christ's humanity; and the role of the Spirit in the incarnation. Beyond this, contentious historical work has left both “fallenness” and “unfallenness” theologians divided in interpretation of the same sources, with both Eastern and Western Fathers, in places, being made subservient to later theological structures and vocabulary, and the conceptual schism between the two exacerbated. This too, we seek to address. Emancipated from these constrictions, and perhaps with some common ground found, the fallenness debate should be able to progress more constructively

    Union with Christ in the theology of Samuel Rutherford: an examination of his doctrine of the Holy Spirit

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    By way of introducing this doctrinal study, we have traced in broad outline the effects of Hellenistic philosophy on the theology of the Holy Spirit. After reviewing some of the errors which arose in the identification of the Spirit with the creation of mediating grace, we noted that there was also a tradition which avoided the worst aspects of Greek dualism by identifying the Third Person of the Trinity with grace as a continuing realisation of the mission of Christ in history. The pneumatological theology of Samuel Rutherford manifests this emphasis in 17th Cent. Scotland. his doctrine of the Spirit is consciously integrated with his understanding of the Trinity in general and with Christology in particular. The Son and the Spirit are both sent according to the plan of the Father. The Spirit in his soteriological office is subject to the Son and produces by recreation the life of the Son in those chosen by the Father. Thus regeneration, faith, repentance, and sanctification are the believer's by an actual union of participation in the life of Christ. This activity of the Spirit presupposes not only His use of the Scriptures which He has caused to be written as an unerring revelation of God's will, but also His absolute control of all creation. The Spirit's power in this regard is manifest in every part of the world but most obviously in the Church which He guides and vitalises and in the life of the individual believer who is constantly under His influences. The presence of the Holy Spirit in man does not create a bridge between him and Christ as by a creaturely means nor does it annihilate the believer's personhood or responsibility as by an absolute imputation of Christ's life. Rather, by drawing men into a living union with the living Christ, the Holy Spirit establishes man's true creatureliness and his responsibility in an act of worshipping the triune God in and through Jesus Christ

    A Scriptural and Philosophical Evaluation of the Open Model of God as an Ontological Necessity and Its Compatibility with Evangelical Theology

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    The Christian movement known as evangelicalism possesses a long and complex history or theological and practical development and expression. Through the years, the term evangelical has carried a wide range of meanings. While modern day evangelicalism is by no means a monolithic movement, its foundation across the spectrum lies in its affirmation of three major theological principles: (1) the complete reliability and final authority of Scripture in matters of faith and practice; (2) the necessity of a personal faith in Jesus Christ ... ; and (3) the urgency of seeking actively the conversion of sinners to Christ. The first theological truth is the most important for the question at hand

    The Cowl - v.56 - n.2 - Oct 3, 1991

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    The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 56, Number 2 - October 3, 1991. 24 pages
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