Thomas Aquinas on the Beatific Vision: A Christological Deficit
This article argues Aquinas's doctrine of the beatific vision suffers from a twofold christological deficit: (1) Aquinas rarely alludes to an eternally continuing link (whether as cause or as means) between Christ's beatific vision and ours; and (2) for Aquinas the beatific vision is not t...
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Presses Universitaires de Louvain, Université Catholique de Louvain
[2018]
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| In: |
TheoLogica
Year: 2018, Volume: 2, Issue: 2, Pages: 129-147 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history NBC Doctrine of God NBF Christology NBQ Eschatology |
| Further subjects: | B
John Owen
B Beatific Vision B Thomas Aquinas B Eschatology B Theophany |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article argues Aquinas's doctrine of the beatific vision suffers from a twofold christological deficit: (1) Aquinas rarely alludes to an eternally continuing link (whether as cause or as means) between Christ's beatific vision and ours; and (2) for Aquinas the beatific vision is not theophanic, that is to say, for Aquinas, Christ is not the object of the beatific vision; instead, he maintains the divine essence constitutes the object. Even if Aquinas were to have followed his "principle of the maximum" in the unfinished third part of the Summa and so had discussed Christ's own beatific vision as the cause of the saints' beatific vision, he would still have ended up with a christological deficit, inasmuch as Christ would still not be the means and the object of the saints' beatific vision. For a more christologically robust way forward, I draw on John Owen and several other Puritan theologians, who treat the beatific vision as the climactic theophany. |
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| ISSN: | 2593-0265 |
| Reference: | Kritik in "Thomas Aquinas, the Beatific Vision and the Role of Christ (2018)"
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: TheoLogica
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.14428/thl.v2i2.14733 |