Aquinas on Prophecy: Wisdom and Charism in the Summa Theologiae
argues that a lacuna exists (especially among Anglophone scholars
of Aquinas) that neglects to identify his most famous work as a
prophetic witness to the transformative effect of Christian
theology. Through a detailed examination of Aquinas's treatment of
prophecy in the Summa Theologiae (II-II, QQ.171- 174), Paul Rogers
reveals how prophetic testimony is central to the understanding of
Christian revelation, faith, and theology, since it presents an
initial (and historically-rooted) model for a Christian pedagogy
that attempts to affect intellectual and moral transformation
through communicating knowledge about God. The theologian thus
conceived by Aquinas exercises analogously a prophetic, and hence
social, function among Christian believers that has a special care
for their spiritual and moral guidance. In contrast to readings of
Aquinas that portray him as overly reliant on Aristotelian
gnoseology (e.g., Jenkins 1997), Rogers lays out a reading more in
line with recent 'ressourcement' Thomistic interpreters that
identifies in his account of prophecy a creative adaptation of
Arabic-Aristotelian gnoseology in the service of clarifying
difficulties that had arisen in the thirteenth century surrounding
the reception of a patristic (and predominantly Augustinian)
tradition of prophetic illumination or vision. In the hands of
Aquinas, the traditional Augustinian theory of prophetic
illumination was re-envisioned and reinvigorated, which in turn
allowed him to reassert confidently prophecy's status as certain
knowledge (scientia) that required its own distinct 'light',
comparable to the light of natural reason and the lights of faith
and glory. Highlighting prophecy in Aquinas's thought helps
especially to refocus today's readers on how knowledge of the final
end as revealed was for Aquinas the ultimate moral objective shared
by both the prophet and theologian: a point that is best
appreciated when his account of prophecy is related back to his
understanding of sacred doctrine and faith as a whole—the book's
central task.
General
Imprint: |
The Catholic University of America Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
July 2023 |
Authors: |
Paul M. Rogers
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
272 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8132-3679-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8132-3679-7 |
Barcode: |
9780813236797 |
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