Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J. F.

Buch: The Way to Nicea

Titel: The Way to Nicea

Stichwort: Entwicklung im Verstehen 1: Trinität; Herr: Bezug zu uns - konsubstantiell: Bezug zu Gott; dogmatischer Realismus (keine philosophische Spekulation)

Kurzinhalt: ... to speak of the Son as consubstantial with the Father is to consider the divinity in itself, going beyond religious experience ... this kind of realism is dogmatic ... in the sense that it is not the product of any philosophic reflection ...

Textausschnitt: 7. The Development of Trinitarian Doctrine

127a If we examine the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity in the developed form represented by the determinations of the council of Nicea we can distinguish in it three main elements. In the first place there was the revealed name, Son; many other titles were applied to Christ but from the beginning he was called "Son" in a very special sense. The second element, derived from both the Old and the New Testaments, is the insistence, against the Gnostics and the Marcionites, that there is no distinction between God the Creator and the true God, and the insistence that the one, true God is radically distinct from all creatures.1 From both of these elements taken together it follows that the Son, who was also acknowledged as maker and Lord and judge of all, is truly Son, born of the Father, and cannot be considered a part of creation.2 (Fs)

127b However, the decree of Nicea would appear to contain a third element quite distinct from the first two, namely, the ontological mentality that finds expression in the affirmation that the Son is consubstantial with the Father. For to speak of God as creator, to speak of him as "Lord of all' is to speak in terms of his relative attributes, using categories that resonate with religious experience: when we speak of God in this way we also affirm our total dependence on him. On the other hand, to speak of the Son as consubstantial with the Father is to consider the divinity in itself, going beyond religious experience to employ or to suppose the scientific categories of an ontology. And since this mode of speech has long been a major stumbling block, giving many people the impression that the Church at Nicea had abandoned the genuine Christian doctrine, which was religious through and through, in order to embrace some sort of hellenistic ontology, we must examine the matter with some care.1 (Fs)

128a In the first place, there is nothing in the Old or in the New Testament that is clearer than this, that the word of God, the word announced by the prophets when they said, "Thus says the Lord ..." is to be preserved intact by the Apostles in accordance with the precept, "Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' and 'No, No'" (Mt 5,37), and that this same word not only was preached by the apostles but was also to be preserved in all its purity, even to the extent that any other word, even if preached by an angel, was to be anathema (Gal 1,8).1 (Fs)
128b Now this word of God not only grounds the dogmatism of the Church, which cuts off heretics with the celebrated formula, "If anyone says ... let him be anathema"; it also contains implicitly a certain dogmatic realism. In order to explain what this means we shall have to consider in turn the words "realism", "dogmatic" and "implicitly". (Fs)

128c In the first place, then, the word of God contains a realism, both because it is to be believed and not contradicted, and also because it is a true word, telling of things as in fact they are. For realism consists in this, that the truth that is acknowledged in the mind corresponds to reality. But whoever believes the true word of God certainly acknowledges truth in his mind-indeed his adherence to this truth is so complete that he banishes from his thoughts even the slightest suspicion that things might be other than as God has revealed them to be. (Fs)

129a Secondly, this kind of realism is dogmatic, not only in the sense that it belongs to the very essence of dogma, but also in the sense that it is not the product of any philosophic reflection. To the extent that one is a philosopher one will make no affirmation for which one cannot assign sufficient and cogent reasons. But the realism that is found in the word of God as revealed, preached and accepted does not consist in any further philosophic reflection; it is simply a matter of sincere acceptance of the word of God that has been revealed and preached. (Fs) (notabene)

129b Thirdly, while this dogmatic realism is contained in the word of God, it is present only implicitly, not acknowledged explicitly. We are not saying that Isaiah, Paul and Athanasius knew that they were dogmatic realists. We are not saying that they made clear distinctions between the good and the true, and the will and the mind, and so between the mind itself and the reality to which the mind's truth corresponds. Much less are we saying that they drew all the consequences that would follow from these distinctions. What in fact we are saying is that these men had minds, that they knew the word of God and that they lived according to the reality that they came to know through God's true word. (Fs)