Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Schöpfung (Möglichkeit, possibilia) unter dem Gesichtspunk des Seins, der Möglichkeit, der aktuellen Existenz; Bedingung für die Emanation des Wortes

Kurzinhalt: QUESTION 3: Does the Word proceed from the understanding of creatures? ... it follows that the divine Word proceeds from the understanding of creatures in such a manner that creatures are truly and eternally being uttered as dependent upon the Word ...

Textausschnitt: QUESTION 3
Does the Word proceed from the understanding of creatures?

213b The answer seems to be no, for the divine Word is necessary and eternal, while creatures are contingent and temporal. (Fs)
On the other hand, there is the doctrine of St Thomas that in one act God understands himself and creatures, and that in a single Word God utters himself and creatures. Again, as divine understanding in regard to self is knowledge of that self but in regard to creatures is both divine knowledge of them and productive of them, so the divine Word is expressive of God and also both expressive and productive of creatures.1 (Fs)

213c However, for the solution to the foregoing difficulty, one must observe that not all theologians understand the psychological analogy in the same manner. Those who conceive the word as proceeding from the object as the act of seeing proceeds from colors can hardly admit that the divine Word proceeds from creatures. On the other hand, those who, considering the issue somewhat more profoundly, conceive the word as proceeding from knowledge of an object labor under a lesser difficulty, since the object is not the cause all by itself, but is a concurrent cause. But those who arrive at the formality of intellectual consciousness have no difficulty at all; this, however, needs to be carefully considered. (Fs) (notabene)

213d The proper principle of intellectual emanation is not the object but the subject. This is obvious in God, since God is the first principle of all things. But it is also evident to some extent in us, since an intellectual emanation can occur only inasmuch as a subject is intellectually conscious in act. (Fs)

215a Again, the necessity of an intellectual emanation arises not from the object but from the conscious intellectuality of the subject. Because intellectual consciousness owes it to itself to express to itself its own understanding, and to express it truly, it follows that what is being understood ought to be expressed truly. Because intellectual consciousness owes it to itself to bestow its own love rightly, it follows that what is judged as truly good ought also to be loved. And if perchance understanding is deficient or judgment erroneous, an unknown obligation does not prevail in such a way that one is duty-bound to act against one's conscience; rather, a known obligation prevails, so that one is duty-bound to judge in accordance with the evidence one has and to choose in accordance with one's judgment. (Fs)

215b But perhaps it will be objected that we are exaggerating this autonomy of consciousness. There are two answers to this. First, since divine autonomy is absolute, it cannot be exaggerated; and since we are endeavoring to understand this autonomy, the objector seems to stray beyond this subject of inquiry to other matters. Second, the autonomy of human consciousness is indeed subordinate, not to every object whatsoever, but to the infinite subject in whose image it has been made and whom it is bound to imitate. (Fs)

215c Moreover, we must consider further that different objects enter differently both into the act of understanding, from which the word emanates, and into the act of understanding and the word, from which love emanates. For the primary object of divine understanding, the divine being itself, is one thing, and secondary objects are another. The latter are related to the primary object by a threefold gradation: possibles considered under the formality of being are related to the divine essence in one way, possibles considered under the formality of the possible are related to the divine essence in another way, and finally all actual realities, whether past, present, or future, are related to the divine essence in yet another way.1 (Fs)

215d Considered under the formality of being, possibles are nothing but the divine active power itself which is able to produce them. And according to this, God understands and utters the possibles inasmuch as he understands and utters his power, which is entirely the same as his essence or his act of understanding. (Fs)

215e Considered under the formality of the possible, possibles are in God understanding and uttering, after the manner of an implicit conceptual being. I say 'after the manner of a conceptual being' because the entire reality of the possibles is the divine active power. I say 'after the manner of an implicit conceptual being' because God does not utter as many distinct words as there are distinct possibles. (Fs)

217a Third, and finally, all actual realities, past, present, and future, are among the secondary objects of divine understanding. Indeed, all these actual realities, precisely as actual, God knows immediately in understanding them, utters in the Word, and loves in proceeding Love. And if another world were to exist, other realities as actual would be known immediately and spoken and loved, not as if God were able to be now this and now that, not as if the divine intellectual emanations were able to be now this and now that, but because the knowledge and affirmation and love of actual realities adds only a conceptual relation to the infinite act of understanding, affirming, and loving. (Fs) (notabene)

217b Accordingly, the emanation of the divine Word is surely dependent upon divine intellectual consciousness and upon the infinite act of understanding. Because this consciousness and this act of understanding are not only identical with each other but also the same as the divine act of existence, the divine essence, and the divine power, the divine emanation of the Word is also dependent upon the divine essence and upon the divine power. Furthermore, because divine understanding includes possibles as possibles after the manner of an implicit conceptual being, the divine emanation of the Word also owes it to itself to utter as well possibles as possibles after the manner of implicit conceptual beings. Moreover, because divine understanding, with a conceptual relation accompanying that infinite act, understands all actual realities as they are, the emanation of the divine Word also owes it to itself that all actual realities be uttered with the accompanying conceptual relation, and the divine emanation of Love, with the accompanying conceptual relation, owes it to itself that all actual realities be loved through proceeding Love. Finally, because divine understanding grasps with perfect clarity that the divine Word and divine Love are not dependent upon the conceptual relation, because divine understanding grasps with perfect clarity that all actual realities and possibles are utterly dependent upon divine understanding, upon the divine Word, and upon divine Love, it follows that the divine Word proceeds from the understanding of creatures in such a manner that creatures are truly and eternally being uttered as dependent upon the Word, and the divine Love proceeds from the understanding and affirmation of creatures in such a manner that creatures are rightly and eternally loved in dependence upon this Love. (Fs)