Method, Order, and Analogy in Trinitarian Theology: Karl Rahner’s Critique of the “Psychological” Approach

The Thomist 74 (2010): 563-92 METHOD, ORDER, AND ANALOGY IN TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY: KARL RAHNER'S CRITIQUE OF THE "PSYCHOLOGICAL" APPROACH JEREMY D. WILKINS University ofSt. Thomas Houston, Texas IT IS STILL widely taken for granted in contemporary Trinitarian theology that there exist two fundamentally divergent traditions aptly characterized as "Greek" and "Latin," despite a decade of withering criticism. IfAugustine is the villain of this story as the originator of Latin "essentialism," Thomas Aquinas is generally considered to have perfected the type in his Summa Theologiae. Because a judgment of value is almost invariably implied when these assertions are made, recent decades have seen numerous efforts to defend Thomas and Augustine. This typology has its origins in the monumental work of the Jesuit historian of doctrine Theodore de Regnon, Etudes de thiologie positive sur la sainte Trinite. 1 De Regnon discerned a turning point connected with the Arian, Sabellian, and Macedonian crises, when, in order to safeguard the revealed mystery, the Fathers formulated the Trinitarian dogma in terms of person and nature.2 He systematized this insight into an analytic scheme for understanding the historical development of Trinitarian theology. Since the dogma of the Trinity affirms three who are distinct as persons but identical in nature, the concepts of 'nature' and 'person' provide two ways into a synthetic account of 1 4 vols. (Paris: Victor Retamc, 1892-98). 2 See ibid., 1:117- 244, esp. 117-28 where he sets up the problem. 563 564 JEREMY D. WILKINS the mystery, variously realized as the concepts are variously ordered.3 Latin philosophy first contemplates the nature in itself, and proceeds to the supposit; Greek philosophy first contemplates the supposit, and then penetrates it to find therein the nature. The Latin sees personality as a mode of nature; the Greek sees nature as the content of the person. There are here two opposed designs, which project conceptions of the same reality onto different backdrops.4 According to de Regnon, on the Latin starting point, one conceives "la nature in recto et la personne in obliquo." On the Greek starting point, conversely, one conceives "la personne in recto et la nature in obliquo."5 Now since in recto and in obliquo refer to conceptual orderings, the adequacy of the typology clearly depends on the actual execution of any given author. In other words, it may have its uses as an ideal type, but it is not itself a description of anyone's actual theology. The expectation fostered by this scheme is that Thomas Aquinas will be typical of the Latin pattern. In fact de Regnon does not hesitate to say that Latin Scholasticism in general exhibits this pattern,6 and he specifically applies it to Thomas: "At the starting point of St. Thomas's Trinitarian theory, we meet a God who is single, subsistent, possessing a spiritual nature, a God who is perfect and presents all the characteristics of a 'personal' God, of a Person-God."7 Effectively, he thinks, this means God the Father, which he tentatively approves as fitting the ancient pattern, "for during the first centuries of the Church's life, the 3 Ibid., 1:250-51. 4 "La philosophie latine envisage d'abord la nature en elle-meme et poursuit jusqu'au supp6t; la philosophie grecque envisage d'abord le supp6t et y penetre ensuite pour y trouver la nature. Le Latin considere la personalite comme un mode de la nature, le Gree considere la nature comme le contenu de la personne. Ce sont la des visees contraires, qui projettent Jes concepts de la meme realite sur des fonds differents" (ibid., 1:433-34). Here and throughout, translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. 5 Ibid., 1:251-52. 6 Ibid., 1:252. 7 "Au point de depart de la thforie trinitaire de saint Thomas, on rencontre un Dieu unique, subsistant, possedant une nature spirituelle, Dieu parfait et presentant tous !es caracteres d'un Dieu 'personnel', d'une Personne-Dieu" (ibid., 2:212). METHOD, ORDER, AND ANALOGY IN TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY 565 name 'God', unmodified, preeminently meant God the Father, source of divinity."8 De Regnon did not consider his typology evaluative in itself. For him, the two patterns are...