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8. Albert
- Fordham University Press
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Albert the Great commented on the Sentences and also on the Categories. His account of the Trinity follows Bonaventure in holding that there are relations in the divine, that although they are substantially the divine essence they are relatively distinct from one another, and that the Personal properties are the same as God in reality but are distinct from one another by virtue of their distinct relativities. However, his view of divinity differs subtly from Bonaventure's. Whereas for Bonaventure abstract and concrete in the Godhead are identical with one another, for Albert there simply is no abstraction there: following Aristotle's thought in the Categories, he thinks there can only be abstraction where there are accidents, and there are no accidents in the divine. As in Bonaventure's account, there is only one substance in the Godhead, and it is identical not only with God but also with divinity and the divine attributes. It is also identical with the divine relation understood substantially. Understood relatively, the divine relations are identical with the Persons. But Albert does not hold, as Bonaventure does, that the Persons are denominated from the Properties, or God from divinity.