Esse Secundarium: An Analogical Term Meaning that by which Christ is Human

557 The Thomist 78 (2014): 557-80 ESSE SECUNDARIUM: AN ANALOGICAL TERM MEANING THAT BY WHICH CHRIST IS HUMAN JOHN FROULA Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity St. Paul, Minnesota F THE MANY interpretations of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Questio disputata De unione Verbi incarnati, article 4, Victor Salas Jr.’s 2006 article in The Thomist, “Thomas Aquinas on Christ’s esse: A Metaphysics of the Incarnation,” stands out for its comprehensiveness, its lucidity, and its appropriation of the principles of St. Thomas.1 In some Thomistic circles it is a touchstone of reference, for good reason.2 Salas explains the difficulty of the text: its introduction of an esse secundarium that is human and other than the divine esse seems to contradict St. Thomas’s frequent insistence throughout his career that in Christ there is only one esse, the divine.3 In the Summa theologiae (III, q. 17, a. 2), for instance, we read the following: Therefore, since the human nature is conjoined to the Son of God hypostatically or personally, as said above, and not accidentally, it follows that according to the human nature there does not come to him new personal esse, 1 The Thomist 70 (2006): 577-603. 2 See, for example, the following: Corey L. Barnes, “Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas on Person, Hypostasis, and Hypostatic Union,” The Thomist 72 (2008): 107-46; James B. Reichmann, S.J., “Aquinas, Scotus, and the Christological Mystery: Why Christ is not a Human Person,” The Thomist 71 (2007): 451-74; David A. Tamisiea, “St. Thomas Aquinas on the One esse of Christ,” Angelicum 88 (2011): 383-402; Shawn Colberg, “Accrued Eyes and Sixth Digits: Thomas Aquinas and Cardinal Cajetan on Christ’s Single esse and the Union of Natures,” Nova et Vetera, English Edition, 8 (2010): 55-87. 3 See III Sent., d. 6, q. 2, a. 2; Quodl. IX, q. 2, a. 2; and Comp. Theol. I, c. 212. O 558 JOHN FROULA but only a new relation of the preexisting personal esse to the human nature, just as the person already is said to subsist, not only according to the divine nature, but also the human.4 In response to an objection, St. Thomas says that the eternal esse of the Son of God, which is the divine nature, becomes the esse of man inasmuch as the human nature is assumed by the Son of God in the unity of the person.5 This article from the Summa theologiae stands in contrast to the following passage from De unione: Therefore just as Christ is one simply because of the unity of the supposit, and two in a certain respect, because of the two natures, thus he has one esse simply because of the one eternal esse of the eternal supposit. But there is also another esse of this supposit, not inasmuch as it is eternal, but inasmuch as it is made man in time. That is, even if it is not accidental esse—since man is not predicated accidentally of the Son of God, as was said above—it is nevertheless not the principal esse, but secondary. But if in Christ there were two supposits, then each supposit would have its own principal esse. And thus in Christ there would be twofold esse simply speaking.6 4 “Sic igitur, cum humana natura coniungatur Filio Dei hypostatice vel personaliter, ut supra dictum est, et non accidentaliter, consequens est quod secundum humanam naturam non adveniat sibi novum esse personale, sed solum nova habitudo esse personalis praeexistentis ad naturam humanam: ut scilicet persona illa iam dicatur subsistere, non solum secundum naturam divinam, sed etiam humanam” (STh III, q. 17, a. 2). Translations are mine. 5 “Ad secundum dicendum quod illud esse aeternum Filii Dei quod est divina natura, fit esse hominis, inquantum humana natura assumitur a Filio Dei in unitate personae” (ibid., ad 2). 6 “Et ideo, sicut Christus est unum simpliciter propter unitatem suppositi et duo secundum quid propter duas naturas, ita habet unum esse simpliciter propter unum esse aeternum aeterni suppositi; est autem et aliud esse huius suppositi, non in quantum est aeternum, sed in quantum est temporaliter homo factum. Quod est, si non sit esse...