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The Thomist 71(2007):451-74 AQUINAS, SCOTUS, AND THE CHRISTOLOGICAL MYSTERY: WHY CHRIST IS NOT A HUMAN PERSON ]AMES B. REICHMANN, S.J. Seattle University Seattle, Washington THE INCARNATION is the central mystery of the Christian faith. It is the mystery that distinguishes Christianity from all other theistic beliefs, and provides the path to another demarcating Christian mystery, the Holy Trinity. Through the mystery of the Incarnation the believer affirms that Jesus is both divine and human, God and man, while the mystery of the Trinity affirms that, although the Godhead is one in nature, it consists of three distinct persons. The latter mystery, while prior in nature to the first (for God is eternally triune while temporally human), is, however, secondary in terms of its revelation to mankind, for it is only through the teaching of Jesus that the Trinitarian personhood of God was explicitly revealed to man. It is through the Incarnation of the Son that the triune personhood of God was revealed. This explains why the mystery of the Incarnation occupies center stage among Christian beliefs, and why, throughout the past two millennia, theologians have striven to expound its nature and signal importance for Christian believers. On this topic St. Thomas Aquinas could hardly have been more explicit. "Whatever is within a person," he states, "whether or not it pertain to his nature, is united with that person in its personhood [in persona]. If, therefore, a human nature is not united to the Word ofGod in a person, it is in no way united with it. The result of this is that faith in the Incarnation is completely 451 452 JAMES B. REICHMANN, S.J. removed, further resulting in the total subversion of Christian belief."1 To the unbelieving, the mystery of the Incarnation often seems either indistinguishable from a pantheistic view, identifying God with nature and the world, or is interpreted as being merely a religious metaphor, affirming that Christ is god-like, though, in truth, a human person only. It is the theologian's calling, using human language and reason, to help clarify the meaning and implications of the dogmatic teachings of faith. Theologians do not thereby have either the first or the last word regarding what is to be believed, but they do perform an invaluable, subsidiary task of elucidating and defending the various mysteries of Christian belief. The theologian thus positively assists in uncovering much of the hidden riches and meaning of the revealed word, as well as in drawing attention to the splendorous unity of the Church's dogmatic teachings. By the mystery of the Incarnation the Christian faith affirms that Christ is truly both God and man. Christ is not God appearing to be human; nor is he a human appearing to be divine. The present study restricts its consideration to the contrasting positions taken regarding the mystery of the Incarnation by perhaps the two preeminent theologians of the High Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. Both are, of course, in agreement regarding the doctrinal content of the mystery of the Incarnation. It is their views regarding its theological explanation that are at variance. How and why this is the case is the focus of the present study. I We begin by addressing Scotus's view regarding personhood. For Scotus, a human person is a singularly existing being composed of body and soul, capable of reasoning. He insists that 1 STh III, q. 2, a. 2, resp. prope finem (emphasis added). Unless otherwise indicated, translations from the works of St. Thomas Aquinas are my own. AQUINAS, SCOTUS, AND THE CHRISTOLOGICAL MYSTERY 453 nothing further is required, other than being singular, to render a human incommunicable, and hence a person.2 Scotus's position, then, is that no further positive entity need be added to an existing singular human nature to constitute it as a person. What lies behind Scotus's affirmation is his position regarding the source of singularity in created beings. He rejects the view of singularity advanced by Aristotle, later embraced by Aquinas and others, that it is secondary matter, quantity, that is the cause of singularity within material beings. Contrarily, Scotus affirms that individuation is...

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