Can Saint Thomas’s Summa Theologiae Speak to Moltmann’s Theology of Hope?

THE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS oF THE PROVINCE OF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington, D. C. 20017 VoL. XXXIII APRIL, 1969 No. 9l CAN SAINT THOMAS'S SUMMA THEOLOGIAE SPEAK TO MOLTMANN'S THEOLOGY OF HOPE? IN AN impressive essay W. M. Conlon intimates that, with the important exception of the canonical writers, the explication St. Thomas gives of Christian hope proves more sensitive and more thorough than that of any other theologian in the Church.1 Since the article appeared in 1947, however, Thomas's pre-eminence has been challenged, even for Catholics, by the emergent cluster of " theologians of ' hope '." 2 Within this group I have chosen to focus upon the major work of just one-namely, Moltmann's Theology of Hope-as a man1 Walter M. Conlon, "The Certitude of Hope," The Thomist, X (1947), 75-119, !'l!'l6-!'l5!'l. Though his emphasis remains on the narrower question of " certitude," the implications are clear also that Thomas's understanding on other matters pertaining to hope surpasses that of other men, an intimation spelled out for " certitude." 2 See, for example, Gerald G. O'Collins, "Spes Quaerens Intellectum," Interpretation , XXII (1968), 35-54. 9l15 ~16 LOUIS WEEKS, III ageable, if not totally representative example.3 My question of relevance has likewise been put to one work also-Summa Theologiae-as a representative, if not totally manageable example of orthodox apologetics.4 In terms much too broad for the present essay, the question is being asked, as perhaps never before, of all Christian orthodoxy, of the entire tradition. But for the present, the narrow query is made: does the Summa say anything to Theology of Hope? Moltmann himself, in a recent position paper, has seemingly answered in the negative: the Summa can say little if anything .5 He speaks of the traditional Christian dialectic, expressed in the vocabulary of the medieval Church, as that between sacra dootrina and prima philosophia. More recently the same statement has been made in terms of historical theology on the one hand and dogmatic theology on the other. To Christian theology, both gave a traditional unity. As a result of the Copernican revolution, the modem obsession with operational questions and the rise of relativism, Moltmann, however, has found the dialectical unity disintegrating for contemporary man. Man is no longer asking the conventional questions o£ cosmological teleology. In his words: The old forms, according to which God was thought of as the absolute, the universal, that which always pertained to everyone, are no longer accepted as a matter of course. The cosmological proofs for God's existence which related God's divinity to world experience accessible to everyone have lost their convicting power, ever since man no longer understands himself as a part of a world striving for God....6 That Thomas in his Summa conceived of the meaning of human existence primarily in terms of cosmological teleology • Jiirgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope (New York: Harper, 1967), translated by J. W. Leitch. • Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1947), translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 3 volumes. 5 Moltmann, "Hope and History or Theology as Eschatology." Unpublished position paper for the Duke Consultation on the New Tasks of Theology, April 4, 1968; cf. Theology of Hope, ~7~-~80. 6 Moltmann, "Hope ... ," p. ~. This statement reveals that, in spite of criticism levelled against him, Moltmann does indeed offer a teleology. ST. THOMAS AND MOLTMANN ON HOPE ~17 cannot be seriously doubted. The goal of the world in all respects remained in rejoining God who had given it existence.7 More particularly, in the words of P. Kiinzle, what is " especially characteristic for Thomas's moral theology is that the life of a Christian is conceived of as a return to God from whom he has gone out." 8 According to Kiinzle, Aristotle's teleological Ethic gave rise to this concern on the part of Thomas. Whatever its source, the dichotomy still remains; and the resultant chasm in theological methodology between Thomas and Moltmann cannot be bridged by any simple synthesis. Nevertheless, even after the Copernican revolution, the technological...