Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gies, Aaron

Titel

Alexander of Hales on the Gospel of John: An Epitome of Sacra Doctrina

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In his authentic works and in the group-authored Summa Halensis , Alexander of Hales (ca. 1183-1245) defined theology (doctrina theologiae or sacra doctrina) as: “a science about the divine substance which must be cognized through Christ in the work of restoration.” This unusual triadic form, drawn from Ps.-Dionysius’s Celestial Hierarchy, is necessary because of theology’s subject: “in forms and things separated from material, as is divinity itself and the Trinity of Persons…through activity we arrive at knowledge of power, and through power into knowledge of essence.” The definition is often read as confusing theology with Scripture. However, new evidence from Alexander’s unedited John commentary, the Postilla in Iohannis euangelium (ca. 1230s), where Alexander divides John’s Gospel according to the same triadic form, shows that theology for Alexander is neither Scripture nor human reflection on it, but a unique discipline embracing both. Section one surveys the literature: the exegesis of Alexander of Hales has never been published or studied in relation to his systematic works. Section two treats the idea of theology found in systematic Halensian works. Section three introduces the Postilla in Iohannis euangelium. Section four treats the idea of theology worked out in the commentary. Section five synthesizes Alexander’s systematic and exegetical teaching on theology. Section six concludes the dissertation. A text-critical study, working edition of the prefaces and first three chapters of the commentary, and exhaustive division of the text are appended. For Alexander, theology is divine illumination as refracted through a hierarchy that includes angelic and prophetic speech, the Scriptures and products of human reflection such as exegesis or disputed questions. Instances of theology are images whereby Christ’s activities in himself or in his mystical body are revealed to someone through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be acts of restoration disclosing God’s hidden power and essence. Whatever the literary genre, theology always proceeds according to the same triadic form to inquire into the same transcendant subject. Theology is essentially “hierarchizing.” In learning it, one is purified in activity, illuminated with knowledge and perfected in order, so that theology and spirituality are always integrally linked.