Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Divinarum Personarum; Intelligible Emanation (emanatio intelligibilis, Definition); Existenz: real - intentional; in Gott: Emanation - keine Kausalität (unbewusst); Sohn u. Geist a se und nicht a se; psychologische Analogie

Kurzinhalt: 2 Chapter 2, from the Definition of Emanatio Intelligibilis through Assertion I; Intellectual emanation, then, is the conscious origin of an act both within intellectual consciousness and by virtue of intellectual consciousness itself as determined by ...

Textausschnitt: 2 Chapter 2, from the Definition of Emanatio Intelligibilis through Assertion I

761b Intellectual emanation, then, is the conscious origin of an act both within intellectual consciousness and by virtue of intellectual consciousness itself as determined by the act.'2

This emanation is certainly not a conceptual being but real, nor is it an intentional real being but a natural real being. (Fs)

It is a real being: it is not conceived such that it is said not to be, but it is both conceived and affirmed to be. (Fs)

761c It is a natural being: that is, it is not affirmed to be really in the intellect as a medium through which something else is known; rather, it is affirmed to be really in the intellect as belonging to the very nature of the intellect. For whatever we know is really within us, not, however, by way of natural existence but by way of intentional existence; and so right now, when we are conceiving intellectual emanation and affirming that it exists, an intellectual emanation is present intentionally in this conception and judgment. But our intellect itself, and our species, acts, words, will, habits, and volitions all belong to the natural reality that is our intellectuality, and to the same natural reality belong those intellectual emanations of one act from another. And so before we either conceived or asserted anything about intellectual emanation, there were intellectual emanations present within us, not indeed intentionally but really and naturally. (Fs)

763a Besides, although an intellectual emanation is something that is very perfect, still by the natural light of reason it cannot be shown to be a pure perfection; hence, by the natural light of reason it cannot be demonstrated that there is any intellectual emanation in God (db 1816, ds 3041, nd 137). (Fs)

Moreover, even if reason illumined by faith affirms two intellectual emanations in God, so that the Son originates by way of the procession of truth and the Spirit by the way of the procession of holiness, nevertheless reason, even when illumined by faith, can never perfectly grasp these divine emanations (db 1796, ds 3016, nd 132).

763b Still, if we posit such emanations in God, we are already making significant progress in understanding how the Son is both a se, from himself, and not a se, not from himself, how the Spirit is both a se, from himself, and not a se, not from himself, and how the way in which the Son is not a se, not from himself, differs from the way in which the Spirit is not a se, not from himself. (Fs)

For,3 let us assume that there is in God real intellectual emanation. (Fs)

Now that which emanates is necessarily infinite. If it were finite, it would not be God; if it were not God, it would be a creature; if it were a creature, it would be outside of God; if it were outside of God, it is impossible for it to be that which emanates within the divine consciousness. Therefore, it is infinite. (Fs)
763c Again, the infinite is unique. Therefore, that which emanates and that from which it emanates are one and the same. Therefore, God emanates from God, light emanates from uncreated light, true God emanates from true God. (Fs)

763d Furthermore, although that which emanates and that from which it emanates are one and the same God, this does not negate the formality or the reality of emanation. Certainly, nothing is the cause of itself; but we have not posited causality. In fact, we have for some time now been seeking something other than causality, so that the Son or the Spirit would not be created or made, and each would be both God and therefore a se, from himself. (Fs)

765a Moreover, not only have we not posited causality, we have put forward something far more excellent than causality. For causality is simply an imperfect and unconscious imitation of the intelligible order, which is present intentionally in the mind of the creator. But intellectual emanations, as they are grounded upon our created participation in uncreated light, so do they constitute in us that celebrated image of the triune God from which the psychological analogy is derived. (Fs) (notabene)

Further, what can take place in us in three finite acts can be present in God through one infinite act. But through three finite acts we grasp the sufficiency of evidence, by virtue of this grasp of evidence we judge, and by virtue of our affirmation of goodness we love. So through one infinite act God by his intellect grasps his infinite perfection, by virtue of this grasp of his perfection affirms it, and by virtue of this affirmation of his perfection loves. (Fs) (notabene)
765b Yet we should not be surprised at our inability to understand these things perfectly, but should rather expect it. After all, we are dealing with the supreme mystery of the Holy Trinity. Still, the fact that we are not deceiving ourselves is suggested by St Thomas: 'That which proceeds by an external procession must be different from that from which it proceeds. But what proceeds internally by an intellectual process does not have to be different. Indeed, the more perfectly it proceeds, the more is it one with that from which it proceeds.4
Therefore, the Son is a se, from himself, because he is God. And the Son is not a se, not from himself, because he proceeds by the intellectual emanation of truth. (Fs)

765c Likewise, the Spirit is a se, from himself, because he is God. And the Spirit is not a se, not from himself, because he proceeds by the intellectual emanation of holiness. (Fs)
The way in which the Son is not a se, not from himself, differs from the way in which the Spirit is not a se, not from himself, because the emanation whereby truth proceeds is not the same as the emanation by which holiness proceeds. (Fs)

765d Now if these things have been understood to some extent, then, since a concept emanates from an act of understanding, we may proceed to a correct conception of the divine processions. (Fs)