The Relation of Metaphysics to the Secondary Object of Revelation, and the Analogy of Being as the Metaphysical Framework for Sacra Doctrina

Abstract

The Relation of Metaphysics to the Secondary Object of Revelation, and the Analogy of Being as the Metaphysical Framework for Sacra Doctrina Steven A. Long In this essay I will try to pursue several objects that are essentially related, but rarely treated together systematically. First, I will consider the secondary object of revelation—that which is required for the intelligibility of revelation—as necessarily including not only historical and logical, but metaphysical truth. Some of these truths are medicinally revealed in Scripture although they are natural truths, for as Thomas writes in Summa theologiae I, q. 2, a. 2, ad 1: “The existence of God and other like truths about God, which can be known by natural reason, are not articles of faith, but are preambles to the articles; for faith presupposes natural knowledge, even as grace presupposes nature and perfection the perfectible.” I will start by referring to former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei,1 a commentary on the profession of faith issued by the CDF on June 29, 1998. I will also point out the Church’s consecration of certain natural metaphysical principles in her teaching, principles that are not merely contingent concepts or placeholders but whose own density of natural intelligibility is vital for the intelligibility of the doctrine of the faith. I also here address St. Thomas’s teaching [End Page 485] regarding the necessarily essential role of metaphysics within sacra doctrina or theology. Secondly, I will offer remarks regarding St. Thomas’s development in his work of the metaphysical framework for sacra doctrina in his teaching of the analogy of being as the foundation for the analogy of creature to God—an account never renounced by him but expressed later in different language the reasons for which he indicates. Failure to observe the reasons he provides for the shift in his language has actually led several authors in the twentieth century2 to hold that Thomas radically altered his account of analogy, or else to hold that he does not have such an account. But to the contrary, I will argue that he holds one formal account that universally structures his theology. Thirdly, I will address Thomas’s account of the imago dei in the human creature, illustrating the essential importance of the analogy of being within Catholic theology for understanding this teaching. Fourthly and finally, I will conclude with observations regarding the challenging analysis of a contemporary theologian of great intelligence and probity—my distinguished, insightful, and learned colleague Father Guy Mansini, O.S.B.—who has argued that valid reasoning for the existence of God is something of nature that seemingly owing to the effects of original sin is only possible for man following upon revelation and pari passu with infused theological faith and sanctifying grace.3 Without providing the [End Page 486] full consideration and response this challenging consideration merits, I will argue that this judgment seems deeply problematic for the intelligibility of revelation and the Church’s discourse with the world; that it seems unduly to constrict the dignity of the imago dei in man—the principle which is the created foundation for all later perfections in grace and glory; and that the metaphysical intelligibility of being itself may be seen as a sign of the transcendence of the image of God in man. All these points highlight the crucial role of metaphysical truth in relation to revelation, doctrine, and theology. The Secondary Object of Revelation In the CDF’s Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei, then-Cardinal Ratzinger observed the distinction in Church teaching between that which is formally revealed, and that which is required for the intelligibility of the reception and promulgation of revelation.4 Regarding that which is formally revealed the document begins by quoting the profession of faith that it is commenting upon: The first paragraph states: “With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to...