Theologian · Medieval

St. Albert the Great

c. 1200–1280 · Dominican Aristotelianism

Doctor of the Church Latin

Doctor of the Church (Doctor Universalis), canonized and declared Doctor in 1931; patron of natural scientists.

Dominican master at Paris and Cologne, bishop of Regensburg, and teacher of St. Thomas, Albert paraphrased and commented on the whole corpus of Aristotle to make it available to Latin Christendom, while insisting that in natural things experiment, not authority, is the test. His works range over logic, botany, zoology, astronomy, ethics, Scripture and Dionysian mysticism.

Why he matters: He opened the door through which Aristotle entered Catholic theology, and he is the patron of the harmony of faith and natural science.

Reading

On Union with God (attributed)

St. Albert the Great · A short devotional classic from his school, if not his pen.

Journal
Albert the Great: Selected Works

ed. Irven Resnick (in A Companion to Albert the Great) · Texts and essays covering his science and theology.

Journal
Albert the Great

Thomas M. Schwertner, OP · A readable Dominican life.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology

Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology

How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing

Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing

Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes

Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes

Do natures and essences really exist? Realism

Nominalism Realism

God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity

Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity

How should we speak of God? Between

Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way

Is 'being' said of God and of creatures in the same sense? Analogy of being

Analogy of being Univocity of being

How does creation speak of God? Natures studied in their own right

Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Rationalism

Rationalism Fideism

Where does knowledge begin? Senses and abstraction

Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas

Is truth objective? Objective truth

Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

What is theology for? A science ordered to knowing

A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving

Does doctrine develop? A living development

Always the same, in the same words A living development

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul

Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul

Is the body really you? Body–soul unity

Dualism Body–soul unity

Are you free? Free will

Determinism Free will

How fallen is human nature? Between

Totally depraved Basically good

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

What makes you this one and no other? This matter, this body

This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law

Relativism Natural law

Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)

Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude

Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The intellect's vision of God

The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace

Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace

What is salvation for? Deification

Pardon and escape Deification

Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy

Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy

What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato

Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato

When the Pope speaks Every word binds

Resist and judge Every word binds