Array
(
    [fullTitle] => “Mystical Theology” in Aquinas
    [abstract] => 
The paper explores two avenues to the union of the believer with God  in  Thomas  Aquinas  inspired  by  Pseudo-Dionysius  the  Areopagite;  namely, the intellectual union in faith through the gift of understanding and the union in charity as the basis for the knowledge associated with the gift of wisdom. The former amounts to an intellectual grasp of revealed truths without full understanding of the terms used (without the apprehension of the  essences),  yet  with  a  clear  understanding  of  what  would  be  erroneous  interpretations   and   meanings.   The   latter   is   an   (quasi-)experimental   knowledge of God based on connaturality with him due to the infused virtue of charity. Both kinds of knowledge or “mystical theology” are open to any believer in the state of sanctifying grace and are its effects

    [authors] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Petr
                    [affiliation] => Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
                )

        )

    [keywords] => Array
        (
            [0] => mysticism
            [1] => Aquinas
            [2] => wisdom
        )

    [doi] => 10.24204/ejpr.2022.3542
    [datePublished] => 2022-12-16
    [pdf] => https://www.philosophy-of-religion.eu/menuscript/index.php/ejpr/article/view/3542/version/807/2978
)
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“Mystical Theology” in Aquinas

Petr
Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2022.3542

Abstract

The paper explores two avenues to the union of the believer with God  in  Thomas  Aquinas  inspired  by  Pseudo-Dionysius  the  Areopagite;  namely, the intellectual union in faith through the gift of understanding and the union in charity as the basis for the knowledge associated with the gift of wisdom. The former amounts to an intellectual grasp of revealed truths without full understanding of the terms used (without the apprehension of the  essences),  yet  with  a  clear  understanding  of  what  would  be  erroneous  interpretations   and   meanings.   The   latter   is   an   (quasi-)experimental   knowledge of God based on connaturality with him due to the infused virtue of charity. Both kinds of knowledge or “mystical theology” are open to any believer in the state of sanctifying grace and are its effects

Keywords: mysticism

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