Sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo: ita Deus et homo unus est Christus. A Note on Aquinas’ Reading of the Pseudo-Athanasian Creed
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2020.010Keywords
Aquinas, Athanasius, Athanasian Creed, Aristotle, Incarnation, anthropologyAbstract
Today, there is a general consensus that Athanasius of Alexandria (296/298–373), the famous Greek Church Father, did not write the so-called Athanasian Creed; the text was attributed to him much later. Nevertheless, it was an influential document, particularly during the later Middle Ages. And Thomas Aquinas was among those who seemed to have appreciated it. But how did he actually read or appropriate the Creed, especially within the context of his mature thought? In this paper, I focus on Aquinas’ reading of one particular verse of the Creed, namely “Nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo: ita Deus et homo unus est Christus”, by discussing two relevant texts, namely ST III.2 and SCG IV.41. And I argue that these texts convey the notion that Aquinas attempts to critically integrate this verse, not only into his Christological doctrine of Incarnation, but also into his Aristotelian-based anthropology.
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