On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
Father is not a Personality. St. Augustine, for instance,1 teaches that the “Persons” of the Trinity are Elements whose true nature is unknown to us?
They correspond however, he says, to certain elements in our individual personalities, and hence the human
1 [What Augustine says is that we do not speak of three essences and three Gods, but of one essence and one God. Why then do we speak of three Persons and not of one Person?
“Why, therefore, do we not call these three together one Person, or one Essence and one God; we say three Persons, while we do not say three Gods or three Essences; unless it be because we wish some one word to serve for that meaning whereby the Trinity is understood, that we might not be altogether silent when asked, what three, while we confessed that they are three?”
I. Augustine’s distinction is between the genus and the species. Thus Abraham Isaac and Jacob are three specimens of one genus. What he contends is that this is not the case in the Deity. 2. The essence of the Deity is unfolded in these Three. And “there is nothing else of that Essence beside the Trinity.” “In no way can any other person whatever exist out of the same essence” whereas in mankind there can be more than three. 3. Moreover the three specimens of the genus man, Abraham Isaac and Jacob, are more, collectively, than any one of them by himself. “But in God it is not so; for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together is not a greater essence than the Father alone or the Son alone.” What he means is that the Trinity is not to be explained by spacial metaphors (De Trin. vii. 11).
Augustine then is not teaching that the Persons of the Trinity are Elements whose true nature is unknown to us. He certainly does teach that Personality in the Godhead must exist otherwise than what we find under human limitations. But Augustine’s conception of Deity is not the Supra-Personal Absolute. To him the Trinity was not confined to the plane of Manifestation. We have only to remember how he regards Sabellianism to prove this. Moreover, who can doubt that Augustine’s psychological conception of God as the Lover, the Beloved and the Love which in itself is personal, represented to his mind the innermost reality and ultimate essence of the Deity? God is not for Augustine a supra-personal something in which both unity and trinity are transcended. The Trinity of Manifestation is for Augustine that which corresponds with and is identical with the very essential being of Deity. God is not merely Three as known to us but Three as He is in Himself apart from all self-revelation.—ED.]
De Trin. vii. 11: “Why do we speak of Three ‘Persons’? . . . except because we need some one term to explain the meaning of the word ‘Trinity,’ so as not to be entirely without an answer to the question: ‘Three What?’” when we confess God to be Three.” soul is created (he tells us) not in the image of one Person in the Godhead but in the image of the whole Trinity! Thus he by implication denies that God the Father is, in the ordinary sense of the word, a Personality. And the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas is very similar? It may, perhaps, even be said that the germ of the most startling doctrines which Dionysius expounds may be actually found in Scripture. A state, for instance, which is not knowledge and yet is not ignorance, is described by St. Paul when he says that Christians “know God or rather are known of Him.’? This is the mental attitude of Unknowing. For the mind is quiescent and emptied of its own powers and so receives a knowledge the scope and activity of which is outside itself in God. And in speaking of an ecstatic experience which he himself had once attained St. Paul seems to suggest that he was, on that occasion, outside of himself in such a manner as hardly, in the ordinary sense, to retain his own identity. Moreover he suggests that the redeemed and perfected creation is at last to be actually merged in God (iva 7) 6 Θεὸς ta σιάντα ἕν πᾶσι.). And the doctrine of Deification is certainly, in the germ, Scriptural. For as Christ is the Son of God so are we to be Sons of God,® and Christ is reported actually to have based His own claims to Deity on the potential Divinity of the human soul. Moreover we are to reign with Him * and are, in a manner passing our present apprehension, to be made like Him when we see Him as Helis?
Father is not a Personality. St. Augustine, for instance,1 teaches that the “Persons” of the Trinity are Elements whose true nature is unknown to us.2
They correspond, however, he says, to certain elements in our individual personalities, and so the human
1 [What Augustine says is that we do not speak of three essences and three Gods, but of one essence and one God. Why, then, do we speak of three Persons and not of one Person?
“Why, then, do we not call these three together one Person, as we call them one Essence and one God? Why do we say three Persons, while we do not say three Gods or three Essences—unless it is because we want some one word to serve for the meaning by which the Trinity is understood, so that we may not be left altogether silent when asked ‘Three what?’ after confessing that they are three?”
1. Augustine’s distinction is between the genus and the species. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for example, are three specimens of one genus. What he contends is that this is not the case in the Deity. 2. The essence of the Deity is unfolded in these Three, and “there is nothing else of that Essence beside the Trinity.” “In no way can any other person whatever exist out of the same essence,” whereas in mankind there can be more than three. 3. Moreover, the three specimens of the genus man, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are collectively more than any one of them by himself. “But in God it is not so; for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together is not a greater essence than the Father alone or the Son alone.” What he means is that the Trinity is not to be explained by spatial metaphors (De Trin. vii. 11).
Augustine, then, is not teaching that the Persons of the Trinity are Elements whose true nature is unknown to us. He certainly does teach that Personality in the Godhead must exist otherwise than as we find it under human limitations. But Augustine’s conception of Deity is not the Supra-Personal Absolute. For him the Trinity was not confined to the plane of Manifestation; we have only to remember how he regards Sabellianism to prove this. Moreover, who can doubt that Augustine’s psychological conception of God as the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love which is itself personal represented to his mind the innermost reality and ultimate essence of the Deity?
For Augustine, God is not a supra-personal something in which both unity and trinity are transcended. The Trinity of Manifestation is for Augustine that which corresponds with, and is identical with, the very essential being of Deity. God is not merely Three as known to us, but Three as He is in Himself, apart from all self-revelation.—ED.]
On the Trinity (De Trin.) vii. 11: “Why do we speak of Three ‘Persons’? . . . except because we need some one term to explain the meaning of the word ‘Trinity,’ so as not to be entirely without an answer to the question ‘Three What?’ when we confess God to be Three.” The soul, he tells us, is created not in the image of one Person in the Godhead but in the image of the whole Trinity.1 By implication, then, he denies that God the Father is a Personality in the ordinary sense of the word. And the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas is very similar.2
It may perhaps even be said that the germ of the most startling doctrines Dionysius expounds can actually be found in Scripture. A state which is not knowledge and yet is not ignorance, for instance, is described by St. Paul when he says that Christians “know God, or rather are known of Him.”3 This is the mental attitude of Unknowing. For the mind is quiescent and emptied of its own powers, and so receives a knowledge whose scope and activity lie outside itself, in God. And in speaking of an ecstatic experience which he himself had once attained, St. Paul seems to suggest that on that occasion he was outside himself in such a way as hardly to retain his own identity in the ordinary sense. Moreover, he suggests that the redeemed and perfected creation is at last to be actually merged in God (iva 7) 6 Θεὸς ta σιάντα ἕν πᾶσι.).
And the doctrine of Deification is certainly Scriptural in germ. For as Christ is the Son of God, so we are to be Sons of God,6 and Christ is reported actually to have based His own claims to Deity on the potential Divinity of the human soul. Moreover, we are to reign with Him * and are, in a way that passes our present understanding, to be made like Him when we see Him as He is.8