The Trinitarian Theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas - El Camino ...

11
The Holy Spirit Proceeds
from the Father and from the Son
St Thomas has the same respect for the doctrine of the procession of the Holy
Spirit from the Father and Son as all the Latin theologians of his time. His
perspective on this topic has considerable breadth. We will not restrict
ourselves to the well rehearsed theoretical arguments which Anselm had put
forward (he made a special point of relative opposition). We wish to show
here why this doctrine is important, its patristic and biblical credentials, the
theoretical meditation, and some of its consequences. It is also necessary
clearly to distinguish: (1) the doctrine itself and (2) the addition of the
Filioque clause to the Constantinopolitan creed, which constitutes a distinct
problem.1
1. THE DOCTRINAL WEIGHT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’S
PROCESSION APATREAND AFILIO
Thomas accepts the procession of the Holy Spirit from Father and Son as a
truth of faith which there can be no question of demonstrating, in the
proper sense of the term, but whose intelligibility can be disclosed from the
focal point of Trinitarian faith. Even when he is establishing that the procession
of the Spirit a Filio is a required belief for those who accept the
Trinitarian faith as a mystery inaccessible to the grasp of pure reason, he
intends to show that the confession of the Catholic Church is the truth. On
this basis, his reXection on the procession of the Spirit draws out the many
elements within it which express what is at stake in this doctrine.
(1) The defence of the faith against heresies. It was the defence of the faith
in response to heresies which sparked oV the development of Trinitarian
1 This chapter condenses some elements in our article, ‘La procession du Saint-Esprit a Filio
chez Thomas d’Aquin’, RT 96 (1996), 531–574; this is where to look for useful bibliographical
references and more Wne-shading.