Aaron Pidel, SJ

My project is an article-length study of Thomas Aquinas and Francisco Suárez on the church's role in the development of doctrine--a role that defies easy categorization. On the one hand, the church must participate in God’s own revelatory activity to such a degree that its authoritative interpretations—also known as dogmas—can qualify as objects of faith. On the other hand, the Church’s role must differ enough from God’s that its definitions remain mere interpretations, not becoming occasions of fresh revelation. Aquinas says simply that the doctrine of the Church “proceeds from the first truth manifested in the Sacred Scriptures” (procedit ex veritate prima in Scripturis sacris manifestata) (STh II II 5.3). Suárez, seeking more precision, presents the Church as the “organ or instrument” (organum seu instrumentum) through which the Holy Spirit speaks, appealing to Aquinas’ doctrine of instrumental causality (De fide, disp. 3, s. 8, n. 10). Since the effects produced through an instrumental cause are formally attributable to the principal cause, however, Suárez appears to imply that the Holy Spirit issues fresh revelations through the church. My own hypothesis is that Suárez need not be answerable to this objection, often laid at his feet. Aquinas’ own teaching on Christ as principal cause of repeatable sacramental actions (STh III 62.5) gives a model for thinking about the Holy Spirit as principal cause of church definitions that are new to us but not additively new.

Affiliation: Pontifical Gregorian University