time the received doctrine of the Western Church.1 is It very significant as appearing to allow that personality is a necessary element in the perfection of a human nature. It is also a tacit recognition of the danger to which the received theology was exposed: the danger of reducing Christ's humanity to a mere appendage of His person, the mere organ for a theophany.2 Thus in Alcuin's treatment of the personality of Christ we see the lingering trace of a monophysitic mode of thought; and the same tendency is illustrated in the reception given to the doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus as to the transubstantiation of the species in the Eucharist.3 Adoptianism was, in a word, the close of a prolonged series of efforts to uproot monophysitism; nevertheless it only served to show how deeply that conception of Christ's person had moulded the thought even of those who most earnestly repudiated it.* 1 See passages in Dorner, l.c. The question Utrum Filius Dei assumpserit personam is discussed by Aquinas (Summa, pars. iii. qu. 4, art. 2). He says (ad 3): "Quod consumptio ibi non importat destructionem alicujus quod prius fuerat, sed impeditionem ejus quod aliter esse posset. Si enim humana natura non esset assumpta a divina persona, natura humana propriam personalitatem haberet ; et pro tanto dicitur persona consumpsisse personam, licet improprie ; quia persona divina sua unione impedivit ne natura humana propriam personalitatem haberet." Elipandus did in fact accuse his opponents of docetism or Eutychianism. Lib. de corp. et sang. Domini, written about 830. It is significant that he starts with the thesis of Alcuin, the omnipotence of God. Thus in c. i.: "Omnia quæcunque voluit Dominus fecit in cælo et terra. Et quia voluit, licet figura panis et vini hic sit, omnino nihil aliud quam caro Christi et sanguis post consecrationem credenda sunt." 4 Dorner, div. ii. vol. i. p. 268. VOL. II.-II THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION IN THE § I. General characteristics. The system of Scotus Erigena and its subsequent influence. § II. Sketch of the scholastic age. (1) First period: to the end of the twelfth century. (3) Third period: decline of scholasticism. § III. Christological thought in the scholastic age. The questions in dispute. i. The doctrine of the Atonement: survey of patristic opinion prior to Anselm. The Cur Deus Homo? analysis and criticism. Abelard, Peter Lombard, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. ii. The effects of the Incarnation on the Godhead. Nihilianism of Peter Lombard. iii. The question Utrum Christus venisset si Adam non peccasset. Rupert of Deutz and others. iv. The effects on Christ's human nature of its union with Deity. The teaching of Thomas Aquinas, and of Duns Scotus. § I. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS The Adoptianist controversy brings us to the threshold of the Middle Ages, the period in which was developed a new Christian and theological culture among the Germanic nations. For it may be justly maintained that in the eighth century the Church virtually entered into a new inheritance-the awakening powers, moral and intellectual, of the Teutonic peoples. To them she transmitted, as a heritage from the older world, the accumulated treasures of early Christian thought and toil, the canon of Scripture, the decisions of the early Councils, the immense mass of patristic literature, and specially the writings of Augustine. Nor should it be forgotten that the spirit of Neoplatonism had already penetrated deep into the thought of the Church, owing mainly to the influence of the works ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, while the logical system of Aristotle had been transmitted to the West through the medium of translations made by Boethius. The contemplative tendency of Neoplatonism fostered the growth of mysticism; the dialectical method of Aristotle largely determined the form and direction of scholastic speculation; the authority of the Church and the influence of Augustine tended to prescribe the limits within which intellect must be content to move. Accordingly, the age which is now to be surveyed is not one of production or dogmatic development, but rather a period in which current beliefs receive a purely intellectual treatment; in which the faith is regarded mainly as an object of knowledge, engaging the powers of the reflective understanding. The task of the new age is, in a word, that of bringing the doctrinal tradition of the Church into harmony with reason; of reconciling the culture and philosophy of the age with the temper of faith. |