Constructio ad Sensum (or, A Collection of Unrelated Items)

My reading lately has been focused on the relationship between scripture and theology, and I've been reading Matthew Levering's Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology . In his chapter entitled, "YHWH and Being," a few lines struck me: "the ontological or metaphysical interpretation [of Exod 3:13-14] underscores the identity of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob precisely as the creating and redeeming God...The name "I am who am," a name that is necessarily metaphysical, does not on Aquinas's interpretation trap Israel's God within the limitations of Aristotle's (idolatrous) prime mover." (65) This point is one of Levering's central arguments in the chapter. Against the charge that metaphysics has no place in the interpretation of Scripture — or even in Christian theology — Levering (with Thomas Weinandy, Gilles Emery, and others) argues that metaphysics is useful (even necessary) to theology whe...

Centuries of reflection, conflict, and ultimately division have been propelled by two rather innocuous Latin words:  filioque  and  est . The former resulted in the split of the eastern and western churches, while the latter continues to sprout disagreement and division to this day. With respect to the latter, the view of Ambrose and other earlier Fathers is that when Christ said the (presumably) Aramaic equivalent of  hoc est enim corpus meum , he meant what he said: in some way his body and blood are really present when we eat the Supper. How that is, Ambrose maintained, is a mystery ( sacramentum ). Like an axe head floating or five thousand people being fed by five loaves and two fish, this mysterious presence is  contra natura , the manner in which God is wont to work.                   Augustine followed Ambrose in much of his understanding of the sacrament, particula...