The Trinitarian Christology of St Thomas Aquinas

The Trinitarian Christology of St Thomas Aquinas brings to light the Trinitarian riches in Thomas Aquinas's Christology. Dominic Legge, O.P, disproves Karl Rahner's assertion that Aquinas divorces the study of Christ from the Trinity, by offering a stimulating re-reading of Aquinas on his own terms, as a profound theologian of the Trinitarian mystery of God as manifested in and through Christ. Legge highlights that, for Aquinas, Christology is intrinsically Trinitarian, in its origin and its principles, its structure, and its role in the dispensation of salvation. He investigates the Trinitarian shape of the incarnation itself: the visible mission of the Son, sent by the Father, implicating the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit to his assumed human nature. For Aquinas, Christ's humanity, at its deepest foundations, incarnates the very personal being of the divine Son and Word of the Father, and hence every action of Christ reveals the Father, is from the Father, and leads back to the Father. This study also uncovers a remarkable Spirit Christology in Aquinas: Christ as man stands in need of the Spirit's anointing to carry out his saving work; his supernatural human knowledge is dependent on the Spirit's gift; and it is the Spirit who moves and guides him in every action, from Nazareth to Golgotha.

Dominic Legge, O.P., is Assistant Professor in the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies and Assistant Director at the Thomistic Institute.

Foreword, Gilles Emery, O.P.
Abbreviations & Editions of Works of St. Thomas Aquinas
Other Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: The Trinity and the Dispensation of Salvation
1. The Divine Missions: From the Trinity, To the Trinity
2. Divine Missions: Invisible and Visible
Part II: Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father Sent in the Flesh
3. Why the Son Became Incarnate
4. The Hypostatic Union and the Trinity
Part III: Christ and the Holy Spirit
5. Like Splendor Flowing from the Sun: The Holy Spirit and Christ's Grace
6. The Holy Spirit and Christ's Human Knowledge
7. Christ's Action and the Holy Spirit
8. Christ Gives the Holy Spirit
Conclusion
Bibliography