Human Will and Divine Grace - Damascene’s Teaching on Theosis and its Echo in Aquinas

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12260%2F21%3A43904179" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12260/21:43904179 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Human Will and Divine Grace - Damascene’s Teaching on Theosis and its Echo in Aquinas

Original language description

St. John of Damascus is one of the most frequently cited authors in Aquinas’ Summa theologiae. In Damascene’s writings we find a well developed if somewhat un-systematic teaching on deification which in turn finds its echo in the works of the Angelic Doctor. John touches upon this topic while writing about the Orthodox Faith, defending the Holy Images or arguing against the heresies. Man participates in God (to a certain degree) firstly because he is a created being and secondly because he is a rational being – according to John this is the meaning of man being created in the Image of God. He also recognizes further ‘degrees’ of deification, where both human free will – and virtues which are ‘fruit’ of the free will and attaining them means attaining the Likeness of God – as well as the Grace of God (and its operation through the Sacraments) come to play according to John and without both the free consent of man and divine grace poured onto the same theosis would be unattainable after the Fall. The aim of this article will be to unravel Damascene’s understanding of the relation between the human will and divine grace in the process of deification or attaining the likeness of God and furthermore to look how this notion of ‘likeness’ as expression of the image and its perfection by virtue (ST I, q. 93, a. 9) was received and developed by Aquinas.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60303 - Theology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

Studia Patristica

ISBN

978-90-429-4167-0

Number of pages of the result

11

Pages from-to

269-279

Number of pages of the book

279

Publisher name

Peeters Publishers

Place of publication

Leuven

UT code for WoS chapter

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