Week 2 Course Material

Course Slides and Readings

Before the second session, please read:

• Question 28 of the Prima Pars. Links here and here. Focus on the responses (i.e., part beginning with "I answer that," or "I respond"). Please reflect on the articles therein and bring any questions or comments to class.

• "Trinitarian Relations and the Notional Names of Persons," in The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God, by Thomas Joseph White. Link here.

Further Reading

Optional reading:

• Chapter five, "Relations," in The Trinitarian Theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas, by Gilles Emery. Link here.

Assignment

After the second session, write 300 words in response to one of the following:

1. Give examples of procession in creation (not used in theology), then describe the notions of procession used in theology and state why they are appropriate.

2. Reflect on the term "conception" in the context of the analogies employed to describe the generation of the Son in God.

3. Giving examples, contrast the notions of transitive and immanent action (include Latin etymology).

4. Outline the human act of understanding, and why this is a fitting analogy for the procession of the Word in God.

5. Describe the two acts of spiritual creatures, and, in light of this, state why it is appropriate that there are two processions in God.