The Art of Trinitarian Articulation: A Case Study on Richard of St. Victor's _de Trinitate

271 Pages·2013·1.12 MB·English

by  Todd D. Vasquez

Loyola University Chicago
Loyola eCommons
Dissertations Theses and Dissertations
2009
The Art of Trinitarian Articulation: A Case Study
on Richard of St. Victor's _de Trinitate_
Todd D. Vasquez
Loyola University Chicago
Recommended Citation
Vasquez, Todd D., "The Art of Trinitarian Articulation: A Case Study on Richard of St. Victor's _de Trinitate_" (2009).Dissertations.
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Copyright © 2009 Todd D. Vasquez
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
THE ART OF TRINITARIAN ARTICULATION:
A CASE STUDY ON RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR’S DE TRINITATE
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY
BY
TODD DAVID VASQUEZ
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
AUGUST 2009
Copyright by Todd D. Vasquez, 2009
All rights reserved
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is the hallmark of good, theological scholarship to pursue one’s research in godly
leisure. Whether that leisure comes through voluntary poverty undertaken for the sake of
maintaining a simple life or through the generosity of others who make that leisure
possible, it always comes at great cost and sacrifice. This is as true for the monk as for
the priest, but I am neither monk nor priest. I am a husband, a son, and a father, though.
And as anyone who enjoys the blessings of husbandry, sonship, and fatherhood can attest,
they afford an added dimension of sacrifice—especially on those with whom you bear the
most significant personal relations.
For this reason I would like to first thank my wife, Lisa, who has taught me—in
word and deed—what the fullness of charity looks like in the every day. She has been the
primary financial support of our family for the past twelve years; and without her
longsuffering love and grace, this work would have remained only a possibility in the
mind rather than something in actuality. She has worked hard; and her encouragement,
patience, and love have nurtured and tempered me as a husband and a father. I have
nothing but gratitude in my heart for the hardships she has had to endure as we worked
year after year towards this milestone. She has given more than she has ever received; a
truly gratuitous love I will forever be indebted to.
I would also like to thank my parents, Dave and Linda, who have been champions
of family life and service to others; a heritage I am very proud of. It was from that
nurturing of life and spirit that helped cultivate in me a love for the Scriptures and the
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traditions that have been built up from them. My parents have always been there for me
and picked me up during times when I was ready to give up. Without their steadfast
encouragement and care I would never have come to know those “ancient paths” or that
“narrow way” by which one seeks and finds the face of God.
I would also like to thank my advisors who took the seed of an insight I began with
a number of years ago on the triadic dimensions in Richard of St. Victor’s De Trinitate to
give it the cast and shape that it has today. Dr. Dennis Martin, the director of the
dissertation, was among the first to recognize the valuable contribution this thesis might
make to scholarship on Richard of St. Victor; and I am indebted to him for helping me
take those insights further with weekly readings of Richard’s work in the original Latin.
His expertise as an historian and medievalist have greatly enriched the work. I am also
grateful for Dr. Mark McIntosh’s keen insights that helped reorient the dissertation from
its focus on the structural dimensions of Richard’s work towards how those dimensions
are used by Richard for formative purposes. His wealth of knowledge in the Christian
mystical tradition and his discipline as a writer and theologian have made many places in
this work much richer as well as more concise. Dr. Andrew Gallwitz’s great knowledge
of the patristics and his attention to etymological detail have helped me avoid some
potential pitfalls and for that reason have given the thesis a clearer focus it would not
have had otherwise. I could not ask for three better minds to perfect this one endeavor.
I would also like to thank those Richardian and Victorine scholars whose
scholarship has been invaluable to me and without whom this work would not have been
possible: Grover Zinn, Dale Coulter, Hugh Feiss, Nico den Bok, Chris Evans, Margot
Fassler, and Steven Chase.
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Finally, I would like to thank my two-year-old daughter, Trinity, who in the little
things she does every day has taught me so much about divine life. I fondly remember the
day I took her to the park, when she tried to carry all of her dolls and stuffed animals with
her up on the slides and swings. Try as she might, she could not climb and carry them all
at the same time. It is this picture I carry with me and contemplate when I wish to see the
abundance of a genuine love that wants nothing more than to embrace and share that joy
with others. She has been our joy—our condilectum. And in moments like this, she has
proven that the greatest scholarly insights often come on the knee of Jesus. There, imbued
with the simple faith of the ‘little ones,’ we discover that the special privilege of the
theologian is not knowledge but wonder.
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To Lisa
My love, my life, my joy
. . . because in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious,
or the discovery of truth more profitable.
— Augustine, De Trinitate I.3
in hac ergo verborum varietate intelligenda est veritas una
What matters is the one truth be understood in this variation of words.
— Richard of St. Victor, De Trinitate IV.20
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................................................................................................iii
LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................x
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................xi
Section I. Introduction & Background
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
The Levels of De Trinitate............................................................................................2
Survey of Literature on Method and the Organization of this Work.............................9
CHAPTER ONE: The Influence of Augustine and Anselm.............................................16
The Heritage of Augustine..........................................................................................16
The Guidance of Anselm.............................................................................................26
CHAPTER TWO: The Road to Richard’s De Trinitate....................................................40
The Canons Regular....................................................................................................40
The Religious Life of the Victorines...........................................................................46
The Educational Program at St. Victor........................................................................53
The Road to Richard’s De Trinitate............................................................................58
Discovering a Moral-Mystical Duality..................................................................61
Seeing the Moral-to-Mystical Sequence................................................................65
The “Formative” Order of Richard’s Main Works................................................72
CHAPTER THREE: The Role of Reason in Theological Contemplation........................78
Richard’s fides quaerens intellectum a plenitudine ad plenitudinem..........................78
Richard’s Objective: ‘Necessary Reasons’ (rationes necessariae).............................85
Ascending “Above & Beyond” Reason.......................................................................95
Section II. Articulating the Trinity “Trinitarianly” for the Formation of Souls
CHAPTER FOUR: Articulating the Trinity “Trinitarianly”...........................................106
Inventional, Ordering Devices...................................................................................108
Breadth: Beginning with the End in Mind.................................................................112
Depth: Richard’s Trinitarian Structures in Book III..................................................115
‘Micro’-Use #1: Greatest Love at the Summit of Perfect Goodness (summa)....119
‘Micro’-Use #2: Most Integral Love in the Purest Happiness (integritas)..........125
‘Micro’-Use #3: Fullest Love Out of the Most Abundant Glory (plenitudo)......130
Perspective: Additional Trinitarian Structures and Triads........................................136
Book VI and Discovering De Trinitate “In Relief”...................................................157
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CHAPTER FIVE: Forging These “Trinitarian Dimensions” in the Faithful..................166
Shaping the Trinitarian Consciousness of the Individual..........................................167
Consummating Trinitarian Love in the Community.................................................188
Section III. Objections & Response
CHAPTER SIX: Objections and Response.....................................................................200
Objection #1: Triads as Common to 12th Century....................................................201
Objection #2: The Meditative Practice of collatio....................................................203
Objection #3: Richard’s Penchant for “Harmonizing Opposites”.............................207
Response to Objection #1: Triads Common to 12th Century....................................207
Response to Objection #2: Meditative Practice of collatio.......................................209
Response to Objection #3: Harmonizing of Opposites.............................................210
CONCLUSION: Richard: Theologian and Craftsman....................................................215
APPENDIX A: Discerning the Textual Development of Richard’s De Trinitate...........220
APPENDIX B: Comprehensive Diagram of Richard’s De Trinitate..............................234
APPENDIX C: List of Triads in Richard’s De Trinitate by Book..................................247
BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................250
VITA................................................................................................................................256
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