Transcendent Multitude
Emery says that for Aquinas the diversity of creation is founded in the personal plurality of the divine relations: “One cannot emphasize more forcefully the positive value of the multiplicity of creature; Saint Thomas does not conceive of plurality as a decline from unity, but to the contrary, as a participation in the fullness of the trinitarian life of God. This theological audacity expresses the consequences of the revolutionary idea of a ‘transcendental multitude’ that Saint Thomas recognizes in the Trinity.”
“Transcendental multitude” translates multitudo secundum quod transcendens from ST 1, 30, 3.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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