Thomas Aquinas and the Potential Catholic Integration of a Dynamic Occasionalist Understanding of Grace

Murray, Paul D.

Abstract

Starting out from John Barclay's Lutheran‐inclined, actualist reading of the in‐breaking quality of grace and the Spirit in Paul, this article asks how a Catholic theology of grace – typically more focused on identifying the relatively stable structures and effects of grace – might with integrity learn from the Barclayan‐Lutheran‐Pauline difference. By pursuing a close, four‐step reading of Thomas Aquinas' theology of grace, as that appears in the Summa Theologiæ and his lectures on the Pauline epistles, the article demonstrates that just such a Catholic appropriation of a more dynamic graced actualism is indeed possible; one which leads, with dynamic integrity, to a deepened understanding, articulation and practice of core Catholic instincts rather than to their reduction or distortion.

Citation

Murray, P. D. (2020). Thomas Aquinas and the Potential Catholic Integration of a Dynamic Occasionalist Understanding of Grace. International Journal of Systematic Theology, 22(1), 83-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijst.12394

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 9, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 17, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 31, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2022
• Journal: International Journal of Systematic Theology
• Print ISSN: 1463-1652
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2400
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 83-112
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijst.12394
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1291741