Aquinas on The Divine Names (Latin-English version)
/St. Thomas Aquinas, An Exposition of The Divine Names, The Book of Blessed Dionysius. Full text, with complete English translation, of Sarrazin’s Latin rendering of Pseudo-Dionisius’s The Divine Names, followed by Aquinas’s Exposition in Latin and English. Translated and edited, with an introduction, by Michael Augros: Thomas More College Press, 2021. Hardcover. 549 pages. $65.
Reviewed by Ryan J. Brady
For the first time, St. Thomas’s exposition of The Divine Names is available commercially in English. This exquisite 549 page volume includes an introduction, endnotes, a table of citations of The Divine Names in other works of Aquinas, and indexes pertaining to Scripture, Persons, and Terms used.
In the introduction, Michael Augros explains some of the principles he employed in his excellent translation and explains the reason this commentary deserved to be made widely available. He also discusses the role Pseudo-Dionysius (hereafter, ‘Dionysius’) played in Aquinas’s thought by highlighting some of the most essential Dionysian formulations that Aquinas made use of, the varied nature of the Angelic Doctor’s commentaries, and much more.
One fascinating point Augros makes is that St. Thomas explicitly said both that Dionysius was a follower of Platonic thought and that he “everywhere” closely followed Aristotle. Related to this, Aquinas argues at the beginning of the commentary that even though the Platonists’ position that “the species of things” are separate does not harmonize with the truth, what they said about God (the “first principle of things”) is, in fact, “most true” - and, of course, Dionysius follows them on this. Accordingly, St. Thomas very carefully explains the various names Dionysius uses for God (such as, “the good itself,” “supergood,” “the goodness of every good” and “supersubstance”; see, Preface, pp. 4-7). He argues that even though the transcendent reality to which these names correspond are ultimately incomprehensible (since, when it comes to thinking about God, the object of our intellect is not proportionate to us), we can take steps toward the knowledge of God by means of Scripture (which is “a light in the manner of a ray derived from the first truth” (p. 15) and by means of reason. Regarding the latter, he significantly elaborates on Dionysius’ assertion that “we climb to that which is above all things, by a road and by an order, by way of the removal and excess of all things, and by way of the cause of all things” (ch. 7, p 337). St. Thomas says:
From the order of the universe, as by a certain “road and by an order” “we climb” by understanding (“according to” our ability) to God, who “is above all things”; and [we do] this in three ways: first and principally “by way of the removal” “of all things,” namely, inasmuch as none of the things which we see in the order of creatures do we judge to be God or fitting to God; and second, by way of excess: for we do not remove from God the perfections of creatures (such as life, wisdom, and the like) because of a defect in God, but because he exceeds every perfection of any creature, for which reason we remove wisdom from him, because he exceeds all wisdom; third, by the causality of all things, insofar as we consider that whatever is in creatures proceeds from God as from a cause. So, then, our knowledge is disposed in a way that is contrary to God’s knowledge, for God knows creatures by his nature, but we [know] God by creatures (p. 339).
In short, this clearly laid out volume deserves a home on the shelf of every lover of St. Thomas’ thought (though Dionysian scholars would surely profit from it, as well). St. Thomas was clearly much indebted to Dionysius for so many central ideas (e.g., the one divine principle of creation, the perfections of all things in God, divine simplicity, and the species of angels; see, p. xx) and this commentary provides the means to understanding them in context.