Abstract

The dissertation is a critical study of Thomas Aquinas's views on the hypostatic union. It examines the Latin texts of all of Thomas's major discussions of this topic. In the first chapter, the concepts of nature and person are discussed, and it is argued that these concepts, as Thomas understood them, led to a very problematic position in an early quodlibetal disputation. In the second chapter, the concepts of union-in-person and union-in-nature are discussed, and this permits a better understanding of how the concepts of person and nature are meant to be used than was available in the first chapter. The third chapter deepens the reflection on the hypostatic union by contrasting this relation with other kinds of relations and especially by explaining what Thomas means by denying that the hypostatic union is accidental. The fourth chapter returns to the difficulty brought out in chapter one and locates it in a tension between traditional modes of speech and the technical Thomistic use of the word natura. The fifth chapter discusses the controverted issues surrounding Thomas's understanding of Christ's metaphysical unity. Throughout the dissertation, secondary literature is discussed as appropriate