Divine Action Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Aucune des réalités de notre monde n’échappe au mouvement et aucune n’est faite pour y échapper. D’où cette nécessité leur vient-elle ? Toutes rentrent dans l’histoire en ayant leur histoire. Que nous apprend cette manière d’être façonné en habitant le monde? Elles ne se contentent pas d’être là, inertes, mais elles possèdent une alacrité par laquelle elles deviennent. À quelle destinée répondent-elle alors ? Saint Thomas d’Aquin a longuement médité sur ces questions fondamentales pour la métaphysique et la théologie. Dans un contexte médiéval où le regard sur les choses et leur devenir évolue radicalement par rapport aux conceptions antiques —regard dont nous sommes d’ailleurs les héritiers —, il développe un enseignement original aussi ample que profond. Cet enseignement a commencé d’être redécouvert au vingtième siècle en prêtant attention à l’esse, à l’acte consistant à être. Son second volet demeurait pourtant inexploré, celui de l’opération, celui de l’acte dans lequel l’étant atteint sa perfection et exprime pleinement ce qu’il est. La métaphysique thomasienne n’est pas seulement une métaphysique de l’étant qui est, elle est une métaphysique de l’étant qui est bon en ce qu’il opère. Une autre redécouverte en découle : les créatures ne procèdent pas de Dieu seulement en étant créées, mais aussi en étant gouvernées vers le bien dans leurs opérations. Elles opèrent parce qu’elles sont attirées vers Celui qui est bon par essence, comme vers la fin qui les rend bonnes en les assimilant à Lui. Opérer, c’est procéder de Dieu dans le bien. Ainsi, opération des créatures et gouvernement divin sont intimement liés, et l’attrait de Dieu sur toutes choses est la clé de cette intimité.

Table des Matières
Première partie. « Penser l’ἐνέργεια »
Chapitre I. La division de l’étant selon l’acte
Chapitre II. Activité et mouvement chez aristote

Deuxième partie. La dualité de l’action et de l’opération
Chapitre I. une lecture altérée d’aristote
Chapitre II. L’action ou l’étant comme origine
Chapitre III. L’opération ou l’acte du parfait

Troisième partie. Le chemin de la perfection
Chapitre I. L’opération comme intensification de la bonté
Chapitre II. L’opération comme effet de l’attrait du bien

Quatrième partie. Avoir Dieu pour fin
Chapitre I. Être gouverné vers la fin
Chapitre II. Atteindre la fin

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Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal (Ave Maria University, Naples, Fl.) 2018 Prize.
Nothing in our world is deprived of movement, and nothing is made to elude movement. Why is it so? All things enter history by having their own history. What does it teach us this way of being shaped by inhabiting the world? Beings are not merely there, they do not stay inert, but they possess their own keenness towards their becoming. What destiny then are they answering to? Saint Thomas Aquinas dealt with these fundamental questions for metaphysics and theology in considerable detail. He took part in the new understanding of being and becoming which appeared in mediaeval times (and which we inherited). But he did it in an ample, profound, original way. This teaching has been partially rediscovered in the 20th century, with a focus on the esse, the act which consists in being. But its other main component remained unexplored: as any being is (it possesses esse), any being also operates. Operation is the act through which a being attains its perfection and expresses what it is. Aquinas’ metaphysics is not merely a metaphysics of the being which is, it is a metaphysics of the being which is good in that it operates. This brings into light another aspect of Aquinas’ teaching: creatures do not proceed from God merely in that they are created, they also proceed from God in that they are governed towards the good in their operations. They operate because they are attracted by He who is good in essence and the end which makes them good by assimilating them to his goodness. To operate is to proceed from God according to the good. Therefore, the operation of creatures and the divine government are intimately tied, and the attraction of God upon all things is the key to this intimacy.
Fr. Emmanuel Perrier, o.p., is a French dominican of the Toulouse Province. He is professor of dogmatics at the dominican Studium and the Institut Saint Thomas d’Aquin (Catholic University of Toulouse). He published in the same series a study in trinitarian theology, La Fécondité en Dieu.

“It is well-known that the Thomist doctrine of esse underwent an important rediscovery in the 20th century, in many different ways. However the doctrine of operatio has not received a similar attention until now. Emmanuel Perrier’s book addresses this shortcoming. In this regard, the present publication is a milestone within Thomistic studies. […] In sum, this superb work of Emmanuel Perrier invites us to read again, under the light of the doctrine of operation, the whole theology of Aquinas! The invitation isn’t limited to the divine government, it starts with the study of God one and triune: this book sheds a deeply evocative light on the trinitarian foundation of divine government, referring to the Holy Spirit and the causality of the processions in the Trinity. Under the light of the doctrine of operation, the treatise on beatitude, the study of the human act, and in particular the theological operations and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, deserve a new reading. Lastly, the study of the human operation of Christ could benefit greatly by being placed under this new light cast upon this notion of operation. All this makes clear that this highly specialized book leads us right to the heart of the metaphysics Aquinas formulated and upon which he based his theological teaching. This book should be received with all the attention it deserves because it is a true gift given to theology.”
Fr. Gillles Emery, o.p., from the Foreword of the book.

Table of contents
Part 1. “To think ἐνέργεια through”
c. 1: The division of being according to the act; c. 2: Activity and movement in Aristotle.
Part 2. The duality of action and operation
c. 1: A distorted reading of Aristotle; c. 2: Action, that is, the being as an origin; c. 3: Operation, that is, the act of the perfect.
Part 3. The path to perfection
c. 1: Operation as the intensification of goodness; c. 2: Operation as the effect of the good’s attractiveness.
Part 4. To have God as one’s end
c. 1: To be governed towards the end; c. 2: To attain the end.