Paths to the Triune God - An Encounter Between Aquinas and Recent Theologies (Hardcover)

In Paths to the Triune God, Anselm K. Min brings five relevant themes in the theology of Thomas Aquinas into mutually critical dialogue with contemporary theological concerns. Min defends Aquinas's Trinitarian theology of reason and creation against modern detractors of natural theology while also calling attention to the lack of historical consciousness in Aquinas's writing. Min discusses Aquinas's affirmation of the salvation of the non-Christian through a moral life but also criticizes his sometimes-naive approach to salvation history. Min presents Aquinas's Trinitarian theology of salvation through the incarnation and the possibility of a sacramental theology of religions for today while also taking seriously the scandal of his doctrine of reprobation. Min highlights Aquinas's contemplative, sapiential conception of theology against contemporary preoccupations with praxis while also criticizing his intellectualist interpretation of human existence. Min also devotes a significant portion of this study to the immanent Trinity. and Chapter 6 is a full-scale analysis and critique of the views of contemporary social Trinitarians, such as Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., in light of Aquinas. Min concludes that neither the purely sapiential theology of Aquinas nor the purely prophetic theology of contemporary liberation movements is adequate. He argues that contemporary theology must methodologically incorporate into its content a tension between wisdom and praxis, between sapiential and prophetic theology. Min's book represents a genuine encounter between Aquinas and contemporary theologies on many topical issues. It will be of interest to students and scholars of theology, both medieval and contemporary.