Winter 2025
Can Aquinas and Balthasar Be Reconciled? On a Disputed Question in Trinitarian Theology
John BetzVis capere celsitudinem Dei? Cape prius humilitatem Dei. . . . Cum ceperis humilitatem eius, surgis cum illo.1
The property of love is never to seek itself, to keep back nothing, but to give everything to the one it loves.2
1. Augustine, Sermones 117.10.17. See also De catechizandis rudibus 4.8: “Magna est enim miseria superbus homo, sed maior misericordia humilis Deus.” Thanks to Brian Daley, SJ, for this reference, for his gracious comments on this article, and for showing how the Angelic Doctor could stand to be supplemented by Ignatius. Thanks also to Michael Altenburger, David Hart, Michael Magree, SJ, Nicholas Healy, Aaron Pidel, SJ, and Alexis Torrance for help with, or helpful comments on, various aspects of this article.
2. John of the Cross, Collected Works of John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD (Washington, DC: ICS, 1991), 351.