| The Canadian Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan (1904--1984) introduced into Trinitarian theology what his interpreter Robert Doran (1939-- ) has called his "four-point hypothesis." This hypothesis identifies four created supernatural realities through which human beings participate in the four relations among the three divine persons. These four created supernatural realities are the human existence of Jesus (i.e., the esse secundarium ), sanctifying grace, the habit of charity, and the light of glory (i.e., the lumen gloriae) whereby the saints in heaven see God. Through these four, people participate, respectively, in the four divine relations of paternity, active spiration, passive spiration, and filiation. Paternity, filiation, and passive spiration constitute the three divine persons, respectively, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Active spiration is really identical to paternity and filiation considered together.;Ever since this four-point hypothesis came to Doran's attention in 1994, he has sought to construct a systematic theology based upon it. Within his systematic theology, Doran appeals to this four-point hypothesis as the basis for a new formulation of the psychological analogy used to describe the Trinity, an exercise which Lonergan did not perform himself. Doran's formulation of the psychological analogy differs from those developed previously by Augustine (354--430), Thomas Aquinas (1225--1274), and Lonergan inasmuch as his analogy does not proceed from what is known about human nature, but rather from the human experience of supernatural grace. Accordingly, Doran has been developing a supernatural, psychological analogy for the Trinity by examining how the four created supernatural realities identified in Lonergan's four-point hypothesis enable human consciousness to experience and participate in the divine life.;Although Doran is developing such a supernatural, psychological analogy within the context of Lonergan's Trinitarian theology, he invites others to make connections between the four-point hypothesis and the writings of other theologians. Toward this end, this study engages the four-point hypothesis with the Trinitarian theology of the German Jesuit, Karl Rahner (1904--1984). It assesses Rahner's theology as a possible framework within which to develop a four-point hypothesis and a supernatural, psychological analogy. It concludes that Rahner's theology provides a stronger ontological foundation for both than Lonergan and Doran. |
