The Pontifical John Paul II Institute will host a book discussion of Michael J. Higgins‘s new book Giving One’s Word: Psychological Analogy as Social Analogy in Aquinas’s Trinitarian Theology on Monday, October 27, at 7:00 p.m. in Keane Auditorium, McGivney Hall. The event is co-sponsored by the St. Jerome Institute.

Giving One’s Word, published by The Catholic University of America Press, seeks to trace the contemporary “social analogy” in Trinitarian theology to the “psychological analogy” found in St. Thomas: “According to the vast majority of recent Trinitarian theologians, to believe in the Trinity is to believe that God is Love: it is to believe in three divine Persons who know each other, love each other, and give themselves to each other. St. Thomas Aquinas is rarely invoked as a patron of such a social approach to the Trinity. Aquinas’s Trinitarian theology, after all, revolves around the immanent processions of a Word and Love within the unity of the divine essence. Many have assumed that this “psychological analogy” is removed from—or even incompatible with—interpersonal knowledge, love, and self-giving. Some have concluded that Aquinas is therefore unable to accommodate a social Trinity. Others have argued that he is open to a social Trinity, but that his psychological categories need to be complemented by a more overtly social framework. This study, however, shows that these psychological categories themselves are shot through with interpersonal knowledge, love, and self-giving.”

The book discussion will feature a short lecture by the author, who will then be joined by Andrew Shivone for a discussion of the book. Dr. Shivone is President of the St. Jerome Institute, where Dr. Higgins teaches humanities and theology.

The event will be followed by a reception.