Anatomy of Transcendence

Mental Excess and Rapture in the Thought and Life of Thomas Aquinas
Man is called to a divine union that elevates his nature to eternal glory, as Aquinas’s writings reveal a journey toward mystical ecstasy and the rapture of divine life. His work interweaves Scripture and personal vision, outlining how the human mind can transcend itself in pursuit of beatific union.
Man is created by God for an eternal glory that surpasses his nature. Even now, he is called to a graced participation in divine life that draws him above and beyond himself, conforming him to the one in whose image he is made. In his theological writings, Thomas Aquinas explored this "order of excess" that characterizes God's elevation of the rational creature, discerning in its most extreme instances—mystical transport, ecstasy, and rapture—the essential contours of the ordering of Christian life to the transcendent union of beatific vision. This is same ordering is witnessed in Aquinas's own experience, where toward the end of his life he was raised to a contemplative vision surpassing all language and further study. In Anatomy of Transcendence, Peter A. Kwasniewski examines the intersection of Aquinas's theological writings and mysticism, establishing a vocabulary and topography for the Angelic Doctor's study and experience of ecstasy and excess in God's raising of the human mind to divine things. While drawing on the full scope of the saint's corpus, the study pays particular attention to his engagement with Scripture—especially the rapture of Paul related in 2 Corinthians—thus contributing to the recovery of Aquinas not only as spiritual theologian but also as biblical theologian.

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