METAPHYSICS AND THE INTELLECTUS FIDEI IN TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY: THE CASE OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Jason A. Mitchell, L.C. In his encyclical letter, Fides et Ratio (1998), Pope John Paul II writes that theology, as scientia fidei, is ordered according to a twofold methodological principle: the auditus fidei and the intellectus fidei 1 . He teaches that the understanding of faith (intellectus fidei) expounds the truth of divine revelation insofar as it grasps the logical and conceptual structure of the propositions of the Church’s teaching and insofar as it brings to light the salvific meaning of these propositions 2 . This exposition, however, proper to the intellectus fidei, requires the contribution of metaphysics: Metaphysics thus plays an essential role of mediation in theological research. A theology without a metaphysical horizon could not move beyond an analysis of religious experience, nor would it allow the intellectus fidei to give a coherent account of the universal and transcendent value of revealed truth 3 . The intellectus fidei turns to metaphysics which bases itself on the act of being and “which views reality in its ontological, causal and communicative structures”. It is this type of metaphysics that allows a full and comprehensive openness (patefactio) to reality as a whole and brings man to God 4 . In particular, John Paul II highlights five examples of the relationship between metaphysics and dogmatic theology. Metaphysics is involved in: our language about God (sermo de Deo); the explanation of the personal relations within the Trinity; our understanding of God’s creative action in the world; the articulation of the relationship or bond (necessitudo) between God and man; the dogma of Christ’s identity as true God and man 5 . Consequently, dogmatic theology is seen to presuppose philosophical anthropology and, more radically, metaphysics 6 . Fourteen years after the promulgation of Fides et Ratio, the International Theological Commission published a document entitled: “Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles, and Criteria” (2012). The document maintains that the intellectus fidei becomes theology “when the believer undertakes to present the content of the Christian mystery in a rational and scientific way” 7 . Theology, as scientia 1 See JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 65: “Theologia veluti scientia fidei ordinatur duobus statutis principiis methodologicis, quae sunt: auditus fidei et intellectus fidei”. 2 See JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 66. 3 JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 83: “Quocirca metaphysica exsistit tamquam quaedam intercessio praestans in theologica inquisitione. Theologia quidem, prospectu metaphysico destituta, ultra experientiae religiosae investigationem progredi non poterit neque permittere ut intellectus fidei congruenter universalem veritatis revelatae transcendentemque vim significet”. See also n. 97: “intellectus fidei postulat ut philosophia essendi partes quae in primis sinant ut theologia dogmatica consentaneo modo expleat sua munia”. 4 See JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 97. 5 See JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 66. 6 See JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, n. 66. 7 INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION, “Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria”, n. 18. ~1~