33. Christ's Multiple Kinds of Knowledge

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Problem: Multiple Knowledges in Christ #

• Whether Christ possessed only divine knowledge or also created knowledge
• How different kinds of knowledge can coexist in Christ without contradiction
• Why Christ’s human nature must be perfectly actualized, including in knowledge
• The distinction between knowing something in different ways vs. knowing different things

The Four Kinds of Knowledge in Christ #

1. Divine Knowledge (Uncreated)

• God’s self-understanding, identical with God’s substance
• Not properly an operation of Christ’s human soul
• Cannot serve as the actualization of a created intellect

2. Beatific Knowledge (Visio Beatifica)

• Christ’s human soul’s vision of God face-to-face
• God’s essence itself serves as the intelligible form (ἀχτυάλιτας)
• Proper to the blessed; constitutes their happiness
• Known in seeing God as He is, all things are seen at once

3. Infused Knowledge

• Intelligible forms impressed directly on the soul by God
• Analogous to the “morning knowledge” of angels (knowing things in the Word)
• Proportioned to human nature but exceeding natural human capacity
• Does not require sensory experience or discursive learning

4. Acquired Knowledge

• Knowledge derived from sensory experience through the operation of the active intellect (ἰντελλέκτυς ἀγένς)
• Abstraction of universal forms from particular images
• The most characteristically human form of knowing
• Analogous to the “evening knowledge” of angels (knowing things in their own nature)
• Exemplified by Christ’s experience of suffering (Hebrews 5:8)

Key Arguments #

Argument from Potency and Act #

• The human soul’s possible intellect (ἰντελλέκτυς ποσσίβιλις) is naturally in potency to knowledge
• Everything in potency must be actualized by something already in act
• Without actualization, the intellect remains imperfect
• Since Christ assumed perfect human nature, his soul must be actualized with knowledge
• Therefore, created knowledge must exist in Christ’s human soul

Argument from Operation #

• Everything exists for the sake of its operation
• The human soul’s proper operation is understanding
• A human soul without knowledge would be assumed in vain
• Therefore, Christ’s human soul must possess knowledge

Argument from Causality #

• Christ is the cause of beatitude and perfection in rational creatures
• The cause must possess the perfection it causes
• Therefore, Christ must possess beatific knowledge to cause it in us
• This applies not only to divine causality but to his role as teacher and head of the Church

On the Compatibility of Multiple Knowledges #

The Light Analogy:

• Two lights of the same order obscure each other (sunlight obscures candlelight)
• But a greater light of a higher order illuminates rather than obscures a lesser light
• Divine knowledge illuminates created knowledge rather than eliminating it
• Example: The sun does not darken the air but illuminates it more perfectly

The Problem of Contradictory Definitions:

• Some object that beatific knowledge excludes other knowledge by its very definition
• Faith is defined as “substance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen” (ὑπόστασις, ἔλεγχος)
• Beatific knowledge, however, is seeing God face-to-face (manifest vision)
• But infused knowledge does not have seeing excluded from its definition
• Therefore, infused knowledge is not opposed to beatific knowledge

Imperfect Knowledge as Disposition and Effect:

• The imperfect can relate to the perfect in two ways:
  • As a road or disposition leading to perfection (e.g., opinion disposes to science)
  • As an effect proceeding from perfection (e.g., heat remains in fire as an effect)
• Example: Dialectical syllogism disposes toward demonstrative knowledge, yet can remain afterward
• The presence of perfect knowledge does not necessitate the absence of imperfect knowledge
• Imperfect knowledge can remain as an effect and can be exercised more skillfully by one who knows the cause

Same Object, Different Modes:

• One can know the same thing through multiple modes of knowing
• Example: Knowing shape by touch without seeing it; opening one’s eyes does not eliminate tactile knowledge
• Similarly, Christ knows through acquired knowledge what he already knows through infused or beatific knowledge
• The definitions and modes are distinct, allowing both to exist simultaneously

Important Definitions #

Hypostatic Union (ὑποστατική ἕνωσις)

• Union of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ
• Maintains distinction of natures while uniting them in one person
• Allows attributes of one nature to be predicated of the person (communicatio idiomatum)

Beatific Vision (visio beatifica)

• Direct knowledge of God through God’s essence itself as the intelligible form
• Constitutes the happiness of the blessed
• Excludes the imperfect vision of faith (obscure knowing) but not other created knowledges

Intelligible Forms (species intelligibiles)

• Likenesses of things that perfect the possible intellect
• In infused knowledge: impressed directly by God’s action
• In acquired knowledge: abstracted from sensory images by the active intellect
• Proportioned to the nature of the knower

Active Intellect (intellectus agens)

• The power of the human mind to abstract universal forms from particular sensory images
• Makes intelligible forms in act from intelligible forms in potency
• Necessary for acquired knowledge
• Present in Christ’s human soul

Possible Intellect (intellectus possibilis)

• The receptive power of the human mind, in potency to all intelligible things
• Actualized by intelligible forms (both infused and acquired)
• Remains in potency without actualization unless perfected by actual knowledge

Examples & Illustrations #

The Morning and Evening Knowledge of Angels #

• Angels know things in two ways: through the Word (morning knowledge) and in their own nature (evening knowledge)
• This angelic model illuminates the structure of Christ’s knowledge
• Christ similarly has knowledge through the divine nature and through created intelligible forms

Teaching and the Imitation of Discovery #

• Good teaching should imitate the process of discovery
• A skilled teacher guides students through the steps of discovery without including dead ends
• This resembles how Aristotle orders dialectical arguments, whereas Plato’s dialogues show unordered dialectic
• The more perfect knowledge does not eliminate the less perfect but orders it more directly toward the truth

The Difference Between Plato and Aristotle #

• Plato’s dialogues represent minds on the way to truth; arguments are somewhat jumbled
• Aristotle takes the same insights and arranges them in proper order: first this, then this, then this
• Example: Both use the question “Is X good because the gods will it, or do the gods will it because it is good?” but Aristotle integrates this into his treatment of the good systematically
• This illustrates how perfect knowledge can reorder what was discovered imperfectly

Christ Enlightening the Temple Doctors #

• At age twelve, Christ enlightened the temple teachers
• Could have done this earlier, but the timing was appropriate
• His perfect intellect acquired vast knowledge in a short space of time
• Shows how acquired knowledge operates in one with infused knowledge

The Pythagorean Theorem in the Vision of God #

• In seeing God as He is, one sees all truths, including mathematical truths like the Pythagorean theorem
• In beatific vision, all things known are seen at once through God
• Yet one would still know Euclid’s demonstration (the human proof) by acquired knowledge
• This demonstrates simultaneous knowledge of the same truth in different modes

The Baby Baptized and Dying in Infancy #

• A baby who dies after baptism receives beatific vision without infused or acquired knowledge
• If such a soul could return to teach geometry on earth, it would know geometric truths from beatific vision
• The guardian angel could strengthen and illuminate the mind, allowing the person to work through geometric proofs
• This illustrates the distinction between different sources of knowledge

The Calculus as Angelic Striving #

• The limit of a polygon inscribed in a circle, with increasing sides, approaches the circle
• No polygon ever becomes exactly equal to the circle, yet the circle is their limit
• This represents the human mind striving to know many distinct things in one thought, as angels do
• Shows the mind’s natural aspiration toward angelic knowing while remaining human
• That people are not struck by this represents a sign of decadence in the modern mind

The Brevity of Great Teaching #

• Famous Greek speakers would labor over speeches, then shorten them for greater effect
• “Brevity is the soul of wisdom”
• A teacher explaining the same material a second time often explains it better but takes less time
• This reflects how knowing the cause better allows one to express the same truth more concisely

The Spartan Request for Flour #

• The Spartans were famous for brevity and directness
• An island in trouble came with a long-winded speech requesting aid
• The Spartans said “You spoke too long, come back and try again”
• They returned with the brief request “We need flour”
• The Spartans replied “Two superfluous words”
• Illustrates the principle that great minds accomplish more with fewer words

Questions Addressed #

Q: If Christ had divine knowledge, why would he need created knowledge? #

A: Divine knowledge is God’s substance and cannot be the operation of a created human soul. Created knowledge is necessary to actualize the possible intellect of the human soul and to perfect human nature, which is ordered toward understanding. Moreover, Christ must possess beatific knowledge and infused knowledge as the cause of these perfections in us.

Q: Doesn’t perfect knowledge eliminate imperfect knowledge? #

A: No. Perfect knowledge illuminates rather than obscures imperfect knowledge. When two lights are of the same order, the stronger obscures the weaker (sun obscures candlelight). But when one light is of a higher order, it enhances the lower (sun illuminates the air). Moreover, the imperfect can remain as an effect proceeding from the perfect, as heat remains in fire.

Q: How can Christ acquire knowledge he already possesses? #

A: He knows the same thing in different ways, just as one can know shape through touch without seeing it, and seeing does not eliminate tactile knowledge. The definitions and modes of knowing are distinct. Through acquired knowledge, Christ comes to know things in their own nature through experience, whereas through infused or beatific knowledge he already knew them more perfectly but in a different mode.

Q: Is it imperfect for human nature to lack knowledge? #

A: The lack of knowledge in a newborn is not imperfection in the strict sense (lacking what one should have when one should have it), but rather the condition of human nature as it naturally comes into being. However, the capacity to know (the possible intellect) without actualization represents a state of potency and thus imperfection. Christ’s assumption of perfect human nature requires the actualization of this potential.

Q: Did Adam have infused knowledge? #

A: Yes, Adam was in a position similar to Christ as the teacher of mankind. Adam likely had infused knowledge (possibly not all knowledge, but the knowledge necessary for his role). This supports Thomas’s understanding that Christ, in a more eminent way, would possess all forms of knowledge.