5 - The Justice of the Cross in St. Thomas

Summary

Christus liberavit nos a peccatis nostris praecipue per suam passionem, non solum efficienter et meritorie, sed etiam satisfactorie.

St. Thomas Aquinas¹

In his commentary on Job, Aquinas provides a rather exotic counterpart to Gregory of Nyssa’s fishhook and Augustine’s mousetrap images for Christ’s victory over the devil.² Typically, Aquinas thinks big: Christ is the bait, not for a petty catching of a fish or a mouse, but rather for an elephant hunt! To be sure, neither this image nor the symbolic mode of apprehension plays a significant role in Aquinas’ soteriology. But it seems fitting, nonetheless, to reflect on how Aquinas stands to many others as an elephant to mice. On the shoulders of St. Thomas’ speculative genius rests the best of Latin theology. Not surprisingly, Lonergan counted Aquinas, his model and great teacher, among the wisest of theologians.³ Not surprisingly, this chapter and Chapter 6 face a great challenge: in a short time to tread Aquinas’ paths marked on the map of Lonergan’s soteriology.