Emmanuel DURAND, O.P. Divine Speech in Human Words: Thomistic Engagements with Scripture. Edited by Matthew K. Minerd. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 2022. pp. 480. $65.00 hb. ISBN 9780813235363. Reviewed by Kathleen BORRES, Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, PA 15650

In Divine Speech in Human Words: Thomistic Engagements with Scripture, Fr. Emmanuel Durand, O.P. very carefully and persuasively presents a case for the fruitfulness of a theological exploration and exposition of sacred scripture. Drawing heavily on St. Thomas, though not exclusively, Fr. Durand “exegetes” different scriptural texts with the aid of Aquinas and various other interlocutors and navigates fundamental philosophical and theological areas in the process. This is a methodological work of much merit as a consequence.

There are eighteen chapters in the book, the first being the Prologue. The remaining chapters fall under two parts, with Part One, entitled “The Holy One and His Providence,” an investigation of the classical attributes of God and associated questions. While not exhaustive, Fr. Durand examines in Part One the meaning of transcendence as it concerns holiness (chapter 2) and he considers whether God has passions and emotions, e.g., sorrow, anger, and repentance, and whether such passions are unfitting of God (chapters 3 and 6, especially); that is, can the immutable and impassible God be subject to sorrow and anger? As it concerns God’s sorrow, Fr. Durand writes in chapter 3, “God’s sorrow is a metaphorical expression of an overflowing compassionate love. It remains proportionate to the loving amazement that God experiences as their creator” (64). Concerning the same sorrow, Fr. Durand writes in chapter 6, “The disfigured face of Jesus reveals, in created terms, the utterly real affection of the unchanging God in the face of the world’s evil and sin” (136).

As for the anger and repentance of God, Fr. Durand argues in chapter 5 that such references in sacred scripture are not “isolatable concepts within wholly separable sequences of actions . . . [but] receive their meaning within specific chains of events” (116-17). That is, the chains of events in the biblical narratives reveal a God whose love and righteousness cannot tolerate sin and evil and whose forgiving heart always works to change the hearts of his people. Both the anger and repentance of God noted in the biblical narrative are metaphorical attributions that for our purposes serve as “form[s] of divine self-declarations and confessions of faith” (118). Stated differently, God metaphorically speaks his anger and regret through his unchanging will to save and we as his people acknowledge his undying love.

Fr. Durand also explores the relationship between prayer and providence and the universality of God’s saving will in Part One, concluding in chapter 10 (on God’s saving will) that Christians have a duty to hope for the salvation of all. “Apart from speculative restrictions, Christians should maintain that the salvific will is indeed universal, that is, qualified and equipped to reach, in fact, every person as an offer, whatever the acceptance or refusal proper to each of them may be” (230). Prayer is essential in this hope. Fr. Durand writes about this in chapter 8, more specifically about the relationship between prayer, providence, and the immutability of God. It is worth quoting a sentence in his closing remarks for this chapter: “It is not God who answers our prayers, but rather these prayers which answer to his call. The prayers of the faithful are indeed integrated from all eternity into the providential order of God, by reason of the primeval gratuity of his will of grace” (178-79).

Appropriately sandwiched between the chapters on prayer and providence and the universality of God’s saving is a chapter on divine action, providence, and the first article of the Creed. In this chapter, Fr. Durand argues for, among other things, the compatibility of divine sovereignty and created freedom.

Part 2, “Analogy, Trinity, and Christ the Savior,” is also a rich exploration of fundamental philosophical and theological questions and involves the “mining” of certain biblical texts by way of a conversation and engagement with different interlocutors that takes place in each chapter. Chapter 11 concerns the relationship between nature and grace and the significance of this relationship relative to knowledge of God. Chapter 12 is an exploration of “conceptual rectitude” and “truthful speech” about God; that is, the quality, fidelity, and appropriateness of our God-speech given we are sojourners. It is an examination of the relationship between reality itself and our concepts and words about that reality. It is worth noting what Fr. Durand writes in chapter 12: “[I]t is important to know God precisely as he gives himself to be known. Indeed, the internal constitution of an object [not meant in terms of something that can be mastered by human intellect but meant simply as something - or in our case Someone - other] determines the right method for knowing what pertains to it” (257). As Fr. Durand notes, God speaks, but when he does, he “speaks in human language” (258). While we believe in faith that God also speaks in his creation, Fr. Durand notes that sacred scripture is of a superior kind of revelation because it “takes advantage of that part of revelation that is inscribed in the created order” (258).

The opportunities and limits of the sojourning theologian/exegete as it concerns the practice of trinitarian theology is the focus of chapter 13, which follows nicely upon the two previous chapters. Reminding his readers that we are but wayfaring pilgrims, Fr. Durand considers “the relationship between trinitarian theology and eschatological beatitude . . . [and proposes that] the theological gaze at the trinitarian mystery is itself a movement toward the divine beatitude” (281). In a more nuanced way. Fr. Durand writes in the close of this chapter, “trinitarian theology leads, at least at certain moments of its unfolding, to a form of intellectual doxology” (300).

Subsequent chapters suitably follow the trinitarian theological principle in different ways. Chapter 14 considers the moments in Christ’s life that reveal the Trinity and Fr. Durand rightly notes that, “it is not appropriate to rummage through the mysteries of Jesus to look for the perfect moment where the Trinity would reveal itself for the first time in a clear and unmistakable way [e.g., only on the Cross?]. Rather, we must recognize that all the mysteries of Jesus are marked by a trinitarian manifestation for the one who benefits from the trinitarian revelation” (316). Note that Fr. Durand is associating revelation with “the interior teaching of salvific truth to be believed brought about by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (315) and not with the biblical witness as “signs” that point to the divine truth; hence, the distinction between revelation and manifestation. Stated differently, one needs the gift of faith to read in the biblical witness divine truths. One also needs humility, because we walk (and see) as wayfaring pilgrims who await the “eschatological finality of God the Father” (chapter 15). As Fr. Durand notes in his closing of the fifteenth chapter, “in our state here below as wayfaring pilgrims . . . theology must acknowledge the perennial transcendence of the Faither, and by its eschatological aspiration toward him, it must remain open to a paternal theocentrism” (342). Thus, the realization of all that Christ accomplished in his life and mission – likewise the Spirit in his mission - is “not yet.” In the end, the Father will receive the redeemed into the full embrace of his eschatological love and so will be complete the missionary work of Son and Spirit. In the meantime, rummaging through the mysteries of Jesus’s life and mission for the perfect revelatory moment concerning the Trinity denies the Trinity its privileged position as the source, means, and end of the eschaton. As Durand notes, Christocentrism must give way to Paternal Theocentrism to be faithful to the biblical witness of the Trinity. We could say the same about Pneumacentrism.

In Chapter 16, which is about Christ’s mission, Fr. Durand notes that Christ’s mission implies the preexistence of Christ as Son and Word. It is an appropriate placement in his book in that Fr. Durand is “filling in” the trinitarian picture here, drawing on different interlocutors as he does in other chapters. With the aid of these conversation partners, he makes a case for the witness of Christ’s preexistence in not only Paul and John but also in the Synoptic Gospels. “For my part I above all retain the fact that the Synoptic motif concerning Christ’s coming or being sent [here he is referring to the work of the Cambridge exegete, Simon Gathercole] implies his preexistence as Son. Not only does the fact of coming from somewhere with a precise end in sight presuppose a deliberate act and active role for Christ in his incarnation, but moreover as the mission received embraces the whole of his earthly activity, it is revealed as having an origin that is external to the human sphere and transcendent over the world into which he comes” (351). Fr. Durand also looks at Aquinas’s Christology and overall support of Christ’s preexistence as Son and Word in this chapter, arguing against the Christological errors of Arius, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Eutyches, etc. as well as adoptionism and Gnosticism in their varied forms, etc.

Chapter 17 builds on the conversation about divine speech in human words that Fr. Durand has been presenting thus far. But to my mind, conversation as a motif is more pronounced in this chapter. It ties together the different modes of communication (words and deeds) and the sharing in charity that takes place between the Triune God and the human family, reflected in varying ways in previous chapters. The incarnate Son “conversed” with the human family “addressing the full breadth of society [bodily presence, spiritual conversations] in his era” (394) and by way of extension converses with the human family through his disciples “whose mission from Christ extends through the ages” (387). Implied here are all the conversations “in Christ” of philosophers, biblical exegetes, and theologians across time, etc., each in his/her own way trying to advance the Word’s mission, which was threefold: “to manifest the truth, to free men from sin, and to enable man to truly have access to God” (392). Such a mission and conversation is best understood under the motif of charity and friendship according to Durand’s reading of Aquinas. “The notion of friendship provides the master analogy for Thomas’s discussion of man’s relationship to God in charity” (402).

The closing chapter, entitled “The Universal Amplitude of Christ’s Singularity,” involves, among other things, the “scandal of particularity,” that is, how Christ’s singularity can have universal import, etc. Fr. Durand does not sweep under the table the challenges in evangelism relative to this matter because “overcoming differences and agreement among singular persons is rarely a peaceful affair” (423-24).  While there may be challenges, such challenges should not lead to a watering down of the Gospel message about the universality of Christ’s mission or his singular, unrepeatable life as the fullest amplification of God’s universal salvific will. There should be no separation or division in the Son or his mission. “Christ’s earthly particularity [should not be separated] from his heavenly universality; his incarnate particularity from his divine universality, or [his] Christic particularity from the Spirit’s universality.” (413).

Altogether, Fr. Durand has produced a very dense but foundational work which brings together revised and/or previously published articles and presentations of his dating between 2005 and 2022. It is certainly a masterful work that theological schools ought to consider including in their programs. It would be a wonderful addition to any course on divine revelation.