Creation as Relation: An Existential Consideration

Abstract: Aquinas argues that the relation established by the act of creation is mixed, with the creature enjoying a real relation ( relatio realis )—possessing both the relational mode of being and its relational notion ( esse et ratio relationis )—while the Creator accommodates only a corresponding relation of reason ( relatio rationis )—possessing the relational notion ( ratio relationis ) without any relational mode of being ( esse relationis ). This position is frequently the source of misunderstanding, for theologians, both natural and revealed, and for ordinary persons of biblical faith. By clarifying Aquinas’s position, I show how such disquiet flows from a twofold interconnected failure: lack of appreciation for Aquinas’s conception of relation as a categorial mode of being; and inadequate consideration of the compelling theological reasons he has for holding such an ostensibly disconcerting position. By way of response, I argue that the position of Aquinas possesses a balanced tension that is necessary to secure the crucial duality of divine transcendence and divine immanence, while concomitantly safeguarding the corresponding radicality of creaturely dependence upon the Creator. Finally, I conclude by noting several existential implications of Aquinas’s position, all of which are centered around the unmediated presence of the Creator to the creature, and the correlative unmediated dependence of the creature upon the Creator.