The Principle of Perfection in Thirteenth-Century Accounts of Christ's Human Knowledge

Thomas Aquinas's account of Christ's threefold human knowledge (beatific, infused and acquired) has been criticized by Jean Galot as relying on an a priori philosophical principle of perfection rather than on the account of Christ's humanity as found in the Gospel narratives. As a result, Aquinas's portrait of Christ appears foreign both to the Gospels and to common human experience. This article examines Galot's critique, which has, in varying degrees, been adopted both by Aquinas's detractors and defenders. Through an examination of thirteenth-century accounts of perfection (primarily that of the Summa Halensis and Albert the Great), I show that Aquinas's use of the principle of perfection in the Summa theologiae is fundamentally grounded in his reading of Scripture and is justified squarely on the basis of the redemptive economy. Specifically, I show how Aquinas roots the exigency of Christ's perfection in the various human modes of knowing explicitly in an account of his soteriological mission, insofar as his humanity is the instrument of redemption.