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Document Details : Title: Quantity and Divine Equality in the Franciscan Tradition Author(s): SZLACHTA, Michael Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales Volume: 93 Issue: 1 Date: 2026 Pages: 225-253 DOI: 10.2143/RTPM.93.1.3295665 Abstract : Treatments of the equality of the divine persons in the High Middle Ages were framed by several authorities: the Athanasian Creed, according to which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal; Aristotle, according to whom equality is based on unity in quantity; and the pseudo-Augustinian De fide ad Petrum, according to which divine equality is a threefold equality in eternity, magnitude, and power. For the theologians of the High Middle Ages, who also believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same God, explaining divine equality presented many challenges. In this paper, I examine the treatment of divine equality in the so-called Summa Halensis and the Sentences commentaries of Bonaventure and Richard of Menneville (Mediavilla). I show how the success of these treatments depends on the way that these Franciscan theologians thought about quantity in general and the distinction between quantity of mass (quantitas molis) and virtual quantity (quantitas virtutis) in particular. By arguing that the divine essence is a virtual quantity that is one by a unity of indivisibility, Richard of Menneville presents a treatment of divine equality that avoids the problems faced by his fellow Franciscans. |
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