Articles
Doxological Trinitarian Scholasticism in the Medieval Victorine-Franciscan Tradition
Boyd Taylor Coolman
Issue 4
Volume 2
pp. 906 - 948
https://doi.org/10.65172/jy6F07ICwu2cBZ0p
Abstract
Boyd Taylor Coolman explores "doxological Trinitarian Scholasticism" within the medieval Victorine-Franciscan (V-F) tradition, spanning from Hugh of Saint Victor to St. Bonaventure. This intellectual framework identifies delight in divine glory as the governing principle of Trinitarian relations ad intra and creative activity ad extra. By synthesizing Victorine triads (power, wisdom, goodness) with Franciscan transcendentals, these thinkers present a "Marian" mode of theology where rigorous speculation culminates in lyrical praise. Ultimately, this tradition fosters a Trinitarian anthropology that structures Christian life as a doxological temple dedicated to the worship of God.
Citations
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Graham Ward, “Welcome & Panel 9: Modern Theology,” at “New Trinitarian Ontologies,” University of Cambridge, September 13–15, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSJUOBsJtzo&t=52s, at 50:08.
Khaled Anatolios, Deification Through the Cross (Eerdmans, 2020).
Boyd Taylor Coolman, “The Law of Moses in the Summa Halensis: A Trinitarian Reading of the Decalogue,” in Shared Scripture, Divided Faiths, ed. Frans van Liere (Brill, 2026), Ch. 6 (forthcoming).
Hugh of St. Victor, Exposition on the Canticle of Mary, trans. Franklin T. Harkins (Brepols, 2013), 427–52, at 429.
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Boyd Taylor Coolman, The Theology of Hugh of St. Victor (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 163ff.
Bonaventure, Breviloquium
Richard of St. Victor, The Twelve Patriarchs 11, trans. Grover A. Zinn (Paulist, 1979), 63.
Karl Rahner, The Trinity, trans. Joseph Donceel (Herder and Herder, 1970), 47.
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Russell L. Friedman, “Eustace of Arras’ Question on the Distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Son,” in Intellectual Traditions at the Medieval University (Brill, 2013), 899–930.
Boyd Taylor Coolman, “‘In whom I am well pleased’: Hugh of St. Victor’s Trinitarian Aesthetics,” Pro Ecclesia 23, no. 3 (2014): 331–54.
“Beauty in Hugh of St. Victor: The First Christian Theological Aesthetics?” in Beauty and the Good: Recovering the Tradition from Plato to Duns Scotus, ed. Alice Ramos (The Catholic University of America Press, 2020), 206–35.
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Jacques Delarun, The Canticle of the Sun: Francis of Assisi Reconciled (Franciscan Institute, 2016), 54.
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Boyd Taylor Coolman, “The Pneumatic Finality of Goodness in the Summa Halensis,” in Saint Bonaventure: Friar, Teacher, Minister, Bishop; A Celebration of the Eighth Centenary of His Birth, ed. Timothy Johnson, Katherine Wrisley-Shelby, and Marie Kolbe Zamora (Franciscan Institute, 2021), 83–98.
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Boyd Taylor Coolman, Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus (Oxford University Press, 2017), 215ff.
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pseudo-Hugh of St. Victor, Lament (PL 175)
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Boyd Taylor Coolman, “A Cord of Three Strands Is Not Easily Broken: The Transcendental Brocade of Unity, Truth, and Goodness in the Early Franciscan Intellectual Tradition,” Nova et Vetera 16 (2018): 555–80.
Justin Shaun Coyle, The Beauty of the Trinity: A Reading of the Summa Halensis (Fordham University Press, 2023), 133.
Norman Kretzmann, “Trinity and Transcendentals,” in Trinity, Incarnation, and Atonement: Philosophical and Theological Essays, ed. Ronald J. Feenstra and Cornelius Plantinga Jr. (University of Notre Dame Press, 1990), 91.
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