[percy-l] What does emanation mean in the Bible? - Google Search

Charles Lowry lowry.charles at gmail.com
Wed Jul 8 20:48:57 EDT 2020


The first thing to note is the etymology of *emanation*.  It comes from the
Latin verb *emanare*, a perfectly good but not widely used word meaning *to
flow from, to originate from, to arise from, to spread.  *It is an
intransitive verb and its stem should not be confused with the more common
verb *manere* (to stay or remain).  The classic theological explanation is
from the *Summa *of St.Thomas, *Pars Prima, Quaestio xlv de modo
emanationis rerum a primo principio *(First Part, Question 45, on the
manner of the emanation of things from the first principle).  There are
eight articles in this question.  Here is the first, which is important,
since it discusses the difference between a particular emanation (an agent
produces something from something else) and the universal emanation, in
which all being emanates from nothing.  This latter emanation we call
*creation*, and that actor is God.

After declaring that he will consider the action of God's creation,
St.Thomas first takes up the question of emanation as a type of creation.
After noting some other opinions and objections (that is the standard
manner of proceeding in the *Summa*), he offers his own opinion:

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, non solum
oportet considerare emanationem alicuius entis particularis ab aliquo
particulari agente, sed etiam emanationem totius entis a causa universali,
quae est Deus.  Et hanc quidem emanationem designamus nomine creationis.
Quod autem procedit secundum emanationem particularem, non
praesupponitur emanationi: sicut, si generatur homo, non fuit prius homo,
sed homo fit ex non homine, et album ex non albo.  Unde, si consideratur
emanatio totius entis universalis a primo principio, impossibile est quod
aliquod ens praesupponatur huic emenationi.  Idem autem est nihil quod
nullum ens. Sicut igitur generatio hominis est ex non ente quod est non
homo, ita creatio, quae est emanatio totius esse, est ex non ente quod est
nihil.

In my towering vanity, I shall not subject you to a standard translation
but offer my own:

I reply that it ought to be said that, as was noted previously, it is
important that we consider not only the emanation of some specific thing
from some specific actor, but we must also consider the emanation of all
being from a universal cause, which is God.  And the technical term we give
to this type of emanation is *creation*.  Something which comes forth from
a specific emanation is not to be regarded as more important than the
[universal] emanation.  Thus if a man is brought forth, it was not
previously a man; rather a man is made from "that substance which is not
man," or white is made from "that substance which is not white."  We learn
from this that if the emanation of all being from a first principle is
under consideration, it is impossible that any particular being should be
thought to be more important than the [universal] emanation.  But nothing
is the same thing as no being.  Thus in the same way that the production of
a man is from the *not being* which is *not man*. so creation, which is the
emanation of all being, is from that being which is nothing.

And I thus prove G. B. Shaw's observation that a scholar is someone who
knows more and more about less and less.

Chuck Lowry
Brooklyn, New York



On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 4:16 PM Lauren Berdy <lauren.stacy.berdy at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I took the liberty of asking a question
> Outside this circles former content.
>
> Although I have read deeply in
> Dr Percy’s landscape my
> Portal wasn’t thru Catholicism.
>
>
> Can someone please explain the
> Theological meaning for
> Emanation ?
> The metaphors behind?
> I wonder this as it is a  word
> That might help along my own
> Thoughts on “first causes”
>  Thanks
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> https://www.google.com/search?q=What+does+emanation+mean+in+the+Bible%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwje3Ymnj_zmAhWGxVkKHdhnB1kQzmd6BAgMEBc&biw=320&bih=529&dpr=2
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
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