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Battista Mondin

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q:it:Battista Mondin (1926 - 2015) was an Italian friar, Thomist philosopher and theologian, and historian.

Quotes

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  • Adrienne had a very high spirituality with many mystical manifestations (including stigmata). By conversing assiduously with her and noting down her confidences, B. slowly developed his own theological vision.
  • From Dizionario dei teologi ("Dictionary of Theologians"), p. 81.
  • My latest book is entitled La Trinità: Mistero d'Amore (The Trinity: Mystery of Love) and has been reprinted for a second edition. Of all the books I have written (more than a hundred), this is the most beautiful and the most original. I also consider it my ‘masterpiece’. The mystery of the Trinity is a mystery of Love, which is realised and expressed in the Three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the basic idea of the book, the idea that inspired me: total Love; Love, in the strongest sense of the term, is truly everything!
  • While man is clearly a finite being, in self-transcendence he reveals himself to be “'capax infiniti”'. Self-transcendence “together with culture and freedom, is the third characteristic trait that clearly separates man from animals: man constantly surpasses himself ... in everything he does, thinks, says, knows, loves and achieves.
  • [Natural law] does not come from outside (and therefore is not heteronomous) but from within (and in this sense is autonomous: it is the law that reason itself gives to man or, better still, it is the law that man himself gives himself through his own reason): it is not the result of arduous and abstruse speculation and its perception is so easy that it appears almost intuitive. :*Quoted in Giuseppe Brienza, “”Who was Battista Mondin, missionary and theologian“”, “'Formiche.net”', 4 February 2015.
  • Negative theology and positive theology are almost like the wheels of a bicycle. Just as a bicycle cannot move forward if the two wheels do not turn together, so there can be no valid theology if the negative and positive approaches are not used together. The positive path alone leads to anthropomorphism, idolatry, and blasphemy. The negative path leads to agnosticism and atheism.
  • Only with God and in God can man hope to fulfil himself. The study and knowledge of God are the burning embers that (together with worship and prayer) fuel the flame of our hope.

Storia della metafisica

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Volume 1

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  • Parmenides reaches the highest peak: it is the peak of being, the culmination of metaphysics. Parmenides is the first to conquer this marvellous peak, which, after him, all the other great metaphysicians will also attempt to reach. Parmenides is aware of the greatness of his achievement. [...] Parmenides reached this highest peak not through the senses but through reason. (p. 70)
  • Socrates is not a metaphysician in the traditional sense [...] and yet the epithet “metaphysician” rightfully belongs to him, because his study of man goes far beyond the field of science and penetrates the deepest roots of human being and action. (p. 120)
  • Plato is the supreme philosopher, the philosopher par excellence. Undoubtedly, the figure of Aristotle also shines with brilliant splendour. But [...] no other philosopher has influenced the destiny of Western philosophy as much as Plato. His epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, political and aesthetic doctrines, assimilated by Christianity, have become a permanent legacy of medieval and modern culture. The figure of Plato is fundamental, gigantic and multifaceted. In addition to the history of philosophy, it also affects the history of poetry, literature and the Greek language. […] Plato's extraordinary greatness has been recognised throughout the ages. (p. 139)

Volume 2

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  • The long and patient exploration of the spiritual world led classical Metaphysics, in its final phase, to the discovery of God: the one God (the One, the Good) of Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus. (introduction, p. 5)
  • There is a faith that is enriched by the concepts of reason, and there is a reason that is enriched by the gifts of faith. (introduction, p. 6)
  • Christianity is a religion and not a philosophy: an act of salvation (a Heilsgeschichte) and not philosophical speculation. Its goal is not, like philosophy, to provide an exhaustive explanation of reality, but to establish a relationship of communion between man and God. (introduction, p. 7)
  • Christianity reveals many mysteries that are completely inaccessible to reason. Such are the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, sanctifying grace, the Mystical Body, and the resurrection of the flesh. (introduction, p. 7)
  • It is in Christianity that the spirit becomes self-transparent consciousness, a reality ‘in and of itself’ (to use the language of Hegel), free initiative and absolute freedom. (introduction, p. 9)
  • The concept of person is an acquisition of Christianity. Historically, the word ‘person’ marks the dividing line between pagan and Christian culture. (introduction, p. 9)
  • In both Greek and Latin, up until Tertullian, the meaning given to the term “”person“” (which is the equivalent of the Greek “'prosopon”') was that of ‘mask’ or ‘face’. (introduction, p. 9)
  • Only thanks to the concept of persona – a being endowed with dignity and absolute value – brought by Christianity, which makes all men images of God created directly by Him, do all forms of discrimination based on sex, age, race, language, power, wealth, religion, etc. All men are equally worthy of esteem, respect and love, even their enemies, especially the weakest, the poorest, the most humble and defenceless. (introduction, p. 10)
  • It is from the new truths contained in the great philosophical potential of Christianity that Christian metaphysics derives its main characteristics. It will always be a “'creationist”', “'personalistic”', “'spiritualistic”' and “'agapic”' metaphysics. (introduction, p. 15)
  • The cradle of Christian metaphysics was Alexandria, Egypt. When Christianity was born, this city was the most important cultural centre of the Roman Empire, having taken the place that had previously been held by Athens. (p. 21)
  • At the school of Philo, Christian doctors from Alexandria learned to do philosophy and to develop Christian metaphysics, creating a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the philosophical potential of Christianity. (p. 22)
  • The main merit of the school of Alexandria is that it created theological science, granting Christian citizenship to philosophy and building a solid Christian metaphysics. (p. 23)
  • The God of Clement's Christian metaphysics is endowed with intelligence, will, freedom, power and goodness. (p. 32)
  • Origen embraces the key principle of Christian metaphysics, the theorem of creation. With Clement, he affirms that everything that is not God was drawn from nothing. He is the only principle of all things. (p. 55)

Volume 3

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  • Great metaphysical creations always coincide with the golden age of a civilisation. Whereas the disappearance of Metaphysics is one of the most eloquent signs of a civilisation's decline. (prologue, p. 7)
  • The transition from one era to another is never instantaneous. Epochs are historical periods spanning several centuries, and cultural transitions last a few centuries. (p. 9)
  • There are two salient features of Renaissance culture that influence Metaphysics speculation: spiritual unrest and the secularisation of culture. (p. 10)
  • Humanism remains a deeply religious and essentially Christian culture. However, the shift in the cultural epicentre – from God to man – generates a new spirituality marked by tensions and anxieties unknown in the previous era. (p. 10)
  • Another peculiarity of humanistic culture is its partial “'secularisation”', which occurs on three levels: in places, in people and in disciplines. (p. 11)
  • The substance of Nicholas of Cusa“s thought is above all Christian and Platonic. And the term 'substance” is used here in its proper and rigorous sense. In fact, in Cusano's system, Platonism constitutes a substantial element and not simply a formal and expressive one. (p. 18)
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