Why Two Divine Missions? Development in Augustine, Aquinas, and Lonergan

A theology of the missions of Word and Spirit should relate the missions to the identities of the persons sent and explain their aptitude to the human situation. Although on this topic the Augustinian tradition is often considered moribund, this article shows how a cumulative and remarkably fertile tradition of theological understanding developed in Augustine, Aquinas, and Lonergan. Augustine grounded the missions on the divine processions and explained how the historic proclamation of the Word is coordinated with the Spirit's gift of charity as a remedy to the Fall. Aquinas refined Augustine's approach to Trinitarian theology, transformed the theoretical understanding of nature and grace, and made charity as friendship central to his understanding of the economy of grace. Bernard Lonergan situated these achievements within an account of interpersonal relations in God and human history and explained how the trinitarian missions inaugurate an order of divine-human friendship and collaboration.