Disputatio V: De Relatione inter Veritatem et Felicitatem Theologicam

On the Relation between Theological Truth and Felicity

Quaeritur

Utrum inter veritatem et felicitatem theologicam talis sit distinctio ut neque confundantur neque separentur; cum felicitas sit forma a Spiritu data qua sermo idoneus fit ad dicendum de Deo, veritas autem sit effectus ontologicus eiusdem Spiritus quo quod dicitur vere est; ita tamen ut utrumque sit opus unius Spiritus operantis in duobus ordinibus, verbi et entis.

Whether between theological truth and felicity there exists such a distinction that they are neither confused nor separated; since felicity is the form given by the Spirit whereby speech becomes rightly ordered toward God, and truth is the ontological effect of that same Spirit by which what is spoken truly is; both being the work of one Spirit operating within the two orders of word and of being.

Thesis

Felicity and truth are two inseparable dimensions of theology’s participation in divine speech. Felicity concerns the Spirit-given rightness of theological language within T, the language of faith. Truth concerns the fulfillment of that language within divine reality. They differ as form and effect: felicity renders theological speech speakable, truth renders it real.

Locus Classicus

1. Isaiah 55:11 (MT)
לֹא־יָשׁוּב אֵלַי רֵיקָם כִּי אִם־עָשָׂה אֶת־אֲשֶׁר חָפַצְתִּי
“My word shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose.”

Divine speech is performative: it is felicitous because it may be uttered by God, and true because it accomplishes the reality it names.

2. Hebrews 4:12 (NA28)
Ζῶν γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐνεργής
“For the word of God is living and active.”
The Word’s life is its power to actualize what it declares.

3. Origen, Homiliae in Ieremiam I.7
Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος ζῶν ἐστι καὶ ἐνεργής
“The Word of God is living and operative.”
Origen locates truth not in static correspondence but in divine operation.

4. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 58.1
Verbum Dei non sonat tantum sed facit.
“The Word of God does not only sound but acts.”
Speech and effect in God are one act.

5. Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik I/1, §4
Das Wort Gottes geschieht, indem Gott selbst handelt und redet.
“The Word of God happens as God Himself acts and speaks.”

Across these witnesses the same confession is given: in God, felicity and truth coincide. He speaks rightly because He is Truth; His Word is true because it performs what it speaks.

Explicatio

Disputationes III and IV taught that theology is governed internally by felicity and externally by truth. Felicity marks the Spirit’s authorization of speech within T. Truth names the external adequation of that authorized speech within the divine reality.  To express this relation, we use the symbolic shorthand:

FT + Modeling = TC.

FT designates the felicity conditions of T, the Spirit’s gift of coherence and authorization. “Modeling” designates the interpretation of this speech within being, the structured account of the ontological order in which God’s Word is fulfilled. TC designates the truth conditions of theology, the divine states of affairs in which what theology declares is realized.

This relation does not fragment theology. Felicity is the inward form of truth’s possibility; truth is the outward realization of what felicity initiates. To speak felicitously is to speak in a manner destined for fulfillment; to speak truly is to behold that fulfillment realized. Thus, felicity is the inception of truth’s journey into language; truth is felicity’s completion in being.

Objectiones

Ob I. Classical correspondence realism claims that felicity adds nothing to truth. A statement is felicitous precisely because it is true. To distinguish them introduces redundancy and obscures the unity of adaequatio.

Ob II. Speech-act pragmatics holds that felicity conditions pertain to the success of an utterance, not to its truth-value. To unite felicity and truth conflates pragmatic efficacy with ontological correspondence.

Ob III. Kant maintains that “truth” pertains to theoretical reason, while “felicity” concerns practical harmony with moral law. Theology may not merge these domains without overstepping transcendental limits.

Ob IV. Post-liberal theology locates truth within communal grammar. Felicity is simply correct performance within that grammar. To posit a distinction is to introduce an external realism foreign to intratextual coherence.

Responsiones

Ad I. Truth and felicity coincide in God but diverge in theology. Truth concerns the ontological adequation of word and being; felicity concerns the pneumatic authorization of the word to bear this adequation. Theology requires both because human speech is finite. Felicity is not redundant; it is the Spirit’s gift that makes truth bearable in language.

Ad II. Speech-act theory sees only the human dimension of felicity. Theology sees its divine ground. Felicity is not merely pragmatic success but the Spirit’s act of rendering a finite utterance proportionate to divine truth. It includes pragmatic order while surpassing it in participation.

Ad III. Kant’s dualism dissolves within revelation. The Spirit unites cognition and moral participation in a single divine act. Felicity is not moral sentiment but the Spirit’s presence in knowledge. Truth becomes event rather than ideal, and felicity becomes the condition of truth’s event.

Ad IV. Post-liberal coherence safeguards grammar but neglects ontology. Felicity is not reducible to communal performance; it is the Spirit’s life within that grammar. Truth arises when this felicitous grammar is interpreted within divine being. Grammar participates in reality rather than replacing it.

Nota

Imagine felicity and truth as the two movements of a single divine circuit. Felicity is the descent of the Spirit into speech. Truth is the return of that speech into being. The Word proceeds felicitously and returns truthfully.

To seek truth without felicity is presumption: attempting to name God without the Spirit. To seek felicity without truth is solipsism: words that comfort but do not correspond. Only when the two converge does theology become the viva vox of the gospel.

The relation is therefore circular. What begins in the Spirit’s authorization ends in the Spirit’s fulfillment. The same divine act that renders theology speakable renders it true.

Determinatio

From the foregoing it is determined that:

1. Felicity and truth are distinct yet inseparable moments of theology’s participation in divine communication.

2. Felicity concerns the rightness of speech within T; truth concerns its realization within divine being.

3. The same Spirit who authorizes speech also fulfills it.

4. Felicity anticipates truth; truth consummates felicity.

5. Theology’s discourse is thus a participation in the causal communication of God, in whom word and reality coincide.

Transitus ad Disputationem VI: De Causalitate Divina et Loquela Theologica

In the fifth disputation, felicity and truth were shown to be two movements of one divine act: felicity as the Spirit’s descent into language, truth as the Spirit’s fulfillment of that language in being. Theology thus speaks truly only where it speaks felicitously, for the Spirit binds word and reality within a single motion.

Yet this unity presupposes a deeper source. The Spirit who authorizes and fulfills is the Spirit of the Father, whose causal act gives being, meaning, and intelligibility. If theology is to understand its own possibility, it must inquire into the divine causality that grounds both the world to be spoken and the speech that speaks it.

We therefore advance to Disputatio VI: De Causalitate Divina et Loquela Theologica, wherein it will be asked how divine causality constitutes the possibility of theological discourse, how divine and human agency join in the act of saying, and how the verbum hominis becomes instrument of the Verbum Dei without confusion or division.