Thomas and Thomas in Confrontation: Dueling Dualisms in the Doctrine of God

This paper is an attempt to add to the contemporary discussion about Thomas Torrance’s criticisms of Augustinian dualisms by investigating whether or not Torrance’s criticisms would also apply to the Trinitarian theology of Thomas Aquinas. More specifically, this paper will explore the systematic and epistemic significance of the concept of persons-in-relations in Aquinas’s and Torrance’s doctrines of God to determine whether substance or person is primary in our knowledge and in the way we come to know God.