Two Competing Interpretations of the Supernatural Life

Since the early Christian centuries, there have been two competing visions of the supernatural life, represented by the Gnostic and Canonical Christ. Both these figures manifest abilities beyond ordinary human power and are arguably spiritual forerunners of the transhumanists and posthumanists today who aspire to transcend the ordinary limits of human nature. Nevertheless, this paper examines how the canonical understanding of the supernatural life can be articulated from the work of Thomas Aquinas to draw a distinction between these visions. The paper reviews the rise and ultimate fall of the Neo-Thomist interpretation and then describes a new interpretation of Aquinas's account of perfection in terms of the second-person perspective. Only the Canonical Christ offers a supernatural life that is second-personal in relation to the