Although he considers that one develops towards perfection through
self-knowledge, not through the knowledge of others,^96 he displays an
awareness of mutual acknowledgement.
Thomas offers a particularly vivid and terminologically significant
scene of mutual acknowledgement in his exposition of John 20:16.^97 In
this verse, the risen Jesus Christ meets Mary Magdalene outside the tomb.
First Mary does not recognize him, but when Jesus calls her by name,
Mary recognizes him and replies‘Rabbouni’.Thomasexplainsthatwhen
Mary wasfirst converted in the heart, she‘recognized’(agnovit)Christ.
When Christ says to her,‘Mary’,heisaskingher‘to recognize him who
recognizes you’(recognosce eum a quo recognosceris).^98 This phrase is
significant, since the verbrecognoscodepicts both the‘upward’and
‘downward’move of religious recognition. As it concerns facial recogni-
tion after separation, it resembles the Aristotelian tradition ofanagnorisis
and, as a conversion story, the LatinRecognitions.
Thomas’s phrase is a quotation from Gregory the Great. In his
Homilies on John, Gregory says that people recognize or recollect
other people when they hear their name spoken.^99 Thomas develops
this horizontal idea into vertical meanings, noting that Jesusfirst only
calls her a‘woman’(John 20:15). In John 20:16, however, a proper
‘vocation’ (vocatio) and specific knowledge (specialis notitia)is
expressed. These enable the conversion of the heart and the recogni-
tion.^100 Although Thomas does not elaborate on the passage in more
detail, it does not depict a mere recollection but entails the idea of
mutual acknowledgement, as indicated by the use of such words as
vocatioandconversio.
Thomas’suseofrecognoscoin the explanation of the parable of
talents strengthens this impression. In other contexts, Thomas can
say, for instance, that if you do not acknowledge (recognoscis)thebenefit
of natural life, you are also unworthy of life in grace and eternal life.^101
Reflecting the background of feudal law, Thomas fairly often employs
the idiom‘to acknowledge a benefit’(beneficium recognosco).^102
(^96) SThII/2 q132 a1 ad3.
(^97) Super Ev. Ioh. 20 lec 3 (p. 465) =Catena aurea in Ioh. 20, lec 2 (p. 580).
(^98) Super Ev. Ioh. 20 lec 3 (p. 465).
(^99) Gregory,xl homiliarum in Evangelia libri ii, PL 76, 1192.
(^100) Super Ev. Ioh. 20 lec 3 (p. 465).
(^101) De duobus praec. caritatis rep. 6,1245 (p. 261).
(^102) In II Sent.d22 q2 a2 ad1;In Ier. 3 s1 (p. 586);In Iob27 l. 29;SThII/1 q76 a4 ad3;
SThII/2 q107 a2.
The Latin Traditions 73