Difference between revisions of "St. Thomas Aquinas"

Revision as of 00:56, June 18, 2008

Christianity

Foundations Jesus Christ The Gospel Bible Old Testament New Testament Ten Commandments Christian Theology Trinity: Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit Atonement Nicene Creed Creation Defense of Christianity Salvation History and Traditions Messianic Judaism Roman Catholic Church Arianism Orthodox Church Crusades Protestant Reformation Counter Reformation Protestantism Missions Great Awakening Social Gospel Mainline Liberal Christians Evangelical Christians Fundamentalism Important Figures Saint Paul Saint Athanasius Saint Augustine Thomas Aquinas Martin Luther John Calvin Jonathan Edwards John Wesley Pope

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) "The Angelic Doctor" was a Dominican friar who wrote Summa Theologica. Many consider this to be the most perfect and complete summary of Christian theology, and he established an entire type of Christian philosophy known as "Thomism", which is followed to this day. Aquinas was somewhat controversial during his life, but was quickly revered by the Catholic Church after his death. Many of the controversies surrounding Aquinas stem from his synthesis of Aristotlean philosophy with Christian philosophy, causing him to break with many of the traditionally held philosophical and theological positions espoused by the dominant Augustinian synthesis of Neoplatonic philosophy and Christianity.

He developed five proofs for the existence of God using logic. The first three were "cosmological" proofs rather than the "ontological" approach of St. Anselm. A cosmological proof deals with the natural order of the universe. Aquinas' most famous cosmological argument was that whatever is in motion (for example, us) must have been put in motion by something else (our parents). They, in turn, must have been put in motion by something else (their parents). But this sequence cannot go on to infinity. There must have been a first mover. This we call "God".

Saint Thomas had a different view of the fall than Calvin or Luther. He did not view man as totally depraved. His will was weakened and his intellect clouded, nontheless his nature is not totaly corrupted, for as created by God it is still basically good. Nevertheless man cannot attain to salvation on his own but is in need of grace. Though the intellect is clouded, unassisted human reason can still attain to many of the truths about God. For instance the existance of God can be shown from the nature of the created universe. Nontheless certain things are only knowable through Divine Revelation such as the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Because of his view of the power of the human mind, though harmed by the fall, yet not totaly destroyed, the works of the classical, secular philosophers could be brought into the service of Christian theology. Charles Murray wrote, "Aquinas made the case, eventually adopted by the Church, that human intelligence is a gift from God, and that to apply human intelligence to understanding the world is not an affront to God but is pleasing to him." ^[1]

Concerning the nature of God, Aquinas found that the best approach, commonly called the "via negativa", is to consider what God is not. This led him to propose five positive statements about the divine qualities:

• 1. God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.
• 2. God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality.
• 3. God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically, intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and infinity of number.
• 4. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character.
• 5. God is one, without diversification within God's self. The unity of God is such that God's essence is the same as God's existence. In Aquinas's words, "in itself the proposition 'God exists' is necessarily true, for in it subject and predicate are the same."

St. Thomas Aquinas is further known for his famous observation that the Devil cannot withstand mockery.

Saint Thomas wrote many theological and philosophical books, as well as composing several beautiful hymns. Hailed as a masterpiece, his works Summa Theoligiae gives humanity a child like revelation of God. The book was never completed; after a religious experience, he stopped writing explaining, “All that I have written seems to me like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.”^[2] He died three months later at the monastery of Fossanova, one mile from Sonnino, on March 7, 1274

His entire Summa is simple to comprehend, divided into three parts and contains 27 questions. "It can be proved in five ways that God exists." ^[3]

The first part Prima Pars (God and what precedes from Him)

The second part Prima Secundae and Secunda Secundae (Law and Grace, Charity and Justice)

The third part Tertia Pars (Christ who as man is our way to God)

References

1. ↑ http://www.amconmag.com/11_17_03/review.html
2. ↑ [1], Philosophy of Religion- Historic Figures
3. ↑ [2], Saint Thomas Aquinas Biography

External links

• Culture's Bell Curve - a review of Charles Murray's Human Accomplishment
• Thomas Aquinas quotes