Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas AquinasSarah Allen

Overview

An Italian-born monk who taught at the University of Paris

Born: January 28th, 1225 in Roccasecca, Sicily

Died: March 7th, 1274 in Fossanova, Sicily

Taught that faith came first and greatly expanded the scope of reason

Major figure in scholasticism

Aquinas’ Life

At age five, he was sent to Monte Cassino to begin preparation for a career in abbacy

Due to nearby violence, his parents moved him to the studium generale recently established by Frederick in Naples

Came under the influence of a Dominican preacher named John of St. Julian

By age ninteen, he was committed to joining the Dominican Order (a Catholic order famed for its intellectual excellence)

His parents were furious with this, as they had wanted him to become a Benedictine monk

Aquinas’ Life cont’d

The Dominicans attempted to protect him from his parents by moving him immediately to Rome, and then to Paris

His mother, Theodora, found out and his brothers (on her orders) captured him en route to Rome

He was returned to his parents’ castle where he was held for two years

However, he spent the time tutoring his younger sisters in Dominican ideas and secretly communicating with other Dominicans

Finally, in 1244, Theodora – in an attempt to save the family’s honor and realizing that Aquinas would never relinquish his beliefs – helped him escape

The Nature of God

Aquinas developed a list of the five divine qualities:

God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.

God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality. Thomas defined God as the ‘Ipse Actus Essendi subsistens,’ subsisting act of being.

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.

God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character.

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 Thomas's words, "in itself the proposition 'God exists' is necessarily true, for in it subject and predicate are the same.”

Scholasticism

A system of theology and philosophy popular among medieval European scholars based on Aristotelian logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers and featuring a strong emphasis on Catholic tradition and dogma

Particularly with Aquinas, it demonstrated an unusual confidence in the logical orderliness of knowledge and in human ability to know

Reason

Aquinas retained the basic belief while studying reason

He believed that:

Humans could – through reason alone – know much of the natural order, moral law, and the nature of God

All essential knowledge could be organized coherently

Wrote a series of Summas (highest works) that employed careful logic to counter any possible objections to truth as revealed by reason and faith

Summas

Summa Theologica: Most well-known and best work of Aquinas

Intended as a sort of introduction to theology and the main theological points of Church doctrine

Three parts:

Part One: God’s existence, the creation of the world, angels, and the nature of man

Part Two: Morality (general and specific)

Part Three: Christ, the Sacraments, and the end of the world

Ethics

Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude

Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity

Four types of Law:

Eternal: direct word of God, governs all Creation

Natural: human adherence to eternal law, discovered by reason

Human: positive law (natural law applied to human government and society)

Divine: the law as defined in the scriptures

Works Cited

Anonymous. "Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2009. Web. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/aquinas/>.

Stearns, Peter N. "Theology: Assimilating Faith and Reason." World Civilizations: The Global Experience. 5. Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. Print.

"Thomas Aquinas." n. pag. Wikipedia. Web. 9 Nov 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas