Faith must be placed in the God of the evidence and not in the evidence for God. Like Aristotle, Aquinas believes it is the function of the wise person to know order.
FOOTNOTES
Too much of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle is baptized into Christianity." Furthermore, "this system is to be objected to because it does not take revelation as the indispensable starting-place, and therefore leaves the truth to the mercy of a clever philosopher" (Bernard Ramm, Problems in Christian Apologetics [Portland, Oreg.: Western Baptist) Theological Seminary, 1949], pp. 22-23). Even Gordon Clark, despite his defense of "literal" God-talk, would fall short of this kind of Platonic dogmatism. Weaver mistakenly assumes: (1) that Aquinas held that "man can know certain things about himself and the world whether God exists or not"; (2) "that all creatures under God are to some extent involved in non-being as well as being"; and (3) that only Van Til holds it.
My biographical approach follows that of the Roman Catholic pontifical scholars whose courses I took at a Jesuit institution, the University of Detroit. James Weisheipl, Friar Thomas D'Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Works (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1983), p. The verse reads: “This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, which endures forever” (Holy Bible, Douay Version, 1609).
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LIFE
In the year 1251 or 1252, the Master General of the Order, on the advice of Albertus Magnus and Hugo a S. In his time, he was ordered to prepare to obtain the Doctorate in Theology from the University of Paris, but the conferring of the degree was postponed due to a dispute between the university and the brothers. Having yielded to the requests of his brothers, he participated on several occasions in the deliberations of the general chapters of the order.
The Summa Theologica had only been completed up to the ninetieth question of the third part (De partibus poenitentiae). At the urgent request of the monks, he dictated a short commentary on the Canticle of Canticles. The right arm, donated to the University of Paris, and originally kept in St. Thomas Chapel in the Dominican Church, is now preserved in the Dominican Church of S. Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, to which it was transferred during the French Revolution.
WRITINGS
The monks of Fossa Nuova were anxious to keep his holy remains, but by order of Urban V the body was given to his Dominican brethren, and solemnized. translated to the Dominican church at Toulouse, January 28, 1369. A magnificent shrine erected in 1628 was destroyed during the French Revolution, and the body was transferred to the Church of St. Sernin removed, where it now rests in a sarcophagus of gold and silver, which was solemnly blessed by Cardinal Desprez on July 24, 1878. Prümmer, op. cit., p. 401), who says that his features corresponded to the greatness of his soul.
His skin was "like the color of new wheat": his head was large and well-shaped, and he was slightly bald. The same illustrious pontiff, by a Synod of August 4, 1880, appointed him patron of all Catholic universities, academies, colleges and schools throughout the world.
GENERAL REMARKS
Touron (op. cit., pp. 69 sq.) says that manuscript copies were found in almost all the libraries of Europe, and that, after the invention of printing, copies were rapidly multiplied in Germany, Italy, and France, portions of the Summa Theologica is one of the first important works to be printed. Many other editions of this and other works were published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Leonine edition, begun under the patronage of Leo XIII, now continued under the master general of the Dominicans, will doubtless be the most perfect of all.
Critical dissertations will be given on each work, the text will be carefully reviewed and all references will be checked. According to the instructions of Leo XIII. (Motu Proprio, January 18, 1880) the Summa Contra Gentiles will be published with the commentaries of Sylvester Ferrariensis, while Cajetan's comments go to the Summa Theologica. The Summa Theologica, for example, contains much of the philosophical, while the Summa Contra Gentiles is mainly but.
HIS PRINCIPAL WORKS IN DETAIL
It is worth noting that the Fathers of the Vatican Council, addressing the necessity of the proclamation (Coast. It is divided into two parts, known as the First Section of the Second (I-II, or la 2ae) and the Second of the Second (II -II, or 2a 2ae) Eight years were given to the composition of this work, which began in Rome, where the first part and the first part of the second were written (1265-69).
These attributions are rejected by the editors of the Leonine edition (XI, pp. viii, xiv, xviii). At the end of the explanation of the thesis, the objections are answered under the forms ad. It is impossible to name the various editions of the Summa, which have been in continuous use for more than seven hundred years.
METHOD AND STYLE OF ST. THOMAS
- INFLUENCES EXERTED ON ST. THOMAS
NATURAL CAUSES
The causes that influenced St. Thomas, were of two kinds, natural and supernatural. Augustine, the theorems of Peter Lombard, the writings of the philosophers, especially Plato, Aristotle and Boethius. The mere enumeration of the texts of Scripture quoted in the Summa Theologica fills eighty columns of fine print in the Migne edition, and it is not unreasonably supposed by many that he memorized the sacred books while imprisoned in the Castle of San Giovanni. .
Dominic he had a special love for St. Paul's letters that he signed. Consuetudo ecclesiae - the practice of the Church - should prevail over the authority of every doctor (II-II, Sp. x. a. 12). Thomas thought that all that was of truth in the writings of heathen philosophers should be taken from them, as from "unrighteous possessors," and adapted to the doctrine of the true religion (Sum. theol., I, Q. lxxxiv, a. 5 ).
SUPERNATURAL CAUSES
- INFLUENCE OF ST. THOMAS
From Aristotle he learned that love of order and precision of expression which characterize his works. He declared to Father Reginald that he had learned more in prayer and contemplation than he had gained from men or books (Prümmer, op. cit., p. 36). The Blessed Virgin appeared to assure him that his life and his writings were acceptable to God and that he would persevere in his holy vocation.
When, through humility, he considered himself unworthy of the doctorate, a venerable religious of his order (presumably Saint Dominic) appeared to encourage him and to propose the text for his opening address (Prümmer, op.). Due to the great enthusiasm on the part of his admirers, we must conclude that his extraordinary knowledge cannot be attributed to mere natural causes. It can be rightly said of him that he worked as if everything depended on his own efforts and prayed as if everything depended on his own efforts. God.
INFLUENCE ON SANCTITY
His abstractions in the presence of King Louis IX (St. Louis) and eminent visitors are narrated by all biographers. His treatise on the sacraments, especially on penance and the Eucharist, would melt even hardened hearts. He makes every effort to explain the various ceremonies of the Mass (De ritu Eucharistiae in Sum.
Father Contenson, O.P., drew attention to the theology of Thomas in his Theologia mentis et cordis. Encyclical of Leo XIII. about the Holy Spirit is mostly drawn from St. Secundae knows how wonderfully the saint explains the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, as well as the beatitudes and their relation to the various virtues. Almost all good spiritual writers seek in St.
INFLUENCE ON INTELLECTUAL LIFE
Thomas on the relationship between faith and reason were solemnly promulgated at the Vatican Council. The second, third and fourth chapters of the constitution Dei Filius read like pages taken from the works of the Angelic Doctor. The objections against Aristotle would cease if the real Aristotle were revealed; therefore his first concern was to obtain a new translation of the works of the great philosopher. The next step was to force reason into the service of faith, by putting Christian doctrine into scientific form.
On the death of Thomas, the University of Paris sent an official letter of condolence to the General Chapter of the Dominicans, stating that, like his brothers, the University was saddened by the loss of one who was theirs by many titles. (see the text of the letter in Vaughan, op. cit., II, p. 82). But the main and special glory of Thomas, which he did not share with any Catholic doctor, is that the Tridentine Fathers made the laying on the altar part of the order of the conclave, together with the codex of the Holy Scriptures and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs, the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, where to seek advice, reason and inspiration. Thomas in verse", and commentators trace the divisions and descriptions of the great Florentine poet's virtues and weaknesses in Secunda Secundae.
APPRECIATION OF ST. THOMAS (1) IN THE CHURCH
- ST. THOMAS AND MODERN THOUGHT
In the curriculum of 1864, Pius IX condemned a proposal in which it was stated that the method and principles of the old scholastic doctors did not suit the needs of our time and the progress of science (Denzinger-Bannwart, no. 1713). In the pages of the encyclical immediately preceding these words, he explains why the teaching of St. Thomas in itself would have justified Leo XIII in assuring the men of the nineteenth century that the Catholic Church was not opposed to the proper use of reason.
How the Angelic Doctor's principles will provide a cure for this evil is explained here in a general way. It is with regard to the sciences that some people doubt the availability of the writings of St. Thomas; and the doubters think of the natural and experimental sciences, for in metaphysics the scholastics are recognized as masters. Thomas's writings set out the principles and wise rules that should govern scholarly criticism of the Sacred Books.
CONTENTS
THE FIRST PART
FIRST PART OF THE SECOND PART
SECOND PART OF THE SECOND PART
THIRD PART
Of Christ's circumcision, and of the other legal observances which were accomplished in regard to the Child Christ.
THE SUPPLEMENT
A COMMENTARY ON
Of the general judgment of the time and place when it will take place.
