|
Three reasons why Thomas Aquinas matters today |
|
|
|
By Catholic News Service
|
|
Wednesday, 06 May 2009 |
In a recent interview with Catholic News Service, Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White was asked what three or four points he might drive home if a parish invited him to speak on the strengths of St. Thomas Aquinas' thought today. The 38-year-old theologian, who teaches at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, had this response to the question posed by David Gibson, former editor of Origins, the CNS documentary service.
St. Thomas Aquinas is depicted in a painting at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington - CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec
Well, it's a very hard question. There are many things you could say that characterize Aquinas' thought, but let me propose these three. ...
The first, I would say, is Aquinas' insistence on the harmony of faith and reason.
He has a deep appreciation of the capacities of natural reason to
attain knowledge of the truth. Aquinas has a confidence in human reason.
At the same time he believes in supernatural faith -- faith given to us
by the grace of the Holy Spirit. We know mysteries concerning God that
are only accessible through divine revelation. And these two ways of
knowing, knowing by our own natural powers and knowing by grace, they
complement one another.
These two ways of knowing are profoundly harmonious and not opposed.
What we can know of this world in philosophy, in the sciences and
ethics is compatible and harmonious with what we can know through the
Gospel, through the church and through the spiritual life. That's the
first point.
The second point is that for Aquinas the creation reflects the mystery
of the wisdom of God. If we look off into the creation, we see a
beautiful, existent world that is good, that is orderly and that
bespeaks the wisdom of God.
And so creation, the human person, the human body -- all have something
to tell us about who God is; the human spiritual life, the life of
human civilization tell us something about the glory of God. We both
study them for themselves and then from them we can gain some real
knowledge of who God is. Aquinas is clear that it is even possible to
offer natural demonstrations, compelling rational arguments, for the
existence of God.
We can actually show by reason that there must exist a first cause of
the world that transcends the world and say something about God, about
what God is and what God is not.
The third point, I would say, is that for Aquinas there is a very
profound emphasis on the primacy of grace for all of our works that
lead to union with God. God is not only the source from whom we all
come, but he is the ultimate term or endpoint toward whom we are all
returning. How do we return to God? For Aquinas, by grace.
Grace precedes us, grace supports us, grace acts in our lives and grace
will lead us home. And his doctrine of Christ as the incarnate word of
the Father, his doctrine of the sacraments, his doctrine of the inner
life as the work of the Holy Spirit -- you know, all of that emphasizes
the fact that God takes the first initiatives in our lives, and these
are initiatives of grace.
So Aquinas is a great teacher about the mystery of God's grace in the
world throughout the creation, calling human beings to union with God
in Christ and bringing people toward the hope of the beatific vision,
the hope to see God face to face in heaven.
So to sum that up: Faith and reason are profoundly harmonious; looking
at creation we learn a great deal about the wisdom of God and who God
is; and God is at work in our lives by grace, taking the first
initiatives to bring us into intimate union with God through Christ.
These are three of the major themes present on many levels throughout
Aquinas' work.
Typically, in human civilization in general and our own age in
particular, there are profound confusions on all these issues. One
tendency is to think that faith and reason are rivals, so that either
reason exalts itself and only finds its independence by eschewing faith
or denying faith ..., or I have to just believe, to have faith, abandon
myself to God, as he's revealed in the Bible, the Scriptures, and
there's no point of contact with my ordinary reason and my ordinary
life.
This dichotomy permeates our culture. ... These two temptations of
faith against reason or reason against faith are very prevalent.
 |
|
Sign up for our eNewsletter and get
Show/hide comment form