Name: Badana, Rhea Lou A.

Date: November 16, 2022

Course and Time: BSMA 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Saint Thomas Aquinas

I. BRIEF HISTORY

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival
of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between
faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that had obtained for centuries. This
crisis flared up just as universities were being founded. Thomas, after early studies at
Montecassino, moved on to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new
Dominican Order. It was at Naples too that Thomas had his first extended contact with the
new learning. When he joined the Dominican Order he went north to study with Albertus
Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus. Thomas completed his studies at
the University of Paris, which had been formed out of the monastic schools on the Left Bank
and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master Thomas defended
the mendicant orders and, of greater historical importance, countered both the Averroistic
interpretations of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The
 result was a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy which survived until the rise
of the new physics. The Catholic Church has over the centuries regularly and consistently
reaffirmed the central importance of Thomas's work, both theological and philosophical, for
understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual
commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource which is now receiving increased
recognition. He died on March 7, 1274.

SOURCE: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/

II. EXPRESSION OF FAITH

To begin with, Aquinas takes faith to be an intellectual virtue or habit, the object of which is
God. There are other things that fall under the purview of faith, such as the doctrine of the
Trinity and the Incarnation. But we do not affirm these specific doctrines unless they have
some relation to God. According to Aquinas, these doctrines serve to explicate God’s nature
and provide us with a richer understanding of the one in whom our perfect happiness
consists. And although faith is an intellectual virtue, it would be a mistake to construe the act
of faith as something that is purely cognitive in nature, such as the belief that 2 + 2 = 4, or
that Venus is a planet, or that red is a primary color. These beliefs are not things over which
we have much voluntary control. Perhaps this is because their truth is manifestly obvious or
because they are based on claims that are themselves self-evident. In either case, it doesn’t
appear that we choose to believe these things.

By contrast, the assent of faith is voluntary. To employ Aquinas’ terminology, the assent of
faith involves not just the intellect but the will. By will Aquinas means a native desire or
love for what we think contributes to our happiness. How is the will involved in the assent of
faith? Aquinas appears to have something like this in mind: suppose a person, upon hearing
a homily or a convincing argument, becomes persuaded that ultimate human happiness
consists in union with God. For Aquinas, the mere acknowledgment of this truth does not
denote faith or at least a commendable form of faith that is distinct from believing certain
propositions about God. After all, the demons believe many truths about God, but they are
compelled to believe due to the obviousness of those truths. Their belief is not shaped by an
affection for God and thus not praiseworthy. Thus, we can imagine that a person who is
convinced of certain sacred truths may, for any number of reasons, choose not to consider or
endorse what she now believes. Alternatively, she may, out of love for God, actively seek
God as her proper end. According to Aquinas, this love for God is what distinguishes faith
from the mere acknowledgement that certain theological statements are true. For faith
involves an appetitive aspect whereby the will, love or desire for goodness moves us to God
as the source of ultimate happiness.

But what prompts the will to desire God? After all, Christianity teaches that our wills have
been corrupted by the Fall. As a result of that corruption, Christian doctrine purports that we
invariably love the wrong things and are inclined to ends contrary to God’s purposes. The
only way we would be motivated to seek God is if our wills were somehow changed and that
we must undergo some interior transformation whereby we come to love God. According to
 Aquinas, that transformation comes by way of grace. We will say more about grace in the
following subsection of this article. For now, we can interpret grace as Aquinas does: a
good-making habit that inclines us to seek God and makes us worthy of eternal life.
According to Aquinas, if a person seeks God as the supreme source of human happiness, it
can only be because God moves her will by conferring grace upon her. That is why Aquinas
insists that faith involves a “voluntary assent to the Divine truth at the command of the will
moved by the grace of God”. Of course, just what it means for one’s will to be both
voluntary and moved by God’s grace is a subject about which there is contentious debate.

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is
possible.” Faith means having to believe without seeing or without explanation. To the one
who has no faith, explanation is not possible because his mind is closed. Aquinas’ quote
explains to us that with faith, one is satisfied with a single explanation or can be, even with
no explanation, however, if one does not have faith, will never be satisfied of a single
explanation nor listens to an explanation.

SOURCE: https://iep.utm.edu/thomas-aquinas-political-theology/#SH3a

III. REFLECTION

St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest philosophers, theologians, and Doctors of the
Church, had a gift for imparting God's wisdom. He discussed and defended the faith through
teaching and writing. St. Thomas Aquinas was given so much wisdom and truth by the Lord
that even as a prolific writer, he could not adequately convey it. Despite the fact that he wrote
numerous books on philosophy and theology, they only scratched the surface of the truth that
God imparted on him. I can only imagine what the Lord showed him. God certainly blessed
St. Thomas Aquinas not only with wisdom, but also with the ability to share that wisdom
with others. Even if he thought his work was "straw" in comparison to what the Lord
revealed to him, St. Thomas Aquinas' theological writings helped readers and scholars
deepen their faith. Countless souls would be lost and deficient in truth if he hadn't shared the
truth through his books. St. Thomas Aquinas showed us the greatest kindness by sharing
God's profound truth, which he was blessed to see a glimpse of.