Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Medieval Catholic Church

Saint Thomas Aquinas was a philosopher, theologian, Doctor of the Catholic Church, and is the patron saint of Catholic Universities, colleges, and schools. He was born in Rocca Secca, Italy, in 1225 and was born into a wealthy family. He even was related to the kings of Aragon, Castile, and France. His journey into Catholic beliefs seemed predestined, for he was told when he was a young child that he would become a friar and no one would be equal to him. He started his questioning of faith and religion when he was a youngster, frequently asking his teachers, “What is God?” Saint Thomas was a panentheist, meaning that he arrives through logical argument at

The Church is a highly acclaimed power that is still in power to this day. The Pope is still in power and the Catholic Church has been in power for almost 2000 years. The Church has a huge following and many people follow it blindly. Though there is no feudal system to put the Church on top and there is now a separation of Church and State, it was not always like that. The Church’s history is anything but pure. It constantly used it’s power against those that relied on the Church for answers and reassurance on salvation. The illiteracy of the Middle Ages allowed the Church officials to be trusted mindlessly. Reforms were looked down upon and even resulted in the imprisonment or death of some people. The Church is responsible for taking advantage of the lower class in the Feudal system, committing the Crusades or the “Holy wars” and killing and torturing heretics during the Inquisition as the result of trying to spread Catholicism.

Saint Thomas Aquinas lived from 1225 to 1274. He was a Catholic priest in the Dominican Order and one of the most influential medieval thinkers. He was hugely affected by scholasticism and Aristotle and recognized for his synthesis of the two aforementioned traditions. Although he wrote countless works of philosophy and theology across his existence, his most prominent work is the Summa Theologica.

In my eyes, the word history means past times and events that influenced our being today. That can be from your family’s past to the history of America. Looking at photos from even a decade ago, it's in plain sight how greatly technology and times have changed. From the latest Apple product to our favorite icons. Looking back into the last century, we see new color TVs the latest bug taking a drive. Not to mention the swing teens are dancing to: from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley, to Michael Jackson. Going many centuries back we see horse drawn wagons. Gals walking around in big dresses. Pyramids, the Roman Empire, cavemen. These and many more people and events, all shaped who and where we are today.

Thomas Aquinas is considered by many as the Church’s greatest theologian and philosopher. Living from 1225 to 1274, he was very influential in the realm of scholasticism and was known as “Doctor of the Church”. He is a saint of the Catholic Church and is a model teacher for those joining the priesthood. The philosophy of Aquinas has exerted enormous influence on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the Roman Catholic Church, but also Western philosophy in general.

Thomas Aquinas, who was born nigh Naples was known as the most eminent scholar of medieval philosophy. In addition, he was also known as the father of Thomism. Thomas Aquinas was swayed by Aristotle and Scholasticism. Of the many works that he wrote within theology and philosophy, the “Summa Theologica” is acknowledged as the greatest and most momentous of them all. In his early life, beneath the care or supervision of the monks of Montecassino, Thomas developed rudimentary educational skills, exceptional study routines, and spiritual knowledge and understanding. Later on in life, Thomas Aquinas befriended some Dominican Monks at the Imperial University of Naples. As a result, Aquinas decided to join the order because he was fascinated to the

God’s existence has long been a topic of controversy, one that spans the course of many centuries and––because of its nature––will never be resolved. Two notable philosophers have attempted to prove God’s existence: Saint Thomas Aquinas and René Descartes. Despite having been influenced by the former, Descartes’ arguments––while similar to Aquinas’––are reached through noticeably different methods.

St. Thomas Aquinas persuaded me about the existence of God on the grounds that Aquinas five ways supply logical reasoning. Aquinas first way is that nothing can move itself without a mover, in other words, in order for an object to move it must have a mover. I concur with Aquinas assertion, it makes logical sense on the grounds that everything we do necessitates a mover. An illustration would be a car, in order for a car to move one must drive the car for it to move. Aquinas concludes that there must be a primary mover (God) that is not itself moved. In addition, Aquinas second way asserts that it is impossible for natural things to be the absolute and sufficient sources of their own existence, that there must be an uncaused cause proficient

A revolutionary name in philosophy, Thomas Aquinas began his career as a Benadictine monk, following his father’s wishes. However, Aquinas would not be long in this profession, as the Dominican Order would snatch him from his studies. Besides this, Aquinas would be deeply impacted by his mentor, Albertus Magnus. Aquinas would become a forefather of Scholasticism, an idea that through intense, careful study, he could start from the truth and find support in Christian values, rather than being “free” to discover truth, as many philosophers of the time did (Soccio 228). As he developed his ties with the Orthodox church, Aquinas would be given a tall order. He would be asked to knit together the philosophy of Aristotle and the Catholic church’s idea of God into one, new, Orthodox approved philosophy (Soccio 227). In time, Aquinas would develop five ways to explain God, each linked to the teachings of Aristotle. Out of Aquinas’s five Ways, the most convincing is his final argument, the teleological argument, though his other Ways are not without their own merit.

It is believed that Saint Thomas Aquinas was born in the castle of Roccasecca. Which is in the old country of Sicily. Thomas’s family consisted of him, his Parents, and his brothers. Thomas’s education started when he turned 5 he attended Monte Cassino but after the military conflict spilled into the abbey his parents enrolled him at the studium generale that was opened recently by Fredrick in Naples. Historians believe that this is where he was introduced to Aristotle who would influence his “theological philosophy.” During this time John of St. Julian (a Dominican preacher) influenced him as well. At the age of 19 Thomas decided to join the Dominican Order. His family did not support this choice. In an attempt to stop his Family members

I wanted to do this research paper on the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages because the church has always fascinated me. I have always found the history and the corruption of the Catholic Church to be of great interest and when I read in Robinson Crusoe, when he stated something to the effect that he would rather be captured by cannibals than catholic priests , I decided to do this paper on the Catholic Church. I thought it was a very interesting statement considering the time that it was written.

The lifelong goal of Saint Thomas Aquinas was to clearly elaborate the independence of philosophy and theology, but at the same time show their symbiotic relationship with each other. Throughout his life Aquinas was known as a theologian but many of his works carry strong philosophical undertones as well. The beauty of theology is it can enlighten us through its leap of faith. Philosophy was required to precede theology. The truths laid down from philosophy are concrete and coherent. These philosophical truths are the shoes in which theology can walk. Without philosophy there is no theology. Examples of this can be seen everywhere. Philosophical concepts like

The natural law, according to Aquinas, has certain basic and self-evident ideas that would be known to any human with a properly functioning intellect and a little experience of the world. What St Thomas says first and foremost, is the idea that, “anything good is to be pursued and

Saint Thomas Aquinas was a Catholic Priest who is considered the most influential medieval scholar and philosopher. He studied under Albert the Great and received a master’s in philosophy and theology at the University of Paris. Disobeying his family he became a monk and was known for being a chasing off a prostitute with a hot iron and for being a large slow moving man.

Rather, God is the source of being, truth and goodness, in whom we live, move and exist; God is more intimately present to us than we are to ourselves. Further, Thomas Acquinas distinguished law into four categories: eternal, divine, natural and man-made. Eternal law reflected God’s grand blueprint for the world, divine law is that which finds expression in the scriptures, natural law was eternal law as it applied to human conduct and man-made law was devised by human beings to befit natural law as per the changing society. For Acquinas, the elementary precept of natural law is per se nota, known through themselves. Acquinas propounded that ‘Good is to be done and evil is to be avoided.’ He believed in the principle of non-contradiction, which like the fundamentals of natural law were general and static. On the contrary, man-made laws are dynamic and accommodating. Further Acquinas maintains that when human laws contravene natural laws, they are regarded as ‘acts of violence’ and ‘perversion of law’. Such laws have no legal validity and cease, in this regard, to be law as the law of nature is the foundation of all human