St. Thomas Aquinas: Italian Dominican Theology

St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the most profound and prolific writers of his time, and his teachings I feel continue to resonate today. In fact, one of his teachers, St. Albert the Great, once said of him, “We call this young man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound throughout the world.” This only understates the effect this one man has had through the legacy he left behind. His works continue to inspire many, myself included. This man could be describes as a giant among men, for the impact he has had on the world that continues over seven-hundred years after his death. St. Thomas Aquinas has influenced my personal morals and ethics through his teachings on

Thomas Aquinas is a major religious thinker from Italy. He lived from 1225-1274. Throughout his life he shared his beliefs about God and how people are connected to Him. In “Summa Theologiae” Aquinas’ wrote about what he believed to be the purpose of humans: happiness. This is unlike other major thinkers would come to think about the meaning of human life. Darwin believed humans main goal in life is to survive. Aquinas believed human beings can attain this happiness through virtue, God’s grace, reason, and love.

Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica represents one of the most famous attempts to prove God's existence. Aquinas wrote at a time in which people began to develop skepticism concerning the existence of God. In this regard, it is instructive to position Aquinas

Thomas was productive in his writing, teaching and preaching. He is said to have been able to order many changed papers to different writers at once. He held many related to school and learning debates at the University of Paris, far more than most other professors, and in his life-time he wrote over 50 main works, from original logical works, to religious written works, to written/statements of opinion on works of Aristotle and on Holy written work. His huge and important Summa Theologiae is a masterwork of (related to a very old land ownership system) scholasticism. He is also attributed with religious poetry in praise of the Eucharist which is used by the Church for the Food-based celebration of The Body and Blood of Christ. He toured decide/figure outdly around Europe, being called upon first one, then the other by the related to the office and rule of the Pope court and by his Order to teach in Anagni and Orvieto, then in Rome, then in

Thomas Aquinas was the creator of Medieval Christian Synthesis. Born during the Medieval time, from 1225-73, Aquinas' family was wealthy and provided to him a strong education. After completing his studies in the University of Naples, he decided to join the Dominicans and was ordained a priest. The Dominicans at that time, was viewed as one of the most academically talented scholars in the Christian church. However, Aquinas family did not agree with his decision because as a Dominican he would lose the family's wealth.

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in A.D 1225 close to Naples. Thomas Aquinas was the seventh son of lower nobility. Thomas’s parents hoped he would become a person with power and influence, so they sent him to Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino was one of the big, great and wealthy Benedictine monasteries. After the monastery, Thomas went to a University just founded in Naples and it was there that he became a fan of Aristotle’s philosophy. Thomas then went against his family’s wishes, and refused careers in military or politics, and became a friar for the Dominican order. Thomas Aquinas Christianized Aristotle’s philosophy and offered solutions or explanations on God, Humanity, and the Universe.

Aquinas, Saint Thomas was born at approximately 1225 at Aquino castle in Roccasecca, Italy. As a philosopher-theologian he was arguably the most influential thinker of the medieval period. He produced a powerful synthesis that combined Aristotelian and Neoplatonic elements within a Christian context. He maintained the Christian theological traditions, inspired by Aristotle's approach sought his own argument for God's existence.

Inspired by Aristotle, he built his own philosophy which directed the world view of Christians to change to a one that was lighter and happier than the previous. His beliefs were named Thomism and the Catholic Church declared them as the church’s official teaching in 1879. Thomism helped to shape the current state of the Catholic Church in Western civilization today. Thomas Aquinas’ views brought forth a wave that intellectualized Europe. This declaration helped shape Catholism’s current state in the Western world today and also brought forth a wave that intellectualized

others. According to Aquinas, divine law is that which we see not through reason, but through revelation. An example of divine law would be the existence of heaven and hell. Human's could not possibly reason the existence of heaven and hell, so they can only learn of it through God's revelations in the Bible. Vernon Bourke analyzes Aquinas' moral psychology because he believes that it is an important basis for the Aquinas' entire philosophy and that it was an

Philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy. He ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval Scholasticism. An authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer. St. Thomas Aquinas is described as "a witty child" who "had received a good soul." At Monte Casino, the quizzical young boy repeatedly posed the question, "What is God?" to his benefactors. St. Thomas Aquinas remained at the monastery until he was 13 years old, when the political climate forced him to return to Naples. He studied Aristotle's work, which helped with his own exploration of philosophy. In 1243, he secretly joined an order of Dominican monks, receiving the habit in 1244. When his family found out, they felt

By combining the more established religious technique with the new perspective called Summa Theologica is what Thomas Aquinas produced. The human writers were God’s instruments who made the celestial Word a natural the truth. Rather than dismissing the plain sense, the exegete could find an incredible arrangement about the heavenly message by contemplating the works of these authors in a deliberate and exploratory way. Furthermore, since he had the ability to organize chronicled occasions keeping in mind the end goal to uncover the truths of salvation which made God unlike a human author (Armstrong, 2007).

Aquinas’s writings are entertaining, but they are also packed with information that requires perspective. Individuals will take perspective mostly in different ways, but once the individual is instructed to look beyond what is on paper, and to find a meaning being just another entertaining story, that is when they understand the entire story. I feel like Aquinas was a very good teacher in this idea. Though he did not openly state to everyone that his stories are just materialistic, that they are nothing without a deep perspective, he still shaped this movement. Now I’m not saying his writings “on paper” were not informative. His ideas on knowing what to believe and believing what you know is a very good philosophical question in general. But his writings however, push internal discussions/discovery and I think that is what essentially carried him through the history books.

Saint Augustine, Aquinas, and Dante are all philosophers that question and analyze the balance between faith and reason in human life. All three men are on personal journeys to better understand not only themselves, but their faith as well. Although the three have different writing styles, Augustine’s The Confessions, Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles, and Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, all share the common theme of faith and reason. These pieces of writing are extremely influential, which are why they continue to be studied today. Faith and reason will always be a popular topic for discussion. It can be difficult as a Catholic to accept the connection between the two However, these three writers have used each other’s ideas to build and create theories to show the importance as to why both faith and reason need to work together.

While St. Thomas Aquinas established himself as the New Aristotle of the 13th century, Dante Alighieri established himself the new Virgil. The two men made an immense impact in their respective fields (poetry and philosophy). Yet surprisingly, the two share common ideals. In each of their respective literary and philosophical views, they establish the importance of the relationship between nature and grace. In Dante’s Inferno the unique relationship of grace and nature is made apparent and reflects the writings of Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica”. Dante’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise exhibit and reflect St. Thomas’ understanding of the relationship of nature and grace. Dante

A critique that could be levy against Thomas Aquinas’ assertion is that the Holy Scripture in the Christianity religion is the word of God. There are other religions that claim that their doctrine is divinely inspired also. So this would allow other religions to claim the same absoluteness of authority on indemonstrable knowledge as Christianity. For example, the Koran and Torah were also said to be inspired by God. The question arises of which doctrine is the definitive Scripture that God attended for us to use. Thomas Aquinas is going to pick his religion holy doctrine over the other ones due to his faith in Christianity.