Thomas Aquinas

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Brent
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Beatific Vision

Although Thomas Aquinas is perhaps known best for his natural theology and arguments for the existence of God, he thought that there were manifold ways of knowing God available to human beings. This chapter distinguishes and identifies within Aquinas’s thought seven such ways. One can know God (1) by a general and confused knowledge, (2) by a philosophical wisdom, (3) by divine revelation, (4) by faith, (5) by mystical wisdom, (6) by theological wisdom, and (7) by beatific vision. The chapter discusses the epistemic nature, properties, and limits of all seven. The main point is that Aquinas’s thought is rich enough to accommodate and account for all seven ways of knowing God. Such a comprehensive overview of Aquinas helps move past polemical contexts in which Aquinas is charged with reducing the knowledge of God to natural theology or failing to prioritize the Word of God.

The Contemporary Reception of Aquinas on the Natural Knowledge of God

2021 ◽  
pp. 595-611
Author(s):  
David VanDrunen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Summa Theologiae ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Attributes Of God

This chapter considers key themes from Thomas Aquinas’ view of the natural knowledge of God, or natural theology, from the opening of his Summa theologiae. It is written from the perspective of Reformed theology, which has traditionally supported natural theology of a certain kind, despite its recent reputation as an opponent of natural theology. According to Thomas, natural theology is insufficient for salvation and is inevitably laden with errors apart from the help of supernatural revelation. But human reason, operating properly, can demonstrate the existence and certain attributes of God from the natural order, and this natural knowledge constitutes preambles to the articles of the Christian faith. The chapter thus engages in a critically sympathetic analysis of these themes and suggests how a contemporary reception of Thomas might appropriate them effectively.

Can Belief in God be Basic?

Horizons ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-282
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Matteo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Alvin Plantinga ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
Marginal Status

AbstractAt least since the Enlightenment, religious thinkers in the West have sought to meet the “evidentialist” challenge, that is, to demonstrate that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a rational affirmation of the existence of God. Alvin Plantinga holds that this challenge is rooted in a foundationalist approach to epistemology which is now intellectually bankrupt. He argues that the current critique of foundationalism clears the way for a fruitful reappropriation of the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition's assertion of the “basic” nature of belief in God and its concomitant relegation of the arguments of natural theology to marginal status. After critically assessing Plantinga's proposal—especially its dependence on a nonfoundationalist theory of knowledge—this essay shifts to an analysis of the transcendental Thomist understanding of the rational underpinnings of the theist's affirmation of God's existence, with particular emphasis on the thought of Joseph Maréchal. It is argued that the latter position is better equipped to fend off possible nontheistic counterarguments—even in our current nonfoundationalist atmosphere—and, in fact, can serve as a necessary complement to Calvin's claim of a natural tendency in human beings to believe in God.

scholarly journals The knowledge of disembodied souls: Epistemology, body, and social embeddedness in the eschatological doctrine of later sixteenth-century German Lutherans

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-213
Author(s):  
Gábor Ittzés
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Knowledge Of God

In the wake of their rejection of purgatory Protestants had to rethink their eschatological views. The German Lutherans of the latter half of the sixteenth century developed a robust doctrine of the last things, including a teaching on what departed souls know prior to the resurrection. Following an overview of the sources and a brief reconstruction of the overall locus, this article focuses on an analysis of what and how disembodied souls are claimed to know. The evidence holds some surprises. First, while more than lip-service is certainly paid to the ways of knowing God, the authors’ real interest lies in the exploration of interpersonal relationships. Their primary concern is how other human beings, whether still on earth or already departed, may be known and what may be known about them. The implications are threefold. Knowledge of God and knowledge of human beings—ultimately, knowledge of self—are intertwined. Anthropology takes centre-stage, and ontology is thus superseded by epistemology. In all this, the body is never relinquished. The apparently unconscious importation of sensory language and conceptualisation of sense-based experience permeate the discussion of ostensibly disembodied knowledge. Knowing, for our authors, is ultimately a function of the body even if this means ‘packing’ bodily functions into the soul. In this doctrine, which may have had its roots in patristics but which has also demonstrably absorbed impulses from popular religion, knowledge of God is not only deeply connected with individual identity but also exhibits indelible social features and is inseparable from the (re)constitution of community.

The Inspiration of the Bible

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Efficient Cause ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church

Dealing with biblical inspiration within the scheme of the Word of God in its threefold form (as preached, written, and revealed), Karl Barth distinguished between divine revelation and the inspired Bible. He insisted that the revelation to prophets and apostles preceded proclamation and the writing of Scripture. He interpreted all the Scriptures as witness to Christ. While the human authors of the Bible ‘made full use of their human capacities’, the Holy Spirit is ‘the real author’ of what is written. Raymond Collins, in dialogue with Thomas Aquinas, Barth, and others, interpreted biblical inspiration in the light of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Divine Revelation. He spoke of the Holy Spirit as the ‘principal, efficient cause’ (with the human authors as the ‘instrumental’ causes), rejected dictation views of inspiration, and examined the scope of biblical truth and the authority of the Bible for the Church.

Karl Heim and John Polkinghorne

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Hans Schwarz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
World Science ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Stephen Hawking ◽  
Theology And Science ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
John Polkinghorne

During the last two decades, the dialogue between science and theology has begun to yield fruit. This is partly due to the initiative of scientists like Stephen Hawking and Frank Tipler, and pioneering theologians like Karl Heim and John Polkinghorne. Heim and Polkinghorne propose two of the more credible models for dialogue. Heim's model is that of a transcendent God Who is revealed not only in the world, but also in the person of Jesus Christ. Polkinghorne proposes a new natural theology which is less interested in proving the existence of God than in seeking signs of God's hand in Creation and expanding one's knowledge of God by a close examination of the cosmos. Yet Polkinghorne's model points to Heim's assertion that the ultimate cannot be found within our world, even as it reaches into our world Science and theology need each other in order to make human life meaningful and rewarding. Science can teach theology about the "how" and "what" of God's creative activity, while theology can teach science the "why" and "what for" of God's Creation. Recognizing their autonomy, theology and science can complement their respective quests for truth.

scholarly journals Some Barthian perspectives on the present science-religion debate: What is the place of “natural theology” today?

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornel W. Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Creation Story ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Current Science ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

As an example of the context-relatedness of Barth’s work, this article compares his crisis theology with Heidegger’s philosophy of Being. Further examples are Barth’s reaction to the modernism of his time, with its accent on rationalism (see his critique of Kant), and the influence of subjective theology. In spite of his condemnation of natural theology, Barth could make a unique contribution to the current science-theology debate. His reading of the creation story and the way he views (transcends) the literal text in order to experience the Word of God as an event through that text, is a case in point. This approach, too, is comparable with certain aspects of Heidegger’s work. Barth’s reaction to the natural theology of his day was equally tied to that context. His particular target was the theology of that era which he interpreted as “natural theology”. To Barth, natural theology is metaphor for self-assertive, autonomous human beings who, via reason, manipulate the church, the Word and tradition.

Knowledge Of God

Philosophy ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 32 (122) ◽  
pp. 229-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Glasgow
Keyword(s):  
Recent Article ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Way Of Knowing

In a recent article In Mind, called A Religious Way of Knowing, Mr. C. B. Martin considers the claim made by some theologians to know the existence of God on the basis of direct experience of God. His paper is, he says, “an attempt to indicate how statements concerning a certain alleged religious way of knowing betray a logic extraordinarily like that of statements concerning introspective and subjective ways of knowing. It is not my wish (he continues) to go from a correct suggestion that the logic is very, very like to the incorrect suggestion that the logic is just like.”

Thomas' Proofs as Fides Quaerens Intellectum: Towards a Trinitarian Analogia

1978 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-132
Author(s):  
George Kuykendall
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
The West ◽  
Divine Nature ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
The World ◽  
First Cause ◽  
God The Father

Thomas Aquinas argued that, while revelation alone can supply knowledge of the divine nature, unaided human reason can infer the divine existence from the world's existence. His proofs of God's existence are, in principle, extensions and elaborations of the patristic natural theologies. The Fathers believed that Neoplatonic and Hellenistic speculations about the eternal One, the arche of the cosmos, constituted a ‘natural’ knowledge of God the Father and his creation. God's selfrevelation in the incarnation was placed in the context of this natural theology. Augustine's version of natural theology both summed up the patristic achievement for the West and laid the foundation for Western medieval exploration of the natural knowledge of God. Like Augustine, Thomas believed one could reason naturally from the sensible world to God's existence; unlike him, Thomas reasoned with Aristotle and not Plato. Thomas' ordering of the natural and revealed knowledge of God repeats, then, the patristic sequence: first one proves that God is the first Cause of the world, and then one reasons from revelation about God's redemptive and reconciling relation to the world.

Natural theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Inductive Inference ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Sense Perception ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Deductive Argument ◽  
Knowledge Of God

Natural theology aims at establishing truths or acquiring knowledge about God (or divine matters generally) using only our natural cognitive resources. The phrase ‘our natural cognitive resources’ identifies both the methods and data for natural theology: it relies on standard techniques of reasoning and facts or truths in principle available to all human beings just in virtue of their possessing reason and sense perception. As traditionally conceived, natural theology begins by establishing the existence of God, and then proceeds by establishing truths about God’s nature (for example, that God is eternal, immutable and omniscient) and about God’s relation to the world. A precise characterization of natural theology depends on further specification of its methods and data. One strict conception of natural theology – the traditional conception sometimes associated with Thomas Aquinas – allows only certain kinds of deductive argument, the starting points of which are propositions that are either self-evident or evident to sense perception. A broader conception might allow not just deductive but also inductive inference and admit as starting points propositions that fall short of being wholly evident. Natural theology contrasts with investigations into divine matters that rely at least in part on data not naturally available to us as human beings. This sort of enterprise might be characterized as revelation-based theology, in so far as the supernatural element on which it relies is something supernaturally revealed to us by God. Revelation-based theology can make use of what is ascertainable by us only because of special divine aid. Dogmatic and biblical theology would be enterprises of this sort. Critics of natural theology fall generally into three groups. The first group, the majority, argue that some or all of the particular arguments of natural theology are, as a matter of fact, unsuccessful. Critics in the second group argue that, in principle, natural theology cannot succeed, either because of essential limitations on human knowledge that make it impossible for us to attain knowledge of God or because religious language is such as to make an investigation into its truth inappropriate. The third group of critics holds that natural theology is in some way irrelevant or inimical to true religion. They argue in various ways that the objectifying, abstract and impersonal methods of natural theology cannot capture what is fundamentally important about the divine and our relation to it.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document