The Eternity of the World in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas and his Contemporaries

The purpose of the text is to describe and analyze the contemplative life as an ideal of beatitude in the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. By assimilating, remodeling and criticizing the ancient and medieval philosophical-theological tradition, Thomas structures an original and complex synthesis, immersing itself in the essence of the divine nature through knowledge and in the human soul through the contemplative life, and from there to erect the pillars of an ontology theocentric, where God is the supreme good and promoter of human happiness, the first principle of all reality. From him comes the world, man and all creatures, and everything tends to return to its essence, in a special the man. For this reason, God is the alpha and omega, propitiator of the deepest beatitude. The text is organized into four items: the context of beatitude, the excellence of the intellectual soul by the activity of the contemplative life, the reasons for the contemplative life and the comparison between the active and the contemplative life. Síntese: O objetivo do texto é descrever e analisar a vida contemplativa como ideal de beatitude na filosofia moral de Tomás de Aquino. Assimilando, remodelando e criticando a tradição filosófico-teológica antiga a medieval, Tomás estrutura uma síntese original e complexa, mergulhando na essencia da natureza divina pelo conhecimento e na alma humana pela vida contemplativa, para, a partir daí, erigir os pilares de uma ontologia teocentrica, onde Deus é o bem supremo e promotor da felicidade humana, o primeiro princípio de toda a realidade. Dele procede o mundo, o homem e todas as criaturas, e tudo tende a retornar a sua essencia, de modo especial, o homem. Por isso, Deus é o alfa e o ômega, propiciador da mais profunda beatitude. O texto está organizado em quatro itens: Contexto da beatitude, a excelência da alma intelectiva pela atividade da vida contemplativa, as razoes da vida contemplativa e a comparaçao entre a vida ativa e a contemplativa.Palavras-chave: Beatitude; Vida contemplativa; Filosofia moral; Tomás de Aquino; Deus.

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Sebastian Morello: The World as God’s Icon: Creator & Creation in the Platonic Thought of Thomas Aquinas

The Incarnate Word ◽

10.5840/tiw20218114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 176-179

Author(s):

Mary Star of Evangelization Peterson ◽

Keyword(s):

Thomas Aquinas ◽

The World

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Predestination

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ◽

10.4324/9780415249126-k071-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

George I. Mavrodes

Keyword(s):

Thomas Aquinas ◽

The Other ◽

John Calvin ◽

Eternal Life ◽

Human Beings ◽

Equal Condition ◽

Divine Grace ◽

The World ◽

The Will ◽

Determining Factor

Predestination appears to be a religious or theological version of universal determinism, a version in which the final determining factor is the will or action of God. It is most often associated with the theological tradition of Calvinism, although some theologians outside the Calvinist tradition, or prior to it (for example, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), profess similar doctrines. The idea of predestination also plays a role in some religions other than Christianity, perhaps most notably in Islam. Sometimes the idea of predestination is formulated in a comparatively restricted way, being applied only to the manner in which the divine grace of salvation is said to be extended to some human beings and not to others. John Calvin, for example, writes: We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or to death. (Institutes, bk 3, ch. 21, sec. 5) At other times, however, the idea is applied more generally to the whole course of events in the world; whatever happens in the world is determined by the will of God. Philosophically, the most interesting aspects of the doctrine are not essentially linked with salvation. For instance, if God is the first cause of all that happens, how can people be said to have free will? One answer may be that people are free in so far as they act in accordance with their own motives and desires, even if these are determined by God. Another problem is that the doctrine seems to make God ultimately responsible for sin. A possible response here is to distinguish between actively causing something and passively allowing it to happen, and to say that God merely allows people to sin; it is then human agents who actively choose to sin and God is therefore not responsible.

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Averroism

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ◽

10.4324/9780415249126-b012-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Sten Ebbesen

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Thirteenth Century ◽

Thomas Aquinas ◽

Western Thought ◽

Christian Doctrine ◽

Faith And Reason ◽

The World ◽

The Individual

‘Averroism’, ‘radical Aristotelianism’ and ‘heterodox Aristotelianism’ are nineteenth- and twentieth-century labels for a late thirteenth-century movement among Parisian philosophers whose views were not easily reconcilable with Christian doctrine. The three most important points of difference were the individual immortality of human intellectual souls, the attainability of happiness in this life and the eternity of the world. An ‘Averroist’ or ‘Radical Aristotelian’ would hold that philosophy leads to the conclusions that there is only one intellect shared by all humans, that happiness is attainable in earthly life and that the world has no temporal beginning or end. Averroists have generally been credited with a ‘theory of double truth’, according to which there is an irreconcilable clash between truths of faith and truths arrived at by means of reason. Averroism has often been assigned the role of a dangerous line of thought, against which Thomas Aquinas opposed his synthesis of faith and reason. The term ‘Averroism’ is also used more broadly to characterize Western thought from the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries which was influenced by Averroes, and/or some philosophers’ self-proclaimed allegiance to Averroes.

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Karl Barth and the Future of Theology

Religious Studies ◽

10.1017/s0034412500004364 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 105-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. L. Lehmann

Keyword(s):

Thomas Aquinas ◽

Karl Barth ◽

Summa Theologiae ◽

Massive Structure ◽

The World ◽

The Future ◽

The Church

Karl Barth has often been compared to Thomas Aquinas. The principal reasons for the comparison have been the systematic power and massive structure of the Kirchliche Dogmatik, with its illuminating interior conversation of the Church with itself, and Barth's searching and vigorous attempt to displace the ontological fulcrum of the Summa Theologiae by a christocentric analysis of God's freedom in revelation to be God for man in the world.

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Christian Hope: Messianic or Transcendent? A Theological Discussion with Joachim of Fiore and Thomas Aquinas

Horizons ◽

10.1017/s0360966900035027 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 328-348 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jürgen Moltmann

Keyword(s):

Old Testament ◽

Thomas Aquinas ◽

Hans Urs Von Balthasar ◽

The World ◽

The Future ◽

Joachim Of Fiore

AbstractHenri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar have criticized my “Theology of Hope” as being written “messianically” in the spirit of Joachim de Fiore and grounded from an Old Testament-Jewish perspective, whereas they claim true Christian hope is “present” in character and oriented vertically: not the future but the heavenly eternity is its fulfillment. Because both of them call upon Thomas Aquinas I have undertaken in this article a dialogue with Joachim de Fiore and Thomas Aquinas in order to elucidate my own position in conversation with them: the biblically grounded Christian hope is directed toward the parousia of Christ and sees in it future for Israel and future for the world. Chiliasm and eschatology designate the immanent and the transcendent sides of this future of Christ. Christian hope is messianic hope in the horizon of eschatological expectation.

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Seeing God. Thomas Aquinas on Divine Presence in the World

Bogoslovni vestnik ◽

10.34291/bv2019/03/roszak ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 79 (3) ◽

pp. 739-749 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Piotr Roszak ◽

Tomasz Huzarek

Keyword(s):

Thomas Aquinas ◽

The Other ◽

Divine Presence ◽

Natural Level ◽

Presence Of God ◽

Other Hand ◽

The World ◽

The Subject ◽

The One ◽

Changing World

Abstract: How to recognize the presence of God in the world? Thomas Aquinas' proposition, based on the efficient, exemplary and intentional causality, including both the natural level and grace, avoids several simplifications, the consequence of which is transcendent blindness. On the one hand, it does not allow to fall into a panentheistic reductionism involving God into the game of His variability in relation to the changing world. The sensitivity of Thomas in interpreting a real existing world makes it impossible to close the subject in the ''house without windows'', from where God can only be presumed. On the other hand, the proposal of Aquinas avoids the radical transcendence of God, according to which He has nothing to do with the world.

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Francisco Suarez on God’s Knowledge of Future Contingent Events

Philosophy of Religion Analytic Researches ◽

10.21146/2587-683x-2021-5-1-124-151 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 124-151

Author(s):

Ivan Vladimirovich Lupandin ◽

Keyword(s):

Free Will ◽

Possible Worlds ◽

Thomas Aquinas ◽

Modern Times ◽

Introductory Article ◽

The World ◽

Future Contingent ◽

The Future ◽

Future Events ◽

Francisco Suarez

The problems of contingency, free will, omniscience and omnipotence of God, possible worlds, posed by the famous representative of the second scholasticism, the Spanish philosopher Francisco Suarez (1548–1617) in his work “On God’s knowledge of future contingent events” are discussed in the historical, philosophical and theological context. Suarez (unlike, for example, Spinoza) recognizes the existence of contingent events in the world, shows that the existence of contingent events does not diminish the omnipotence of God. Suarez, following Thomas Aquinas, shows how it is possible to reconcile the existence of free will, the main source of contingency, with the omniscience of God. As Luis Molina, Suarez recognizes God’s knowledge not only of real, but also of possible future. The originality of Suarez manifests itself in solving the question of how God knows possible future events and, accordingly, possible worlds. Attention is paid to the influence of Suarez’s philosophy on the philosophy of modern times, including Descartes and Leibniz. The reader is also offered a translation of the first chapter of the second part of the essay of the Spanish philosopher and theologian Francisco Suarez “On God’s knowledge of future contingent events”, in which Suarez on the basis of the hermeneutics of the Biblical texts proves the thesis about God’s knowledge of future contingent events, which could have happened, but in reality had not happened and will not happen in the future, disproving the arguments of Catholic theologians Ambrogio Catarino Politi (1484–1553) and Jansenius of Ghent (1510–1576), who questioned the assertion that God possesses such knowledge. The translation is provided with comments, an introductory article and a list of references.

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1. Introduction

10.1093/actrade/9780199663224.003.0001 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

John Marenbon

Keyword(s):

Western Europe ◽

Thomas Aquinas ◽

Byzantine Empire ◽

Medieval Philosophy ◽

14Th Century ◽

Christian Philosophy ◽

The World ◽

Arabic Philosophy ◽

Common Misconceptions ◽

Church Doctrine

For many, Thomas Aquinas is almost a synonym for medieval philosophy, locating it in Western Europe and principally from the early 13th to the mid-14th century. Medieval philosophy is also seen as a monolithic Church doctrine. The Introduction attempts to clarify three common misconceptions concerning medieval philosophy. First, medieval philosophy was practised all over the world. Second, considering the continuity of traditions, medieval philosophy can be seen to stretch from ad 200 to 1700. Finally, medieval philosophy is not theology in disguise. The four main branches of medieval philosophy are Latin Christian philosophy, as practised throughout Western Europe; Greek Christian philosophy, as developed in the Byzantine Empire; Arabic philosophy; and Jewish philosophy.

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