Christ and the Eternal Extent of Divine Providence in the Expositio super Iob ad litteram of Thomas Aquinas

Viator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-152
Author(s):  
Franklin T. Harkins
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Providence

scholarly journals Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus on the Problem of Evil: Insights from their Commentaries on the Book of Job

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Franklin T. Harkins
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Compelling Evidence ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Book Of Job ◽  
Albert The Great ◽  
The Problem Of Evil

Abstract This article broadly considers the commentaries on Job of Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great as offering a helpful theological alternative to some modern philosophical approaches to the ‘problem of evil’. We seek to show that whereas some modern philosophers understand evil as a problem for the very existence of God, whether and how God can coexist with evil was never a question that evil seriously raised in the minds of Aquinas and Albert. In fact, although the suffering of the just in particular led our medieval Dominicans to wonder about divine providence and our ability to know God in this life, they understood the reality of evil as compelling evidence for the existence of God.

Analogical Understanding of Divine Causality in Thomas Aquinas

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 133-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Roszak
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Commentaries ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Secondary Causes ◽  
Divine Causality

The article presents the question of understanding divine causality and its analogical character in the context of Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on Divine Providence. Analyzing Aquinas’s texts concerning the relation of God’s action towards nature and its activities it is necessary to emphasize the proper understanding of mutual relations between secondary causes and the primary cause which are not on the same level. Influenced by the reflection of M. Dodds and I Silva, the author of the article refers to Aquinas’s biblical commentaries which have not been discussed so far from the perspective of the character of God’s action. In the final part of the article, metaphors used by Thomas in reference to the relation of God towards the world will be presented.

The Doctrine of Occasionalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Platt
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Causal Power ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Causal Powers ◽  
Efficient Cause ◽  
Divine Concurrence ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Scholastic Tradition

Chapter 1 explains the doctrine of occasionalism. Section 1.1 unpacks the occasionalist claim that God is the only efficient cause, by explaining the concept of an efficient cause, as it was typically understood in medieval and early modern texts. Section 1.2 contrasts occasionalism with a theory of divine providence developed by Thomas Aquinas, which says that God “concurs” with the actions of created substances. Section 1.3 clarifies the difference between occasionalism and the Thomistic theory of divine concurrence using the notion of a causal power: According to this analysis, occasionalism entails that created substances do not have intrinsic active causal powers. Malebranche expresses this claim by saying that created beings are “occasional causes” that merely “give occasion” to God’s actions. However, section 1.4 argues that there is also a Scholastic tradition that uses terms such as “occasion” and “occasional cause” to refer to a type of true efficient cause.

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