Augustine, Aquinas, and Southwell
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Lecture_Aquinas.pptxSaint Thomas Aquinas
Life
Thomas Aquinas was born in either 1225 or 1227 in his father’s castle about 75 miles from Rome.
His early education was in a monastery, and by 1243 he was determined to join a Dominican order of monks.
However, his family was violently opposed to this path, kidnapping him and holding him captive for at least a year to try and dissuade him.
In 1244 Thomas’s family gave up their efforts, and Thomas went to study under Albertus Magnus in Cologne, and then in Paris.
Between 1244 and 1252 Thomas went back and forth between Cologne and Paris, likely teaching alongside his mentor.
In 1257 he completed a master’s degree in Paris and took a teaching position there.
In 1261 Aquinas took up residence in Rome but frequently returned to Paris.
In 1272 he received an offer to begin a school anywhere he chose from benefactors in Paris, and he chose Naples.
In 1274 the pope directed Aquinas to attend the Council of Lyons, but Aquinas fell ill on the journey and never made it.
Knowing he was going to die, and desiring a death within monastery walls, Aquinas moved to the Cistercian Fossanova where he died and his body was preserved.
Only fifty years after his death, Pope John XXII canonized Thomas Aquinas.
Summa Theologica
Aquinas’s greatest work is the Summa Theologica or Summa Theologiae.
He started this work around 1265 and continued until he died, leaving the work unfinished.
The Summa is divided into three sections:
God
Ethics
Christ
Part 1 – God: Aquinas theorizes God as the unmovable, unchangeable prime mover, that is, the original force behind creation. This God is thinking and willing, and he is the perfect good who wills good for all of his creation. Thus, Aquinas loves God.
Part 2 – Ethics: Aquinas’s thoughts on ethics are rooted in Aristotle, and propose that man is seeking the highest end through his actions. Thus, the actions that lead to an end are characterized by that end; a good end categorizes a set of actions leading up to that end as good. He proposes God as the root cause of all of men’s actions, and like Augustine proposes predestination, but unlike Augustine he contradicts the idea of free will.
Part 3 – Christ: given God’s omnipotence, Augustine argues that Christ’s incarnation was not necessary, but that it was the best way to save humanity. He argues that Christ serves as the exemplar of humanity and is a leader of goodness. The incarnation was also a most personal and loving way to provide salvation to mankind.
Conclusions
Saint Thomas Aquinas deeply influenced Early Modern religious thinkers. His works were very much in line with Augustine, also an influential figure, but his work was closer in time to the Early Moderns.
Aquinas also wrote on more contemporary topics with the Early Moderns, such as the rise of Islam.
What is very interesting with Aquinas’s work is its philosophical perspective; Aquinas employs logic throughout his writing to demonstrate his points, and at least in the Summa shies away from the personal. In that way he is a direct precursor of the humanists who use very similar methods in their writings (Thomas More is a good example of a similar author).
