On Origin and Unfavorable Kinship
Thomas Aquinas (or Aquinatus; 1225–1274) was the son of Count Landolfo d’Aquino and the nephew of Count Tommaso d’Acerra, the Grand Justiciar of the Kingdom of Sicily (that is, the first of the royal advisors in charge of justice and finance), as well as a third cousin of Frederick II Hohenstaufen. His kinship with the emperor, who, in striving to bring all of Italy under his influence, constantly clashed with the Roman popes, could not help but harm the young theologian—even despite Aquinas’s open and even demonstrative conflict with his family and his joining the Dominican order, which was loyal to the papacy. In 1277, some of Thomas’s theses were condemned by the Bishop of Paris and the church—apparently, largely for political reasons. Later, these theses became widely accepted.
On the School Nickname
Thomas Aquinas was known for his tall stature, heaviness, and clumsiness. It is also believed that he was characterized by gentleness, excessive even by monastic standards. During the discussions led by his mentor, the theologian and Dominican Albert the Great, Thomas rarely spoke, and other students made fun of him, calling him the “Sicilian Bull” (though he was actually from Naples, not Sicily). A prophetic remark is attributed to Albert the Great, supposedly uttered to quiet the students teasing Thomas: “You call him a bull? I tell you, this bull will roar so loudly that his roar will resound throughout the world.”
Posthumously, Aquinas was honored with many other, more flattering nicknames: he is called the “Angelic Doctor,” the “Universal Doctor,” and the “Prince of Philosophers.”
On Mnemonic Techniques
Early biographers of Thomas Aquinas claimed that he possessed an astonishing memory. Even during his school years, he remembered everything his teacher said, and later, in Cologne, he developed his memory under the guidance of the same Albert the Great. The collection of sayings by the Church Fathers on the Four Gospels, which he prepared for Pope Urban, was compiled from what he remembered after viewing, but not copying, manuscripts in various monasteries. His memory, according to contemporaries, had such power and tenacity that everything he had read remained in it.
For Thomas Aquinas, as for Albert the Great, memory was part of the virtue of prudence, which should be cultivated and developed. To achieve this, Thomas formulated a series of mnemonic rules, which he described in his commentary on Aristotle’s treatise “On Memory and Reminiscence” and in the “Summa Theologica”:
— The ability to remember is located in the “sensitive” part of the soul and is connected with the body. Therefore, “sensory things are more accessible to human cognition.” Knowledge that is not associated “with any bodily likenesses” is easily forgotten. Therefore, one should seek “symbols inherent in the things that need to be remembered. They should not be too familiar, as we are more interested in unusual things; they are more deeply and clearly imprinted in the soul. […] Following this, it is necessary to invent likenesses and images.”
On the Relationship Between Theology and Philosophy
Aquinas distinguished three types of wisdom, each endowed with its own “light of truth”: the wisdom of Grace, theological wisdom (the wisdom of revelation, using reason), and metaphysical wisdom (the wisdom of reason, comprehending the essence of being). Based on this, he believed that the subject of science is “truths of reason,” while the subject of theology is “truths of revelation.”
Philosophy, using its rational methods of cognition, is capable of studying the properties of the surrounding world. Dogmas of faith, proven through rationalized philosophical arguments (such as the dogma of the existence of God), become more comprehensible to humans and thereby strengthen their faith. In this sense, scientific-philosophical knowledge is a serious support in justifying Christian doctrine and refuting criticism of faith.
However, many dogmas (for example, the idea of the created world, concepts of original sin, the incarnation of Christ, resurrection from the dead, the inevitability of the Last Judgment, etc.) do not lend themselves to rational justification, as they reflect the supernatural, miraculous qualities of God. Human reason is incapable of comprehending the divine plan in its entirety, and therefore true, higher knowledge is beyond the grasp of science. God is the domain of supra-rational cognition and, therefore, the subject of theology.
Nevertheless, for Thomas, there is no contradiction between philosophy and theology (just as there is no contradiction between “truths of reason” and “truths of revelation”), because philosophy and the study of the world lead a person to the truths of faith. Thus, in Thomas Aquinas’s view, a true scientist is right only when, by studying things and phenomena of nature, he reveals nature’s dependence on God, showing how the divine plan is embodied in nature.
About Aristotle
Albert the Great, the teacher of Thomas Aquinas, authored the first commentary on Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” in Western Europe. He introduced Aristotle’s works into Catholic theology, which had been known in the West primarily through the interpretations of the Arab philosopher Averroes. Albert demonstrated that there were no contradictions between Aristotle’s teachings and Christianity.
Thanks to this, Thomas Aquinas was able to Christianize ancient philosophy, primarily the works of Aristotle. Seeking a synthesis of faith and knowledge, he supplemented the doctrinal dogmas and religious-philosophical reflections of Christianity with social-theoretical and scientific reflection, based on Aristotle’s logic and metaphysics.
Thomas was not the only theologian who attempted to appeal to Aristotle’s works. His contemporary, Siger of Brabant, did so as well. However, Siger’s Aristotelianism was considered “Averroist,” retaining some ideas introduced into Aristotle’s works by his Arab and Jewish translators and interpreters. Thomas’s “Christian Aristotelianism,” based on the “pure” teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher, which did not contradict Christianity, prevailed. Siger of Brabant, for his beliefs, was brought to trial by the Inquisition and killed.
About the Conversational Genre
When asked why Christ preached but did not write down the tenets of his teachings, Thomas Aquinas remarked: “Christ, addressing hearts, placed the spoken word above the written word.”
This principle was generally popular in the 13th century. Even the system of scholastic university teaching was based on quaestio disputata, a discussion on a given problem. Aquinas wrote most of his works in the genre of a “summa” — a dialogue consisting of questions and answers, which seemed to him the most accessible format for theology students. “Summa Theologiae,” for example — a treatise written by him in Rome, Paris, and Naples between 1265 and 1273 — consists of chapters called articles, each of which is headed by a contentious question. For each question, Thomas provides several arguments offering different, sometimes opposing, answers, and concludes with counterarguments and the correct solution from his point of view.
Proofs of the Existence of God
In the first part of the “Summa Theologiae,” Aquinas justifies the necessity of theology as a science with its own goal, subject, and method of inquiry. He considers its subject to be the primary cause and ultimate goal of all that exists, that is, God. This is why the treatise begins with five proofs of the existence of God. It is primarily due to these proofs that the “Summa Theologiae” is known, despite the fact that out of the 3,500 pages the treatise occupies, only one and a half are devoted to the existence of God.
First Proof
The first proof of the existence of God relies on the Aristotelian understanding of motion. Thomas asserts that “everything that moves must be moved by something else.” The attempt to imagine a series of objects, each of which moves the previous one but is itself moved by the next, leads to infinity. This necessarily leads to the understanding that there must have been a prime mover, “which is moved by nothing, and this is what everyone understands as God.”A
Second Proof
The second proof slightly resembles the first and also relies on Aristotle, this time on his doctrine of the four causes. According to Aristotle, everything must have an efficient (or producing) cause, that which initiates the existence of a thing. Since nothing can cause itself, there must be a first cause, the beginning of all beginnings, which is God.
Third Proof
The third proof of the existence of God is the proof “from necessity and contingency.” Thomas explains that among entities, some can either exist or not exist, meaning their existence is contingent. There are also necessary entities. “But everything necessary either has the cause of its necessity in something else or does not. However, it is impossible for [the series of] necessary [entities], whose necessity is caused by [something else], to go on to infinity.” Therefore, there is a necessary entity that exists by itself, and this necessary entity can only be God.
Fourth Proof
The fourth proof “proceeds from the degrees [of perfection] found in things. Among things, some are more or less good, true, noble, and so on.” However, the degree of goodness, truth, and nobility can only be judged in comparison to something “most true, best, and noblest.” These properties belong to God.
Fifth Proof
In the fifth proof, Aquinas again relies on Aristotle’s teaching on causes. Based on Aristotle’s definition of finality, Thomas states that all things are directed toward some goal in their existence. Moreover, “they achieve their goal not by chance, but intentionally.” Since these things “lack understanding,” there must be “something intelligent by which all natural things are directed to their end, and this we call God.”
On Social Order
Following Aristotle, who developed these questions in “Politics,” Thomas Aquinas reflected on the nature and character of a ruler’s sole authority. He compared royal power with other forms of government and, in accordance with the traditions of Christian political thought, unequivocally favored monarchy. In his view, monarchy is the most just form of government, clearly superior to aristocracy (the rule of the best) and polity (the rule of the majority for the common good).
The most reliable form of monarchy, Thomas believed, was elective, rather than hereditary, as the elective nature could prevent the ruler from becoming a tyrant. Theologian thought that a certain group of people (probably referring to bishops and part of the secular nobility involved in electing secular rulers, primarily the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope) should have the legitimate right not only to bestow power upon a king but also to deprive him of it if it began to take on tyrannical characteristics.
From Thomas Aquinas’s perspective, this “group” should have the right to remove the ruler from power even if they had “previously subjected themselves to him forever,” because a bad ruler “exceeds the limits” of his office, thereby violating the terms of the original contract. This idea of Thomas Aquinas later became the basis for the concept of the “social contract,” which was very significant in the Modern era.
Another method to combat tyranny proposed by Aquinas reveals whose side he was on in the conflict between the empire and the papacy: against the outrages of a tyrant, he believed, intervention by someone standing above the ruler could help — which could easily be interpreted by contemporaries as approval of papal interference in the affairs of “bad” secular rulers.
On Indulgences
Thomas Aquinas resolved several doubts concerning the practice of granting (and purchasing) indulgences. He supported the concept of the “treasury of the Church” — a certain “surplus” reserve of virtues, replenished by Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints, from which other Christians could draw. This “treasury” could be managed by the Pope, who issued special, legal acts in nature — indulgences. Indulgences were valid only because the holiness of some members of the Christian community outweighed the sinfulness of others.
On the Dominican Mission and Preaching
Although the Dominican order was founded by Saint Dominic in 1214, before Aquinas’s birth, it was Thomas who formulated the principles that became the justification for their activities. In the “Summa Contra Gentiles,” the theologian wrote that the path to salvation is open to everyone, and the role of a missionary is to provide the necessary knowledge for salvation to each person. Even a wild pagan (whose soul seeks the good) can be saved if the missionary succeeds in conveying the saving divine truth to him.
