Aquinas Research Articles

Durand of Saint-Pourçain’s Refutation of Concurrentism

The Dominican theologian Durand of Saint-Pourçain (ca. 1275–1334), breaking from the wide consensus, made a two-pronged attack on concurrentism (i.e., the theory according to which God does more than conserving creatures in existence and co-causes all their actions). On the one hand, he shows that the concurrentist position leads to the unacceptable consequence that God is the direct cause of man’s evil actions. On the other hand, he attacks the metaphysical foundations of concurrentism, first in the version offered by Thomas Aquinas and Giles of Rome, and then in a more general way. Against Thomas and Giles, he challenges Neoplatonic assumptions about causality and being. More generally, he establishes that God’s action and a creature’s action can be neither identical nor different, and thus cannot both be direct causes of the same effect. Without claiming that Durand’s series of objections are definitely unanswerable, we may at least observe that they have generally been underestimated (which earned him the lowly role of the mere foil of the concurrentist view in the history of philosophy) and are able to do considerable damage to concurrentism.

Existential Inertia and Thomistic Esse

Abstract In recent years, a considerable amount of interest has arisen in the topic of existential inertia (henceforth EIT) and its relation to the natural theology of Thomas Aquinas. While contemporary Thomists have engaged with proponents of EIT, strangely enough, no literature has focused on Aquinas’s own response to the objection(s) from an EIT-like position. The intention of this article is to (1) lay out the basic thrust of EIT and then (2) articulate how Aquinas’s own metaphysical commitments dissolve the problems that EIT raises. After formulating an argument based on Aqunias’s own texts and paying attention to the metaphysical commitments it involves, I then level three objections and respond to them.

Jacques Maritain, “Pure” Nature, and the State’s Teleological Crisis

In response to increased threats of totalitarianism in the twentieth century, Jacques Maritain proposed a separation of the spiritual and temporal planes which purported to limit the State’s power and resist the totalitarian and absolutist claims found in rising political movements. I argue, however, that the very distinction Maritain attempts to establish pushes the temporal plane into a teleological crisis which results in the totalitarianism Maritain sought to resist. By granting that temporal powers pursue ultimate ends autonomous from humanity’s absolute ultimate end, Maritain’s schema yields an unstable temporal plane which requires supernatural claims to make itself intelligible as an ultimate end. Whereas William Cavanaugh criticizes Maritain for mistakenly relying upon a scholastic understanding of “pure nature,” I propose that a recovery of Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of the openness of pure nature to supernatural ends can better justify Maritain’s proposed limited state and prevent the teleological instability at the root of Maritain’s political theory.

A Thomish Epistemic Cartography of the Question “Can We Know God?”

AbstractThe following article maps the various ways in which the expressions “knowledge” and “to know” are diversely used with reference to the Triune Lord of historic Christian orthodoxy. The reason for this epistemic cartography of Christian grammar stems from a desire to help dissolve and bring quiet to the decades of confusion that have arisen in theological conversation as a function of the failure to specify just what one means by the relevant terms (chiefly, “knowledge” and “to know”) in questions like “Can we know God?” I therefore list the various ways “to know” and “knowledge” are traditionally used to give shape both to the differing versions of the question “Can we know God?” and to their respective answers as displayed within the grammar of the Christian faith. Making use of St. Thomas Aquinas's contributions when helpful, the resulting analysis yields that, though we can truly say it is possible for us to know or have knowledge of God that is of the unitive, conventional, demonstrative, and nominative sort (i.e., the form of the question under those intentional conditions leads to an affirmative answer), we can in no way meaningfully assert the same of definitional knowledge with respect to God. Through God's self‐revelation in/as Jesus Christ, however, I argue that an infallible and superlative expansion of the possibilities for our unitive, conventional, demonstrative, and nominative knowledge of God is on offer.

The Dialectical Foundations of the Natural Law in Aquinas’s De Ente et Essentia

Recent scholarship has called into question Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on politics, specifically focusing on the foundations of his teaching on natural law. While some scholars have contended that natural law relies on the assumption that a god with creative agency exists, others have contended that the very method through which Aquinas argues is misguided. These latter scholars contend that dialectic rather than demonstration must be the first inroad to studying politics, since only the theologian begins the study of politics with demonstrative proofs. By reexamining the roots of Aquinas’s arguments for God, this study challenges both the claims that natural law simply assumes the existence of a creative God and that the foundations of natural law are incompatible or wholly separate from a dialectic.

Providence and Science in a World of Contingency: Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Divine Action by Ignacio Silva, Routledge, New York, 2022, pp. x + 160, £38.99, pbk

Providence and Science in a World of Contingency: Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Divine Action by Ignacio Silva, Routledge, New York, 2022, pp. x + 160, £38.99, pbk

Czeżowski's Theory of Reasoning and Mediaeval Biblical Exegesis

We present how the theory of reasoning developed by Tadeusz Czeżowski, a Polish logician and a member of the Lvov-Warsaw School (LWS) can be applied to the mediaeval texts which interpret the Bible, which we collectively call as Biblical exegesis (BE). In the first part of the paper, we characterise Czeżowski's theory of reasoning with some modifications based on remarks of Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz. On these grounds, we discuss the nature of reasoning and its different types, as well as the problem of textual representation of reasoning. In the second part, we describe the analytical nature of some BE at the end of twelfth century and in the thirteenth century by referring to the examples of Stephen Langton, Robert Grosseteste, Bonaventure, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. We argue that they represented an analytical approach in BE, characterised by advanced use of logic and specific methods, including reasoning reconstruction and logical analysis. In the third part, we present selected examples to show how Czeżowski's framework helps in identifying various types of reasoning. We indicate some universal problems with the textual representation of reasoning found in the BE of the authors in question. Lastly, we point out how Czeżowski's framework enables the understanding of phenomena such as ‘Special Biblical Inference’. Thanks to this experiment, we can see how a framework as advanced as that offered by LWS representatives can be put to the test using mediaeval Biblical commentaries, yielding interesting results.

Thomas Aquinas in Pastoral Formation

Abstract: The thought and pedagogical methodology of St. Thomas Aquinas can and should inform priestly pastoral formation. To this end, the article begins by sketching the main elements of priestly ministry, aided by Thomas and the Second Vatican Council. It outlines modern systematic and magisterial approaches to priestly pastoral formation. For all of the surveyed sources, Jesus Christ is the model for priestly ministry and the focus for priestly formation. The article then presents how pastoral formation was a motivating force for Thomas in his writing and preaching. The author theorizes Thomistic helps for pastoral formation today. Thomas gives theological principles that are of fundamental importance for fruitful pastoral life. The most important is that all theology and pastoral practice flow from a unified, godly perspective. But Thomas's principles must be developed for pastoral practice. As such, the author proposes how theologians and seminary formators can further expand upon and implement Thomas's insights.

The Spiritual Formation of Priests: Lessons from St. Thomas Aquinas

Abstract: Saint Thomas Aquinas is often considered a model for the intellectual formation of future priests. His positive influence on their spiritual formation merits further consideration. This essay examines three areas of St. Thomas's teaching that prove useful for those in priestly formation: (1) the true nature of holiness as a life animated by the theological and moral virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, (2) the sanctifying capacity of philosophical and theological study, and (3) the importance of the Eucharist in the lives of seminarians and priests. In each case, St. Thomas's teaching conforms to the documents of the Church's Magisterium that guide the work of priestly formation.

Thomas Aquinas: Master of Priestly Human Formation

Abstract: This paper claims that Aquinas is a master of priestly human formation because he excels in fulfilling the Magisterium's requirements of a human formation that is pedagogical, integral, theological, and Christocentric. The reality signified by the expression "priestly human formation" can be found in the Magisterium from Pius IX to the present. The Church implicitly characterizes this dimension of formation as pedagogical, integral, theological, and Christocentric. The Angelic Doctor is a master who offers the theological and philosophical tools to develop a priestly human formation with these same characteristics.

Thomas Aquinas and the Theological Education of Seminarians

Abstract: Thomas Aquinas continues to be a valuable resource in the theological and pastoral formation of seminarians. Not only his writings but also his personal example of faith and prayer provide a foundation to sustain them throughout their priestly vocation.

Thomas Aquinas and Priestly Formation: From His Life to Vatican II

Abstract: This article outlines the relationship between Aquinas's thought and priestly formation, beginning in the thirteenth century and ending with the twentieth-century Magisterium. In relation to the other articles in this special issue, this article is meant to serve as a kind of introduction, providing important historical context for those more specialized treatments of the relevance of Aquinas's thought for different aspects of priestly formation today. Beginning with his personal formation for the priesthood, this article examines Aquinas's role in the formation of priests during his own life, and then the subsequent role of Aquinas's thought in priestly formation before the Council of Trent, and during the post-Tridentine period until the twentieth century.

The Divinity of the Word: Thomas Aquinas Dividing and Reading the Gospel of John by Stefan Mangnus, O.P. (review)

The Divinity of the Word: Thomas Aquinas Dividing and Reading the Gospel of John by Stefan Mangnus, O.P. (review)

Microbial Analysis of Borehole Drinking Water in St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Government Reserved Area, (G.R.A) Awka.

Microbial Analysis of Borehole Drinking Water in St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Government Reserved Area, (G.R.A) Awka.

‘He seems to be at the back of all the stories’: The Subtlety of Narnian Providence

Towards the end of The Horse and His Boy, as Shasta wanders blindly into Narnia, he unknowingly encounters Aslan, who explains to him the various ways that Aslan has watched over him dating back even to the boy’s infancy. It is a beautiful account of Aslan’s care for Shasta. If one were to focus exclusively on this passage, however, one might conclude that Narnian providence is merely a matter of external divine intervention and that creaturely agency plays little role in the way Aslan governs Narnia. An analysis of some of Lewis’s non-fictional writings in conversation with Thomas Aquinas uncovers a more subtle understanding of providence. For Lewis, as for Aquinas, providence incorporates the acts of free agents without compromising their integrity. Virtuous, indifferent, and even vicious acts all contribute in some way to God’s plan for the universe. The same can be said for Narnia, as one can see through representative examples from The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, and The Magician’s Nephew. In these stories Lewis illustrates, to paraphrase his own words about Oedipus Rex, ‘how providence and free will can be combined, even how free will is the modus operandi of providence’.

Thomas Aquinas’s acceptance of Aristotle’s political thought and the possibility of discourse on the ‘individual’

Thomas Aquinas’s acceptance of Aristotle’s political thought and the possibility of discourse on the ‘individual’

인간 행위에서 정념의 위상과 기능: 중세 그리스도교적 맥락

This article is a study to explore the theory of passion in Thomas Aquinas’s Moral Theology from a pedagogical perspective. Aquinas’s discussion on the passions is an advantageous position in examining how the philosophical discussion on the passions that started in ancient times developed in the medieval Christian context. As a matter of fact, on the one hand, his discussion can be seen as representing the tradition of medieval Christianity as it is based on the Bible and the thoughts of the Church Fathers, and on the other hand, it can be seen as reflecting discussion of ancient philosophy as it is based on Aristotle’s discussions of metaphysics and ethics. 
 To this end, first, the view on human nature was confirmed through the doctrine of original sin regarding the origin of sins as the context in which passion was dealt with in medieval Christianity. Next, the study attempted to examine the practical impact of the theoretical discussion on passion through the doctrine of capital sins regarding the aspects of sins on the moral life of medieval people, especially through the ascetic life of the monastic system. According to Aquinas, original sin corresponds to the sin of human nature, and it is not simply due to the disorderly action of a single element called passion. The privation of original justice, whereby the will was made subject to God, is the formal element in original sin; while every other disorder of the soul’s powers, is a kind of material element in respect of original sin. On the other hand, cardinal sins correspond to the sin of an individual personality, and it can be defined as a disorder that appears in relation to the good pursued by certain areas of human nature. These doctrines can be seen not only as an understanding and explanation of human existence, but also as directing educational practice regarding moral life, and rather, they can be seen as being justified by educational practice. Passion can become materials for sin and vice but at the same time, it can also become materials for ethical virtues through its interaction with reason. We are given educational tasks to continuously ethically explore the meaning of goodness and to form habits of virtue.

Seeing Christ, Seeing the Trinity: Beyond Boersma's Trinitarian Deficit

AbstractIn an effort to correct the alleged ‘christological deficit’ of Thomas Aquinas's theology of the beatific vision, Hans Boersma circumscribes the object of the blessed's vision of God to the humanity of Christ and denies that they immediately see the divine essence. This results in a trinitarian deficit in Boersma's theology. For, as Matthias Scheeben's and Karl Rahner's analyses of Aquinas's theology of the beatific vision demonstrate, the blessed's immediate vision of the divine essence brings them into union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Juan Alfaro's account of how the blessed's vision of the humanity of Christ operates in harmony with their vision of the divine essence provides resources for constructing a thoroughly christological and trinitarian theology of the beatific vision.

Thomas Aquinas and Some Neo-Thomists on the Possibility of Miracles and the Laws of Nature

This paper discusses how Thomas Aquinas and some Neo-Thomists scholars (Juan José Urráburu, Joseph Hontheim, Édouard Hugon, and Joseph Gredt) analysed the metaphysical possibility of miracles. My main goal is to unpack the metaphysical toolbox that Aquinas uses to solve the basic question about the possibility of miracles and to compare how his late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century followers solved the issue themselves. The key feature to differentiate the two approaches will reside in their use of different notions to account for the possibility of miracles, namely obediential potency for Aquinas and the laws of nature for the Neo-Thomists. To show why neo-Thomist scholars source to this notion, I also briefly discuss how the notion of the laws of nature emerged in the seventeenth century.

Thomist Libertarianism is Committed to Mysterianism

Abstract In recent years, a large amount of scholarship has been written about St Thomas Aquinas’s views on free will and determinism. This paper is an attempt to bring some Thomist views of libertarian free will into dialogue with analytic philosopher Peter van Inwagen and his ‘mysterianism’ about free will. The thesis of this paper is that Thomist libertarians about free will are committed to Peter van Inwagen’s mysterianism about free will. The paper intends to accomplish this aim by showing how recent accounts of Thomist libertarianism cannot defeat the intuitive strength of van Inwagen’s ‘Replay argument’. The significance of this conclusion is that some Thomists are committed to mysterianism and that mysterianism is a legitimate position a Thomist can hold. This also provides evidence that the Thomist tradition can grow and be nourished by engagement with contemporary analytic philosophy.