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In this work we are incorporating the article on Thomism which we
wrote for the Dictionnaire de theologie catholique. To that article
we add: first, occasional clarifications; secondly, at the end, a
hundred pages on the objective bases of the Thomistic synthesis,
chiefly philosophic pages, which were not called for in a dictionary of
theology.
Contradictory views, intellectual and spiritual, of St. Thomas
have been handed down to us. The Averroists reproached him as but
half-Aristotelian; the Augustinians saw in him an innovator too much
attached to the spirit, principles, and method of Aristotle. This
second judgment reappeared, sharply accented, in Luther, [1]
and again, some years ago, in the Modernists, who maintained that
St. Thomas, a Christian Aristotelian, was rather Aristotelian
than Christian.
In other words, some scholars saw in the work of St. Thomas "a
naturalization of revealed truth," [2] a depreciation of
Christian faith, faith losing its sublimity, by a kind of
rationalism, by exaggeration of the power and rights of reason. Now
this rationalization of faith is indeed found in Leibnitz. [3]
It is certainly not to be found in St. Thomas.
But these contrary judgments, however inadmissible, serve by contrast
to set in relief the true physiognomy of the master, whom the Church
has canonized and entitled Doctor Communis.
His whole life, all his intelligence, all his forces, were bent to
the service of the Christian faith, both in his doctrinal battles and
in the serenity of contemplation. Justification of this statement
appears in the way he conceived his vocation as teacher. You find
therein an ascending gradation which arouses admiration.
1. Whereas on the one hand he fully recognizes all that is
excellent, from the philosophical standpoint, in the teaching and
method of Aristotle, he shows, on the other hand, against the
Averroists, that reason can prove nothing against the faith. This
latter task he accomplished by demonstrating against them from
philosophy itself, that God's creative act is free, that creation
need not be ab aeterno, that man's will is free, that the human soul
is characterized by personal immortality.
2. In opposition to the Augustinians, who, repeating their master
by rote, were in large measure unfaithful to that master, he carefully
distinguishes reason from faith, but, far from separating these two,
he rather unites them. [4] .
3. He shows that philosophy deserves to be studied, both for its own
sake, and also to establish, by arguments drawn simply from reason,
that the praeambula fidei are attainable by the natural force of human
intelligence.
4. As regards the purposes of theology, which he calls "sacred
doctrine," he shows, first, that it is not to be studied merely for
personal piety or for works of edification or to comment on Holy
Scripture or to assemble patristic compilations or, finally, to
explain the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Theology must rather, he
goes on to show, be studied as a branch of knowledge, which
establishes scientifically a system of doctrine with objectivity and
universal validity, a synthesis that harmonizes supernatural truths
with the truths of the natural order. Theology is thus conceived as a
science, in the Aristotelian sense of the word, a science of the
truths of faith. [5] .
5. This position granted, it follows that reason must subserve faith
in its work of analyzing the concepts and deepening the understanding of
revealed truths, of showing that many of these truths are subordinated
to the articles of faith which are primary, and of deducing the
consequences contained virtually in the truths made known by
revelation.
6. Nor does faith by thus employing reason lose aught of its
supernatural character. Just the contrary. For St. Thomas, faith
is an infused virtue, essentially supernatural by its proper object and
formal motive, a virtue which, by an act that is simple and
infallible, far above all apologetic reasoning, makes us adhere to
God revealing and revealed. [6] . Infused faith, therefore,
is superior not only to the highest philosophy, but also to the most
enlightened theology, since theology can never be more than an
explanatory and deductive commentary on faith.
7. Further, this conception of theology does not in any way lower
Christian faith from its elevation. For, as the saint teaches, the
source of theology is contemplation, [7] that is, infused faith,
vivified, not only by charity, but also by the gifts of knowledge,
understanding, and wisdom, gifts which make faith penetrating and
pleasant of taste. Thus theology reaches a most fruitful understanding
of revealed mysteries, by finding analogies in truths which we know
naturally, and also by tracing the intertwining of these mysteries with
one another and with the last end of our life. [8] .
Such is the conception formed by St. Thomas on his vocation as
Catholic doctor and particularly as theologian. And his sanctity,
added to the power of his genius, enabled him to reply fully to his
providential calling.
In his doctrinal controversies carried on exclusively in defense of the
faith, he was always humble, patient, and magnanimous, courageous
indeed, but always prudent. Trust in God led him to unite prayer to
study. William de Tocco, his biographer, writes of him:
"Whenever he was to study, to undertake a solemn disputation, to
teach, write, or dictate, he began by retiring to pray in secret,
weeping as he prayed, to obtain understanding of the divine mysteries.
And he returned with the light he had prayed for." [9] .
The same biographer [10] gives two striking examples. While
writing his commentary on Isaias, the saint came to a passage which he
did not understand. For several days he prayed and fasted for light.
Then he was supernaturally enlightened. To his confrere, Reginald,
he revealed the extraordinary manner in which this light came to him,
namely, by the apostles Peter and Paul. This account was confirmed
by one of the witnesses in the saint's canonization process.
A second example is reported. [11] In the friary at Naples,
when the saint was writing of the passion and the resurrection of
Christ, [12] he was seen, while praying before a crucifix in
the church, to be lifted up from the floor. Then it was that he heard
the words: "Thomas, thou hast written well of Me."
Daily, after celebrating Mass, he assisted at a second, where often
he was the humble server. To solve difficulties, he would pray before
the tabernacle. He never, we might say, went out of the cloister,
he slept little, passed much of the night in prayer. When, at
compline during Lent, he listened to the antiphon: "Midst in life
we are in death," [13] he could not restrain his tears. Prayer
gave him light and inspiration when he wrote the Office of the Blessed
Sacrament. William de Tocco tells us also that the saint was often
seen in ecstasy, and that, one day, while he was dictating a long
article of the Trinity, he did not notice that the candle in his hand
had gone so low that it was burning his fingers. [14] .
Toward the end of his life he was favored with an intellectual vision,
so sublime and so simple that he was unable to continue dictating the
treatise on Penance which he had commenced. He told his faithful
companion that he was dying as a simple religious, a grace he had
prayed the Lord to grant him. His last words were given to a
commentary on the Canticle of Canticles.
Let these traits suffice to show that St. Thomas reached the heights
of contemplation, and that in his own life he exemplified his own
teaching on the source of theology: theology pouring forth "from the
fullness of contemplation." [15] This truth the Church
recognizes by calling him Doctor Communis and by commending his
teaching in numerous encyclicals, especially by the Aeterni Patris of
Leo XIII.
The present work is an exposition of the Thomistic synthesis, an
exposition devoted to the principles often formulated by the saint
himself. We do not undertake to prove historically that all the
doctrinal points in question are found explicitly in the works of St.
Thomas himself, but we will indicate the chief references to his
works. And our main task will be to set in relief the certitude and
universality of the principles which underlie the structure and
coherence of Thomistic doctrine.
First, then, we will note the chief works that expound this
Thomistic synthesis, and likewise point out the most faithful and most
penetrating among the saint's commentators. There will follow a
philosophic introduction, to underline that metaphysical synthesis
which is presupposed by Thomistic theology. Then we will emphasize
the essential points in this doctrine by noting their force in the three
treatises, De Deo uno, De Verbo incarnato, De gratia. Finally
we will note briefly their importance in the other parts of theology.
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