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To understand this treatise we should first consider the
place it holds in St. Thomas' now classical synthesis.
The first part of the Theological Summa, which treats
of God, the primary and formal object of theology, is
divided into three parts: 1. the one God or the divine
essence (questions 2-26); 2. the Trinity of
persons (questions 27-43); 3. God the creator
and governor of the universe (questions 44-119)
The reason for this division is that sacred theology,
which is the science of God based on revelation, should
in the light of revelation first treat of its formal
object, namely, God in Himself, in His essence and in
the Trinity of persons, before it treats of God's
operation ad extra, which is the creation and governance
of the universe, because operation follows being, and the
mode of operation follows the mode of being.
Here we see the difference between the method of
metaphysics and that of sacred theology. Metaphysics,
which is the science in the natural order which treats not
of God but of being as such and of being as known by man,
that is, in the mirror of sensible things, ascends
gradually from the sensible to the spiritual and divine.
Therefore Aristotle, after his physics or natural
philosophy of mobile being and his psychology of animated
being, began his metaphysics concerning being as such,
namely, the metaphysical critique of the value of reason
and of being as knowable (IV Metaphysica); then he
considered being in itself in his ontology; and finally he
undertook the demonstration of the existence of the first
mover and pure act (XII Metaphysica). Metaphysics,
therefore, the science of being as being, primarily
considers being as such as it is knowable naturally, that
is, by ascending from sensible things to the supreme cause
of being, to God, the author of nature.
Sacred theology, on the other hand, being a supernatural
science not of being as being but of God as God from the
viewpoint of the Deity or of the intimate life of God as
knowable by revelation, begins in the light of revelation
with the consideration of God not only as the author of
nature but also of grace. Theology therefore treats of
God before creatures, it treats of God in His essence
and in the Trinity of persons before it turns to God the
creator and governor of the universe. St. Thomas
explains this important difference between the metaphysical
and theological methods: "The two sciences do not
proceed in the same way. In the discipline of
philosophy, which considers creatures in themselves and
from them goes to the knowledge of God, the first
consideration is of creatures and the last of God; in the
doctrine of faith, however, which considers creatures
only in their ordination to God, the first consideration
is of God and then it turns to creatures. Thus theology
is more perfect since it is more like the knowledge of
God, who knowing Himself sees all other things in
Himself. Hence, according to this method, after having
treated of the things that concern God in Himself in the
first book, it remains to treat of those things that come
from God."[712]
St. Thomas follows this order not only in the Summa
theologica but also in the Summa Contra Gentes, which
is not really a philosophical Summa, since it begins with
God, although it deals first with the truths that can be
known naturally and treats of the Trinity only in the
fourth book.
This distinction between the metaphysical and theological
methods applies also to the theological treatise on man and
the philosophical treatise on man as presented by
Aristotle in his De anima. The philosophical treatise
on man begins with the sensible manifestations of the life
of the soul, of vegetative, sensitive, and intellective
life, and only at the end is there mention of the
spirituality and incorruptibility of the human soul. This
is the method of discovery and ascent. On the other
hand, the theological treatise on man descends from God
to the spiritual soul created by God, and therefore the
first question is about the spirituality and
incorruptibility of the soul (Ia, q. 75, a. 1,
2, 4, 5); then follow questions on the union of the
soul with the body (q. 76), the powers of the soul
both common and special (q. 77), the intellective
operations, which alone with the help of grace can attain
to God, particularly the knowledge of the separated
soul, about which the philosopher knows little (q.
84), and finally the questions on the first production
of man as the image of God (q. go) and the state of
justice and original sanctity (q. 93).
This difference between the philosophical and theological
methods should be noted in the beginning, since St.
Thomas as a speculative theologian makes extensive use of
philosophy in treating of God. Many have thought that he
was too much addicted to philosophy in theological
matters, but St. Thomas carefully observed the
distinction between the two disciplines. Theology makes
use of philosophy as a superior uses an inferior for a
higher end, and thus before theology makes use of a
philosophical proposition it examines it in a higher light
and approves it at least negatively as not contrary to
revelation; then it uses the philosophical proposition as
an instrument and confers on it a higher certainty so that
the theological conclusion, derived from the major of
faith and the minor of reason, although less certain than
faith, is still more certain than a philosophical
conclusion because it enjoys the approbation and
confirmation of the superior light of virtual revelation,
which is the formal object of theology.
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