Journeying with Thomas Aquinas

there is no sacrifice of the Mind required to be religious Thomas quain is really more than anybody else in the tradition boldly asks all the questions if you got a theologian who says whether there's a god well that means anything's open that means any questions possible good good we have nothing to be afraid of Reason poses no threat to religion when both reason and religion are authentically understood that's what Ain has got and see without him we'd be I think in a much more confused State of [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Mind [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] Thomas acquaintance's contribution to the church and to Western culture in general is has been so massive it's difficult even to get a grip on him he was philosopher scientist biblical commentator Theologian Mystic and above all a saint is that last description which is at the same time the most overlooked and the most clarifying if you read Thomas simply as a rationalist philosopher you'll miss the point of almost anything he wrote Thomas was a saint deeply in love with Jesus Christ he was a spiritual master and the whole purpose of all his writing was to place us on the road to [Music] Christ toward the end of his life Thomas aquinus was stationed in Naples in fact I'm standing right now in the cell that he occupied at the Fri of San Dominico major during those years Thomas was working on the last part of the Sumit theia his theological Masterpiece one of the texts in that last part dealt with the Eucharist and Thomas had a very special Devotion to that Sacrament it's moving to me to think that in this very place he was thinking through and writing that text when he finished he wasn't entirely satisfied and he placed the text at the foot of the cross as though asking for approbation and a voice came from the cross Thomas you've written well of the sacrament of my body what would you have have as a reward and his Splendid reply was nil Ney Tay I'll have nothing except [Music] you with all his heart Thomas aquinus wanted nothing other than Christ nothing more or less than Christ grasping this is the key to grasping all that he wrote [Music] Thomas aquinus was born in 1225 in the family castle of roaa near the town of Aquino situated about midway between Rome and Naples his mother Theodora was descended from Norman and Neapolitan Gentry and his father landolph was a minor nobleman Thomas's family was caught up in the confusing and shifting politics of the day which pitted the pope against the Holy Roman [Music] Emperor [Music] when Thomas was only 5 years old he was sent to the benedicted monastery of Monte Casino not too far from his home he would stay among the benedictines for nine very formative years far too many commentators have Overlook the importance of Thomas' sojourn in the benedicted world and Monte Casino he would have learned the rudiments of the contemplative life and he would have fallen in love with the scriptures especially the Psalms in his maturity Thomas would understand theology as essentially an elaboration of the sakr pagina the holy [Music] page there's a delicious story told concerning ainus at this early stage of his development after hearing his teacher discourse on God during an ele elentary catechism class young Thomas reportedly said but Master what is gone he never stopped asking that question his whole life long I'm a seminary Rector so I deal with um people applying to the Seminary all the time and it's not true in every case but in a lot cases you have these young men that say yeah when I was four five six I wanted to be a priest it was already in my heart in my mind so that's not all that unusual something else I'd say is how many swimmers start at 5 or six how many skaters start at five or six how many divers you know I started diving when I was five you know and we don't think we're imposing on them or we're violating their autonomy um they perceive some excellence in that case some you know Sports excellence and by God they want to get at it because they want to be the best in the world at it so what's so wrong with saying I perceive this Excellence of Friendship with God and I want to get at it right away um it might be our prejudice against religion so there's something psychologically problematic about that but we don't think it's psychologically problematic to throw a kid into a swimming pool when he's 5 years old and get him up at 5:30 in the morning and get him going in his practice um so I don't know that's I think more of a Prejudice on our [Music] part [Music] when he was around 15 Thomas left Monte Casino for political reasons and took up what we would call undergraduate studies at the newly founded University of Naples while in Naples the teenager became a double radical under the influence of his Professor Peter of Ireland Thomas became a devote of the Greek philosopher Aristotle whose writings have been condemned by a number of popes though some of his texts were known in the Christian West the bulk of ay's Corpus including his treatises on God and metaphysics and the nature of the Soul were just coming into circulation at this time many serious Christians felt that Aristotle's view represented a threat to Catholic Orthodoxy but others felt otherwise including Peter of Ireland who taught here at the University of Naples they felt Aristotle represented a breath of fresh air a new approach to religious questions more grounded in this worldly reality in a word aristotelianism was an exciting even dangerous movement in mid- 13th century Christendom and Thomas aquinus would become one of its most enthusiastic adeps but the aristan radical became even more countercultural when he embraced the other great revolution of his time the mendicant [Music] movement while he was still a university student in Naples Thomas took the habit of the preaching Friars of St Dominic like his contemporary Francis of AI Domingo De Guzman felt that Christianity needed to be revitalized through a return to the radicality and simplicity of the Gospel message and so he gathered around himself a Band of Brothers dedicated to lives of preaching poverty and radical trust in God for some the presence of of franciscans and Dominicans was a sign of renewal in the church but for many others it was a [Music] scandal Thomas's parents wanted him to be the Abbot of Monte Casino a respected position at an established institution the last thing in the world they wanted or expected was that he would join this strange and upstart group of Beggars so on his way to Paris to begin his Dominican formation Thomas was waylaid by his own brothers who had been sent by their mother to stop him though they tried to tear his Dominican habit from his back The Young aquinus clung to it desperately until they stopped they then locked him away in a family castle in the hopes of dissuading [Music] him it only caused his resolution to deepen during this time of conclusion he studied the Bible intensely memorizing large portions of it according to a famous Legend his brothers introduced a cely prostitute into Thomas's Chambers hoping to coax him from his celibate commitment the young Dominican chased the girl from the room shouting and brandishing a torch eventually his family relented and allowed him to go his way Thomas traveled with his Dominican companions to the intellectual capital of the Christian world at that [Music] time in the middle of 13th Century Paris was a magnet for Scholars from across Europe young students came Came To the Left Bank of the sun still called To This Day LA L the Latin quarter because of the language spoken by these International students they came to hear lectures from and to argue with the finest Scholars of the time the Paris style of theologizing brash skeptical public even a tad irreverent represented a departure from the more conservative monastic approach when Thomas aquinus arrived here in the new Athens of Paris in 1245 he found his intellectual home he also found the most important of his mentors the Dominican scientist and philosopher who even in his own lifetime was referred to as albertus Magnus Albert the Great under Albert's tutelage Thomas continued his underground study of [Music] Aristotle in 1248 he followed his mentor to Cologne becoming the great man's Apprentice while a student there Thomas tacit self-effacing and by no means slender was given the nickname the dumb Ox of Sicily when Albert heard of this he remarked I assure you that the bellowing of that Ox will one day fill the world Thomas aquinus was ordained a priest in Cologne in a predecessor Church to the great Cologne Cathedral in 1252 he returned to Paris in order to commence what we would call today doctoral studies and in 1256 the 29-year-old aquinus became a maist of Theology and began to lecture a maer's tasks were laid out clearly first he was to preach for primarily he was a majer sakre pagine a master of the Holy page preaching would conduce naturally toward biblical commentary and biblical commentary would lead to the searching out of complex theological questions these questions the medievals called them question disput were not entertained abstract or simply in the pages of books they were addressed in the context of very Lively public debates a master such as Thomas aquinus would announce an upcoming disputatio and then students and faculty and interested Outsiders would gather the initial part of the discussion was led by a borius we call him today a doctoral student he'd entertain questions objections arguments from the floor and respond as best he could all this time the maista the master was present but he remained silent the next day the same audience would gather and this time the majer would give his literally maerial resolution of the question then he would respond to what he took to be the best objections from the previous day Thomas aquinus sumia generally regarded as his Masterpiece is a literary rendition of a series of these question disput a typical article in the Summa begins with a statement of the issue like the summoning of the queso disputa that is followed by a series of objections like the comments and questions from the floor and that is followed by the magisterial resolution of the matter and finally by an answer to the objections it is so important to remember the Lively background for Thomas's texts as we make our way way through [Music] them so historically what was so significant about where we're standing I'm standing on the Hua which is in the Latin quarter it's a very short street but it's referred to is the B that means the the Cradle of the university the word fua is an older French word that has a sense of like bales of hay or straw because the students would gather here they put straw on the ground they would sit and their professors would lean out the window or lecture them in the open air so in the very early days when the students spilled off the island onto the C you know the university hadn't fully developed that's how it started so the the fua gives you the sense of that also right around the corner from here is the H Dante street because Dante came here in the very early 14th century maybe 1302 or something and he would have sat on these bales of hay and would have listened listen to his professors you look in the Divine Comedy it's filled with Thomas acquaintance filled with the scholasticism he learned here so it's always very moving to me to come to this spot and realize you know the whole university movement which starts in the in the 13th century where at the at the very beginning of it [Music] here [Music] aquinas's literary career lasted only about 25 years but his productivity was nothing short of Staggering his collected works fill 50 double columned folio volumes Thomas was obviously a genius but he was also a man of extraordinary order and [Music] discipline his day began with two masses one that he celebrated and a second at which she assisted and it continued almost without interruption as a cycle of reading teaching and writing it is said that he dictated different Works to as many as three secretaries at once turning from one to the other he would take a brief nap in the middle of the day and would frequently dictate arguments in his sleep he was famously absent-minded they say that a brother Dominican was a sign to sit next to him at meals to make sure he didn't put anything inedible in his mouth one of the best known anecdotes about Thomas aquaintance concerned the dinner he attended at the table of King Louis the 9th of France St Louis in the midst of a rockus conversation Thomas sat in abstracted silence as usual lost in thought and then suddenly he brought his meaty fist down the table shook all the cups and plates Disturbed all the diners around him and he said that will settle the manes he just formulated an argument against the dualist heresy of manism but one of his Dominican Brothers turned to him and said rather sternly don't you realize you're at the king's table but the saintly King far more concerned with truth than decorum said no no send a scribe immediately and take down the Friar's argument lest he forget [Music] it [Music] no account of Thomas aquin's life would be complete without some reference to the events that immediately preceded his [Music] death when he was in Naples December of the 6th 1273 the Feast of St Nicholas Thomas was saying mass in the presence of his friend Reginal and something extraordinary happened during that mass for afterward Thomas aquinus broke his routine of 25 years and he said I cannot write anymore when pressed on the matter he simply said I cannot everything I've written seems like straw compared to what's been revealed to me after filling thousands of pages with words the Great Master abruptly fell fell silent what happened to Thomas aquinus there's some evidence of a physical Dimension to the experience he took to his bed soon after and when his sister saw him she described him as staus dazed or out of his senses that doesn't begin to explain it Thomas saw [Music] something in January of 1274 the pope asked Thomas to attend the Council of Leon despite his failing Health he set out on the journey but on the way he became desperately ill he was taken first to a castle but Thomas said I don't want to die in a secular Place well the closest religious house was this San Abbey of fosen NOA he was brought here brought to This Very Room some say that during his last days he dictated a commentary on the song of songs it was here just behind me that Thomas died on March the 7th [Music] 1274 sometimes I think God does speak in a much more direct unambiguous way you see it in Great biblical figures you see it throughout the history of the church and yes in people like Katherine of Sienna and Thomas aquinus now how do you determine the difference between that experience and let's say someone was just schizophrenic or just crazy and they're hearing voices then you've got to look at the totality of a person's life was Thomas aquinus a deeply troubled strange anxiety filled um problematic figure no he was by all the counts a very integrated um centered balanced person and so you look at the totality of the life and say well I don't think this is schizophrenia or some mental illness I think this guy is witnessing to a real experience that he had so I think the the voice of God issue you can read it a lot of ways more generically more symbolically and metaphorically and in some cases very directly there was a study done some years ago and the conclusion of it was America is a nation of Mystics and the author meant you scratch the surface of most people's lives you'll find lots of reports of this kind of strange mystical encounter with higher Powers so we can say oh the person's nuts but an awful lot of people have had these extraordinary experiences so I think that's probably the right way to contextualize [Music] it [Music] [Music] we recall the question raised by the very young Thomas acquaintance but Master what is God I think it's fair to say the answering of that question became the principal Obsession of Thomas's life a curious feature of his doctrine of God is how agnostic it is Thomas is much more likely to tell you what God is Not than what God is though we wrote as we saw thousands of pages about God he always honored St Augustine's dictum see comprehend n as deos if you understand that isn't [Music] God the great temptation is to turn God into a supreme version of a creature to think of him as one being however exalted among many Thomas clarifies that God is not a being he's not in any genus even that most generic of J namely existence rather God is in Thomas's piy Latin phrase ipsum ESS subsistence the sheer Act of to be itself God is not an item in the universe or alongside it rather he's the reason why the contingent and even escent universe exists at all atheists both old and new rather consistently missed this point when they find no evidence for this Supreme Being they confidently declare that there's no God but they're mistaking God as Thomas understands him with the gods Supreme items within the realm of nature the true God is the answer to the question why is there something rather than [Music] nothing Thomas sums this up by applying to God a term that belongs properly to God Alone namely Simplicity now we tend to construe this term in precisely the wrong way think it means something Elementary or undeveloped what Thomas means is that God is the sheer Act of being itself not this or that type of thing being without restriction and without limitation in creatures there's a distinction between what Thomas calls Essence what it is an existence that it is so for example I'm a being but I'm a human being a being of very particular type this camera into which I'm gazing right now is a being of a very definite technological type this trees around me are beings of a Botanical type but none of this obtains in regard to God there is in God no distinction between Essence and existence to be God is to be to be you see how this is just a more philosophically precise reformulation of the great answer that God gave to Moses when the patriarch asked what's your name and God said I am who I am as the simple reality God is that whose being is unconditioned unrestricted unlimited this is why T speaks of God as infinite Without Borders it's also why he's described as immaterial it's not as though God is less than material rather his being transcends the limits inherent in a material manner of EX existence this is also why God is referred to as Eternal time conditions material things but God stands outside of time Thomas also speaks of God as immutable or unchangeable this has nothing to do with impassivity in the psychological sense it means that God cannot improve or move from an inferior to a Superior State instead he's utterly perfect and fulfilled in his manner of being perhaps you've noticed by now that this procedure is largely negative thas telling us what God is Not rather than what God is what does it mean to be immaterial Eternal infinite immutable well we really don't know for nothing in our ordinary experience is like that nevertheless real spiritual insights can be gleaned from these Reflections to say that God is immutable is to say that he's reliable he doesn't pass in and out of emotional states he doesn't fall in and out of love with the world that he's made to say that he's Eternal is to say that he's not stuck in any particular moment of time and therefore is present to all moments of time to say that God is immaterial is to say he's not restricted any one place place but can therefore be present to all [Music] places but is the god of Thomas aquinus personal yes since he's in possession of all the Perfection of existence he must have mind will and freedom God knows and loves himself first and then knows and loves all that participates in his being his knowledge of the world is not passive and derivative but rather creative things exist because God knows them into being this is why the 139th Psalm is Right Lord you search me and you know know me you know when I sit and stand you understand my thoughts from afar my travels and my rest you mark with all my ways you are familiar God's love follows from his knowing for to know something as good is ipof facto to will it to rest in it to savor it God loves his own Perfection with an absolutely perfect love this love is so intense that it spills over creation is nothing but the fruit of this effervescent [Music] love I talked a lot about Thomas's view of God as not a thing in the world not a thing at all not a being at all but being itself this is so important for the debates going on right now because you read the great atheists people like forbach and Marx and Freud and sart and now read their disciples today you know the new atheist so-called they all share this in common they all think of God as some big being some say he he exists some say he doesn't I call it the yeti theory of God you know some say there's a Bigfoot others say there isn't let's go find out let's look for evidence see but the problem is the question set up in the wrong way the creator of the universe is not an item within the universe think of the Russian cosmat that goes up you know in the 1950s goes up into space and hey I've gone up in the heavens and there's no God well see that's precisely the wrong way to look for God you don't find him as one more thing in the universe rather God is the condition for the possibility of the existence of contingent things that's a fancy way of saying that God is the sheer active being itself in and through which all finite things find their exist existence and so part of the problem with atheism is it sets up the question the wrong way if they knew what Thomas aquinus meant by God they wouldn't ask the question that [Music] way [Music] this [Music] what makes Thomas aquinus perhaps most relevant to our time is his approach to the issue of faith and reason for many rationalists today faith is simply credulity or Superstition or gullibility believing things on the basis of no evidence it would certainly be anachronistic to say that Enlightenment style rationalism was in Vogue in the 13th century nevertheless a form of rationalism was indeed prevalent in the Paris of Thomas's time namely Latin averroism this was a westernized version of the theory of aoiz the Islamic philosopher who had argued that theology represents relatively primitive thought appropriate for the unsophisticated whereas philosophy is the speech of the intellectual Elite what this gave rise to in its Western Latin form was a double TR Theory whereby something could be true theologically but false philosophically and vice versa trace of this view can be found in the present day for one of the upshots of Latin of verism is that finally faith and reason have nothing to do with each other at the end of the day Faith is simply irrational this precisely what Emanuel Kon has enlightened colleagues thought and why they encourage people of Faith to grow up intellectually [Music] well Thomas aquinus was having none of this he stood passionately and resolutely against Latin of heroism and the double truth Theory insisting that faith and reason cannot come into conflict with one another precisely because they come from the same Source The God Who is truth [Music] itself for Thomas faith is not below Reason Not infra rational rather it stands above reason Supra rational it is not opposed to reason but goes beyond it its darkness comes not from an insufficiency of light but from an excess of light but this means that reason can explore the Faith with complete freedom there's no sacrificium intellectus no sacrifice of the Mind involved in authentic religious [Music] faith I realize that when you talk about la a verism it can sound like something so sophisticated only specialist historians might be interested but there is a huge resonance the basic idea was that faith and reason split apart so this view had it that something could be true theologically but false philosophically true according to Faith but false according to reason was the acinus sense right away it's a very dangerous thing because now Faith and reason just become unmowed some people of Faith even to the present day will accept that view hey what I believe don't ask me any questions uh I'm not open to criticism I know science and reasons say this but my faith says that it's a fism on the other side you've got a rationalism that says well faith is just a lot of old nonsense a lot of old Superstition and reason science teach something else faith and reason have drifted apart Thomas aquinus back in the 13th century in this city sense the danger of this because he knew that God is the truth Jesus says I'm the way the truth and the life if God is the truth then anything true whether it's mathematical truth scientific truth philosophical truth is from God and therefore it can't be at odds finally with faith which is from God so he kept the two of them together which I think is enormously important whenever faithful people are tempted to say oh don't ask any questions whenever uh scientific people attempted to say faith is a bunch of nonsense Thomas aquinus stands a thwart those two positions and brings them back [Music] together [Music] one of the most signal contributions of Thomas aquinus was in the area of theological anthropology to give it its technical description more or simply his understanding of the human person what strikes you first about Thomas in this area is how anti-d duelist he was ainus was much more at home with the biblical idea of the unity of the person than he was with all those forms of platonic dualism that dominated Christian thought before him for Thomas the soul is not an alien power standing over and against the body nor an unhappy Spirit imprisoned in the body body rather it is the form of the body the energy that makes a body distinctively human this statement from the Suma is typical the whole human soul is in the whole body and also in every part of the body just as God is present the entire universe also this the soul is in the body not as contained by it but as containing it one upshot of this unifying view is that the body should be reverenced here again from Thomas we ought to cherish the body our body's substance is not from an evil principle but from God and therefore we ought to cherish the body by a friendship of love so Thomas is not a dualist but didn't he believe in the immortality the soul well indeed he did because the Soul's intellectual capacity its ability to engage in properly abstract thinking is a sign of its immateriality nevertheless he was convinced that in heaven Body and Soul come together here's his own language at the Resurrection The Soul resumes not a Celestial body or the body of some animal but a human body made up of Flesh and Bones Heaven is not a place of pure spirit it's an embodied place because no human soul would ever be perfectly happy apart from a human [Music] body another key dimension of Thomas' anthropology is his biblically based conviction that the human being is made in the image and likeness of God this has nothing to do with physical resemblance for God is not Material it has to do with the curiously infinite capacity of the mind and the will the mind is Never Satisfied by any of the particular truths of the Sciences or philosophy it wants to know the truth itself the will is Never Satisfied by any particular good it wants the good itself in a word both mind and Will are ordered to God by Nature we are order to something Beyond nature and from this Paradox flows much of the drama and poetry of The Human Condition the human being is made for ecstasy for the journey into God Thomas referred to theology as a science look at the sciences that begin you know in the 16th century and of course we're still asking all kinds of questions the scientists have a way of opening up as you answer one question 10 new ones emerge the same is true of the science of theology so the the best minds of the time in the Middle Ages went in for theology as the best Minds probably today go in for the Sciences you have the best minds of a given era looking at these questions they're going to find all sorts of things to explore and when you read the text of Thomas acquaintance they're they're breathtaking you U you can see the um the autographs of aus that crabbed writing of his but the detail of his mind and the the nature of the analysis is just extraordinary um he was a genius he a bit like you know an Einstein or a Newton or a Kant or a Plato he was a genius within the structure of his time [Music] intellectually [Music] all [Music] though it's overlooked in most treatments of time as acquaintance the great Dominican Saint is best characterized I think as someone deeply in love with Jesus Christ you can sense it in his Devotion to the Eucharist and to the other sacraments you see it too in his rather extraordinary mystical experience but perhaps most clearly in his writings on Jesus which I think are the Lynch pin to his whole thought as a text in the third part of the sum loia I've always found it very moving and very clarifying the topic out of consideration is the appropriateness or fittingness of the Incarnation Theus says something is fitting in a measure that it's congruent with your nature thus it's fitting for me now to be speaking to you because I'm a rational animal well God's nature is to be the good and as the ancient adage had it bonum defus sui that means the good is diffusive of itself it gives itself away when you're in a good mood you don't turn inward but rather you overflow you effres you go out of yourself so we can see the Supreme goodness of God in the sheer variety and fund of what he's made God did not remain in isolated self-regard but rather he gave himself [Music] away but if God is the absolutely highest good then it would follow it would be convenience or fitting that God would give himself in the fullest possible Manner and this says Thomas takes place when God joins to himself a created nature becoming one with creation the Incarnation is therefore the shest and purest indication of God's [Music] goodness we could sum this up by saying that the good God is ecstatic he tends to stand out from himself ecstasis to move toward the other in love but this fits perfectly ly with Thomas's Reflections on the human person for we saw earlier that human beings by their nature tend outward and upward ecstatically reaching out toward the good and the true Jesus Christ the coming together of divinity and humanity is accordingly the meeting of two ecstasies a Divine ecstasy that reaches down and a human ecstasy that reaches up with the icon of Jesus Christ in mind we can also understand with greater Clarity one of Thomas's Master ideas namely that the true God and Humanity are not in competition with one another Thomas says with the mainstream of the Catholic tradition that Jesus is the hypostatic or personal Unity of two Natures Divine and human that come together without mixing mingling or confusing usion Jesus is not quasi human quasi Divine like Hercules or Achilles nor is he merely human like a great saint nor merely Divine as the dosas would have it rather he's truly human and truly Divine neither nature having to compromise itself to make way for the other now can you see how this Doctrine coheres with it indeed gives rise to Thomas's sense of God as ipsum essay or being self if God were a Supreme Being however great he'd still be one finite nature among many hence would compete with creatures a Supreme Being could not become incarnate without compromising either himself or the Integrity of the creature he becomes the God who does indeed give himself away utterly becoming a creature but without undermining himself or the creature he becomes cannot be one being among many what a beautiful and Illuminating Coincidence of [Music] teachings you know Thomas's status as a thinker is kind of a complicated issue go back to the early 20th century Bertrand Russell you know the great philosopher writes a history of philosophy and includes Thomas aquinus but he's a minor character in fact he closes the chapter by saying I don't really understand his enormous reputation because he's just a competent commentator on Aristotle that would be a very reductive modern dismissal of Thomas aquinus at the same time you've got some on the Catholic side that would probably so Elevate Thomas as a philosopher my point is this he was indeed a philosopher even a great one but he's best read as a theologian above all he wanted to use philosophy in service of a higher end always to move people to Christ so he's a complicated intellectual figure that way you can isolate some of his writing say well there's his philosophical work and read it simply that way but I think that violates his own spirit I would rang Thomas acquaintance as one of the four or five greatest thinkers in the western tradition and that includes Plato Aristotle Kant and you know some of the very best um but it's a complicated thing because he's both philosopher and theologian but the very best way to read him is philosopher in service of [Music] theology [Music] why is Thomas aquinus a pivotal player he showed as completely and passionately as anyone in the tradition that Christians could think deeply about their faith for him no question even the most fundamental was off limits he demonstrated thereby that faith and reason are not in opposition to one another that being a Believer involves as we saw no sacrum [Music] intellectus in our time when so many hold that religious people are simpletons and religious Faith only a crude Superstition Thomas aquinus remains more relevant than ever he's also pivotal because he beautifully exemplified a truly Catholic Mind by which I mean a mind open to every and any influence willing to embrace the truth wherever he found it Thomas was inspired of course by the Bible in the great Christian theological tradition but he also read and cited with enthusiasm the Pagan philosophers Plato Aristotle and Cicero the Jewish rabbi Moses myones the Muslim Scholars veroes Aisa aaan even when he disagreed with the Thinker as he did with origin and ca braon he always did so with respect and without polemics in this he's a wonderful model for our time when the religious conversation is sadly so marked by ranker and vituperation finally he's pivotal in his understanding of God as non-competitively Transcendent the god of Thomas aquaintance as we saw is not a threat to human freedom and human Integrity but the very ground of that freedom and that Integrity Thomas aquinus would agree with st erus that the glory of God is a human being Fully Alive at a time when so many people see God's existence as undermining the human project how liberating and clarifying this Doctrine is the god of Thomas aquinus is the god of the burning bush that power whose proximity makes the world more beautiful and more radiant without consuming [Music] [Music] it [Music] a [Music] n [Music] oh

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Keywords: thomas aquinas, word on fire, word on fire ministries, bishop barron, bishop robert barron, doctor of the church, pivotal players, christ, theologian, nothing other than christ, st thomas aquinas, catholic, catholic saints, life of aquinas, catholic documentary, aquinas documentary, catholic film, the pivotal players, word on fire film, word on fire free film, st thomas aquinas film, aquinas, bisop barron aquinas, word on fire aquinas, saint documentary, saints, st thomas

Id: lHmd81n6ZpM

Length: 63min 41sec (3821 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 28 2024