The Next Few Weeks

I’ll be in Florida all of next week, so I will probably not be posting anything.
However, I do have plans of things to discuss in the weeks following.  As you can probably tell by the amount of information on Aquinas on this blog, I really like his stuff.  Also, I think Aquinas’s philosophical theology is [...]

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For Those Interested In Aquinas’s Doctrine of God

This looks to be a promising read and a great resource for understanding Aquinas’s philosophical theology from - Oxford University Press (June, 2008 ). Here’s a brief description from the publisher:
This book offers an in-depth examination of what divine simplicity means for Aquinas and how he argues for its claims. Simplicity and other divine predicates [...]

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My Soul Is Not Me

Peter Leithart and others have noted the post-modern phenomenon of what I shall call the impenetrable ego. In his book on baptism Leithart notes that the idea that the ritual actually affects the person (socially, psychologically, ontologically) seems eerie because we have this idea that “who I am is deep down inside and cannot be touched by [...]

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Who Needs the Forms?

The whole realist/nominalist argument among the Medieval philosophers often seems arcane and pedantic to us post-moderns.  I mean, who cares if the form is in the thing or somewhere else?  The whole idea of a form in things is way too “spooky.” Reality is given to us; we don’t need forms right?  Well, without answering [...]

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Aquinas’s Contra Gentiles Also Contra Autonomy

Rudi Te Velde says that Aquinas did not write the Summa contra Gentiles as a missionary manual for Dominicans to evangelize the Muslims.  This timeless work was written to refute certain errors that had come to light in the Medieval context. These errors go beyond that of the Muslim faith.
The list of errors is not restricted to contemporary [...]

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Good Article on Aquinas’s Theory of Knowledge

In a previous post I quoted Fergus Kerr who noted that Aquinas’s epistemology presupposed theology. Because the Christian God created the world and creatures in order for them both to interact on an essential level the world can be known by man.  Norman Kretzmann’s article “Infallibility, Error, and Ignorance” (in the 1992 Supplementary Volume 17 [...]

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Autonomy

I don’t think it is autonomous rationalism to begin one’s apologetics with theological proofs.  The whole point of beginning with reason is not to start from a neutral ground where all facts are brute facts and everyone agrees that religion is not an issue.  The point of beginning with reason is to demonstrate the necessity [...]

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Random Thought on Rationalism and God’s Decree

Assuming we all hold to some form of divine simplicity:  It seems that many Reformed folks, especially those who believe that the “5 points” are the quintessential articulation of “Calvinism”, have forgotten the historic apophatic theology, including the functions of the intellect in acquiring knowledge and consequently the doctrine of analogy.  This can be seen [...]

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Vermigli on the Visio Dei

In eternal life the essence of God will be known by the blessed, not of course by the senses but by the soul or mind; as John says: “When he appears we shall see him as he is.” Paul affirms the same thing: “Now we see him through a glass darkly, but then face to [...]

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Congar on Essentialism in Aquinas

Any attempt to present him [Thomas] as an ‘essentialist, that is, as being conscious of and as affirming first of all the common divine essence, and only secondarily the Persons in that essence, would be to betray the balance of his theology.  Such an interpretation should no longer be possible since the appearance of the [...]

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