1. Aquinas tries to reconcile Christianity with Greek philosophy. How does he try to do this, and do you believe he is successful? Why or why not?
Thomas Aquinas has long been recognized or reconciliation Christianity and Greek philosophy. Typically, he is believed to have provided justification for faith by explaining God’s existence and His superiority. Aquinas views inspired the writings of several Christian scholars today. He attempted to reconcile Christianity and philosophy by stressing on the hierarchy of being and the human beings’ intellectual capacity to find happiness in life. I argue that Aquinas was successful in reconciling Christianity and Greek philosophy because his view has been influential throughout the spread of Christianity especially in Catholic thought.
Thomas Aquinas reconciled Christianity with Greek philosophy by making morality and ethics accepted ways of life in western civilization. He built on Aristotle’s theory of Ethics which maintained that a person’s happiness is closely related with their purpose or end. Aquinas added to the theory by explaining that human beings achieve virtue and happiness through the self-actualization. Christianity teaches us to live morally upright and ethical lives in order to be at peace with other and ourselves (Keys, 76). Aquinas believes that humans can never achieve total happiness in life. For him, happiness is found in self-actualization and faith in God. For this reason, we need morally upright and ethically sound virtues to be united with God. In addition, Aquinas believed in sin which was inherited from Adam and Eve. He argues that while our nature is not fully corrupted by sin, it is never the less diminished by it. The wages of sin is death, thus we need God’s help to restore the natural law in us and to make us conform to His will.
Thomas Aquinas reconciled Christianity with Greek philosophy in metaphysics. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of existence. Aristotle was not a pagan nor a pure Aristotelian. He believed that a supernatural being- God is the creator and source of all thins in this world. Aquinas believed that God’s mind had Platonic Forms just as was mentioned by Pontius and therefore Aquinas argues logically that the Platonic forms existed before the world was created. He believed in the Catholic doctrines, incarceration, and the Trinity. When discussing the problem of immorality and evil, Aquinas often referred to the Neo-platonic view about the true reality of God. Aquinas used metaphysics to reconcile God and this world by explaining that there is only one reality. He explained that the universe forms one reality in total and God, who is at the top of the hierarchy is pure. He acknowledges that God is the most supreme form of beings. He reconciles Christianity with Greek methodology when he warns people not to metaphysically despise the world or nature. He asserts that nature is a part of the reality in which we live, “Grace perfects nature.” Grace is the realm of God and nature is the physical world. Aquinas succeeded in reconciling Christianity with reek methodology using Metaphysics. Christians believe that there is one reality and that God is the most powerful and purest. Christians believe in taking care of the environment by planting trees for example because it is part of God’s creation.
According to Aquinas, philosophy and religion do not oppose each other, instead, they complement each other in their search for truth. For Aquinas, forms of human knowledge consist of orderly and hierarchal systems. Religion comes first, then philosophy and science come at the bottom of the hierarchy. He argues that the revelation of truths and a higher human value does not eliminate the old ones. Philosophy and Christianity are equally valid for Aquinas because reason and faith cooperate in the discovery of the truth. Aquinas taught that the universe is an orderly and assimilated with a hierarchy and that only those who have a relationship with God can fully understand its nature. Aquinas identified with the Eternal Law that identifies God as the rule of the entire creation. The eternal law is “imprinted’ to all creatures including man. Natural Law is a part of Eternal Law that provides man with the ability to reason (Anthony et al. 235). Human beings are guided by rationality as part of the Eternal Law imprinted in the conscience in form of rules, principles or behaviors. Since human beings are Self-governed, they observe the law of nature through free will. Laws that are used to govern people should therefore according to Aquinas, derived from natural law. God reveals a portion of the eternal law in the Old and New Testament using the 1O commandments. Divine law is used by leaders today to supplement natural law to promote peaceful coexistence.
I believe Aquinas was successful in uniting faith and reason using metaphysics. Before Aquinas, it was believed that God formulated natural laws that could never be completely understood by human beings. Natural law is only comprehensible through the Holy Spirit. Aristotle argues that we can only understand the matter and nature because they are automatic but no one can understand the essence of nature and matter such as lie and soul. Through Aquinas, people are able to understand that certain are easily comprehended by human reason and empiricism, but that the most important aspects of existence can only be solved by faith. Aquinas began to assimilate his work into Christianity. In the same way, people are able to look into Christianity and conduct research to come up with certain truths (Younkins 211). I believe that his work leads to the study of the Bible, its translation and spread to different parts of the world.
I believe that Aquinas was successful in reconciling Christianity and philosophy because his work forms the basis of Christian Philosophy. Ata appoint where Christianity was challenged by Aristotelian theories, Aquinas reconciled the two and this became the foundation of Christian rules, beliefs, and practices. Aquinas proved that faith and philosophy were different, but were complementary and did not seek to contradict each other (Eagleton 56). Reason explained God’s existence and His magnitude but a true understanding of the essence of life was only revealed through faith. This philosophy and school of thought have ever since dominated the church's way of thinking. More than 800 years ago, Aquinas wrote two theological books; The Summa Theologiae and the Summa Contra that have both been used in the Catholic Church.
In conclusion, Aquinas united philosophy and faith by stressing several things. He stressed that God made the world and He also human beings intelligent. If humans use their intellect to discover more about the world, they will be able to understand it and reveal God's wonders. This would increase their favor in religion instead of dampening it. Aquinas stressed that asking human beings to stop thinking is like asking a bird to stop flying. Human beings need to perform their full capacity through self-actualization. Asking people not to think would mean that they would not be giving God the much-deserved glory. Human beings should make good use of their God-given gifts. Lastly, he also stresses that human beings are inferior to God and we do not have the capacity to understand His ideal forms. Man can only approach life and try to understand it by perceiving material objects in the practical world. In his model, theology is the highest followed by philosophy and lastly human knowledge and science.
Works Cited
Anthony, Michael J et al. Evangelical Dictionary Of Christian Education. Baker Academic, 2001.
Eagleton, Terry. Reason, Faith, And Revolution. Yale University Press, 2010.
Keys, Mary M. Aquinas, Aristotle, And The Promise Of The Common Good. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Thomas, and Stephen F Brown. On Faith And Reason. Hackett Pub., 1999.
Younkins, Edward. "Thomas Aquinas' Christian Aristotelianism." Le Québécois Libre | Liberté Individuelle | Économie De Marché | Coopération Volontaire, www.quebecoislibre.org/06/060122-5.htm.
