Yesterday was the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of From the Abbey. It was another chaotic day in the Arrowood household, so I didn’t get a chance to write a blog post, let alone celebrate. So, I’m celebrating and writing today. I have been doing a lot of reading about St. Thomas, especially about how his teachings and writings have fallen in and out of favor through Church history. My reading has verified that what has fallen in and out of favor is not really the teachings of this great doctor of the Church, but how his teachings have been used. Unfortunately, Catholics fail to discern the difference. The teachings and methodology of St. Thomas Aquinas have been used in the Church’s history as a litmus test (some would say a club) to identify and root out dissenting theology, especially the very beginnings of modernism. Used as such, Thomism has been rejected as “too rigid.”

Of course, this is not a fault of Thomism per se. If it is the fault of anyone (I’m not sure I can fault any attempt to counter modernism), it is the fault of popes, bishops and heads of seminaries who wielded Thomism as a weapon.

St. Thomas contributed so much beauty and truth into the Catholic faith. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. Specifically, St. Thomas directs us toward . . .

1. The unity of Truth

St. Thomas firmly held that all truth comes from God, so all honest searches for truth will eventually lead to the same Truth. Faith, science and reason are not at odds with each other. Where they seem to be at odds, we must continue to strive to understand the one truth that they all point us toward. Catholics do not see a conflict between our faith and science. Faith is not unscientific, and science is not unfaithful. Faith, revealed by God, is more sure (though still subject to growth in human understanding) than science or reason, but all methods of seeking truth are part of the same quest.

2. The Importance of Intellectual Virtue

By his example, St. Thomas teaches us how to clearly and accurately seek the truth. Intellectual humility puts truth above winning an argument, enabling us to see when we might be wrong. Intellectual perseverance keeps us questing for the truth even when the search gets tough. Intellectual fortitude empowers us to seek truth even in areas where we are uncomfortable, and also to stand up for the truth when it is attacked. Intellectual integrity helps us to stay true to the truth, to honestly admit when we are wrong, and to honestly give credit to the work of others. These virtues and many others are often absent from modern education, and could do much to improve our learning and thinking.

3. The absolute nature of objective truth

St. Thomas’ teaching that objective truth is absolute and knowable is what makes Thomism such a powerful weapon against modernism and post-modernism, which reject the notion of absolute, knowable objective truth. Claims that Thomism is too rigid in its faith in objective truth smack of modernism or post-modernism. To St. Thomas, truth is not fluid. It is something that exists outside of our perceptions, judgments and fabrications. It is something to be discovered and understood. St. Thomas also taught about the interaction between objective truth and subjective truth. Opinions and theories play important roles in our search for truth. They are not ends in themselves, but they are a starting point in the quest. Far from rigid, the model of learning that St. Thomas offers us is one of discourse, exploration, reasoning and ultimately discovery.

4. God is knowable and wants to be known

St. Thomas teaches us that the quest for Truth is in the end a quest for intimacy with God. He offers us a portrait of a God who, mysterious and infinite though he is, is ultimately knowable and who wants to be known by us. You can’t love someone you don’t know. Study of Creation or even of theology is not an end in itself, but a means to knowing and loving God more. It is also a participation in the Wisdom of God, a share in the Divine Life. Not only is all truth unified, but truth is united to love. St. Thomas Himself stated that he learned more kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament than he learned from any book.

[ad#seasonal]

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Related Links:

• Do you know of good links related to this post? Let me know by leaving a comment!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.