Saint Thomas Aquinas: Biography Of This Philosopher And Theologian

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was a priest and theologian of the Dominican order of Roman Catholicism. He is recognized as one of the greatest philosophers of the scholastic tradition, defined as a theoretical movement that dominated much of the Middle Ages, and that used reason to understand the religious revelations of Christianity.

We will see below a biography of Saint Thomas Aquinas as well as a brief explanation of his contributions to philosophical and theological thought.

Biography of Saint Thomas Aquinas: philosopher and theologian

Thomas Aquinas was born in the year 1225 in the kingdom of Naples, near the current province of Frosinone. Son of Count Landulf and Countess Theodora of Theati, Aquinas soon became involved with the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Roman emperors. In fact, Aquino’s family hoped that he would follow the Benedictine path, as it was the expected destiny for any son of the Italian nobility.

For the same reason, Thomas Aquinas He began his training in educational and religious institutions very early At 16 he left the University of Naples, where he had studied with the Dominicans and Franciscans, which in turn had represented a challenge to the clergy of the time.

He intended to continue his Dominican education, which did not please his family. In fact, Thomas Aquinas’s biographers say that his family decided to lock him up for more than a year in the castle of Roccasecca, where he was born. This was to avoid his entry into said order.

Finally, after the confinement, he entered the Dominican School of Cologne in 1244, and in 1245 the University of Paris, where He was trained in philosophy and theology under Albert the Great By 1428 he was appointed professor, and this is the time when he formally began his academic, literary and public life.

After having spent many years in France, where he developed much of his work, Thomas Aquinas returned to Naples. He died in the same city on March 7, 1274 from a sudden illness. Some versions say that his death was actually caused by a king of Sicily, who poisoned him due to political conflicts. 50 years after his death, Thomas Aquinas was canonized and recognized as one of the most representative intellectuals of the Middle Ages.

Philosophical thought: reason and faith

Aquinas’s philosophical thought is one of the most influential in Christian theurgy , especially in the Roman Catholic Church. He is recognized as an important empiricist in the Aristotelian tradition, who influenced the later development of Western philosophy.

Among other things, Aquinas maintained that it was impossible for human beings to acquire any true knowledge without the help of God, since it is the latter who has the power to transform intellect into action.

He said, however, that human beings do have the possibility of knowing a part of the world naturally (without divine intervention). There were then two types of components of true knowledge. On the one hand, the truth is known through reason, that is, by “natural revelation.”

On the other hand, the truth is known through faith, which corresponds to a “supernatural revelation” The latter is accessible through sacred writing and the teachings of the prophets; while the first has to do with human nature.

For Thomas Aquinas, it was possible to find rational proof of the existence of God and his attributes (truth, good, goodness, power, knowledge, unity). In addition, it was possible to know the Trinity only through special sacred revelations More than contradictory elements, for Thomas Aquinas, reason and faith are complementary, and their search is what leads to true knowledge.

Among the previous philosophers, who significantly influenced the works of Thomas Aquinas, is Plato, the main theories of Aristotle, the Jewish thought of Avicenna, and the work of Albertus Magnus, with whom he trained for many years.

Theology and argument about the existence of God

The theological thinking of Thomas Aquinas is significantly influenced by the work of Augustine of Hippo, the Bible, and the decrees of councils and popes. That is to say, combines the thought of Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine

Returning to the connection between reason and faith, for Aquinas, theology (sacred doctrine) is itself a science. And the sacred writings are the faithful replication of the data of said science, since they have been produced by both revelation and natural knowledge.

For Aquinas, the ultimate goal of theology is the use of reason to know God and to find true salvation In the same vein he spoke of the essential properties of God, maintaining that his existence is not evident and cannot be easily tested.

In one of his great works, Summa Theologicasupports his ontological arguments about the existence of God: there are five ways that correspond to five qualities of God and are, therefore, rational proofs of his existence:

Likewise, Thomas Aquinas maintains that the existence of God can be verified through the movement of objects through the hierarchy of values ​​and elements of the world, through how natural bodies are ordered and through the world of possibilities.