“Three things are necessary for the salvation of men: to know what he ought to believe: and to know he ought to desire: and to know what he ought to do”, was once said by a respected man St Thomas Aquinas. Referred to, as the doctor of the church, St Thomas was a theologian and philosopher.
A theologian is someone who spends his or hers life thinking bout Gods life. They figure out things about god through prayer and study. St Thomas was sent to a monastery when he was only five years old.
At the age of nineteen Thomas decided to join the Dominican order even though his family went against his believes. St Thomas Aquinas taught theology, but what is remembered most about his life, is the great work of the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles, which are still considered the basis of most modern Catholic theology today. These writings are written to pose a question to the reader about the reality of the world but also apposing the reason something must be believed.Once said by Thomas “ To one with faith, no explanation is necessary, to one without faith no explanation is possible” Aquinas was meticulous when it came with dealing with varieties of law. Thomas believed in four laws: God’s cosmic law, God’s scriptural law, Natural law or rules of conduct, and Human law or specific rules ap-plic-able to specific circumstances.
I feel St Thomas is in the top 100 influential people because even though he wrote and lived during medieval period, his work is found in modern day philosophy.In the 13th century was a critical period in Christian thought. There was a torn between averroist and Augustinians. Thomas opposed both schools. Averroist separated faith and truth and Augustinians would make truth a matter of faith. St Thomas held the reason that the truths of faith complement those of reason.
Aquinas was a saint of common sense. For it is in his theory on Thomist philosophy, which is based on common sense, apposed to complex and overly complicated theories like modern philosophy.Thomas said and I quote “because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables, Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder”. Thomas used Aristotelian argument to “prove” Gods existence and the truth of Christ of Christian beliefs. His thinking, later called Thomism was adopted by the church.
Pope Leo 13 declared Aquinas works “the only true philosophy” Thomas opened the gate to thinkers of different stripes and backgrounds. He ‘s methodical way of combining faith and reason, changed many views on catholic philosophy.He was the first to combine Greek ideas into catholic philosopy by showing Aristotles thought to be compatible with church doctrine. His system of reason and faith of two separate realms whose truths complement rather then appose another. Let me close by saying St Thomas was a wise man of God.
He lived strong in his faith and taught others. Believed some things where undescrible and can only be believed by faith. Now I leave you with some food for thought, once said by St Thomas Aquinas “ All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly” Thank you
