Catechetical instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas

by Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Burns Collins

The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas

200 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 1939

About the author

Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar and theologian of Italy and the most influential thinker of the medieval period, combined doctrine of Aristotle and elements of Neoplatonism, a system that Plotinus and his successors developed and based on that of Plato, within a context of Christian thought; his works include the Summa contra gentiles (1259-1264) and the Summa theologiae or theologica (1266-1273).

Saint Albertus Magnus taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.

People ably note this priest, sometimes styled of Aquin or Aquino, as a scholastic. The Roman Catholic tradition honors him as a "doctor of the Church."

Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that obtained for centuries. This crisis flared just as people founded universities. Thomas after early studies at Montecassino moved to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican order. At Naples too, Thomas first extended contact with the new learning. He joined the Dominican order and then went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus. Thomas completed his studies at the University of Paris, formed out the monastic schools on the left bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master, Thomas defended the mendicant orders and of greater historical importance countered both the interpretations of Averroës of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The result, a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy, survived until the rise of the new physics. The Catholic Church over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of work of Thomas for understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource, now receiving increased recognition.

Reviews

[Justin Bynum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Saint Thomas displays such a command in his articulation of the faith. Diving through the creed, prayers, sacraments, and more; this is easy to understand and provokes many thoughts while reading.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cracked up at this response:

"Paul says: 'faith is the substance of things to be hoped for' (Heb 11:1)...But someone will say that it is foolish to believe what is not seen, and that one should not believe in things that he cannot see.I answer by saying that the imperfect nature of our intellect takes away the basis of this difficulty. For if man of himself could in a perfect manner know all things visible and invisible, it would indeed be foolish to believe what he does not see.

But our manner of knowing is so weak that no philosopher could perfectly investigate the nature of even one little fly. We even read that a certain philosopher spent thirty years in solitude in order to know the nature of the bee.

If, therefore, our intellect is so weak, it is foolish to be willing to believe of God only that which man can know by himself alone. And against this it is said: 'behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge' (Job 36:26)."
St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Apostle's Creed