Theology is a science in the Aristotelian sense. That is, it offers demonstrative proofs based on unshakable first principles. The difference between theology and other sciences is that the theologian’s principles are not discoverable by unaided human reason. How, then, can theology be a science at all? In answer, Aquinas reminds us of a teaching found in Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics: one science can take over as principles things established in another science. The study of optics might require the principle that parallel lines never meet, which is shown in the higher science of geometry.
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