In Article 2, When St. Thomas asks whether theology is a science, he does not mean to ask whether theology is an empirical discipline that proceeds by forming hypotheses. Rather, he means to ask whether theology is a “science” in the Aristotelian sense of a way of knowing things through their root causes. The objections […]
The first Article of the first Question of the first Part of the Summa opens with a doubt. Maybe the whole project of theology is arrogant; perhaps piety should keep our eyes cast down on earthly things. We should not presume to scale the heights of heaven with our minds. The objection reminds one of […]
St. Thomas begins his prologue with what feels like a truism: someone who teaches the Catholic faith should teach not just the advanced but also beginners. Why would anyone think otherwise? How do people become “advanced” after all except by being taught? But the medieval university system did in fact have St. Thomas in class […]