Until recently, we have focused on how philosophy can prepare the way for revelation. Now we have turned to revelation itself, and principally the Gospel of John, on our way to a consideration of the Trinity. In this lecture, I offer a general introduction to John’s Gospel that should complement what we have been doing […]
This will be our last class on the Compendium for a number of weeks. Last class we spoke about why the word “intelligent” or “intellect” can be said of God, and this time we follow it up with intellect’s inevitable companion: will. Because there was a lot of confusion about the notion of “intellect,” and […]
After all this build-up, we finally get to say something that feels very basic: God is intelligent. But by now we have learned how careful we have to be when we apply a name to God. Watch Aquinas go through the three steps: first, we find a perfection in creatures that seems applicable to God […]
Last class we began to think about the infinity of God’s perfection. This time we round out our meditation by considering what perfections are found in God, and how. I’ve created a short audio recording covering all three chapters, but I hope it will be helpful. Click here to download or listen straight from this website […]
When we covered these chapters in class, I was tired and unclear. Students were heroic and energetic, eagerly pursuing the new realms of hamster deities and pop-tart cats, but the first two sections were a bit like a ship without a captain. Several of you asked me to record something about the two meanings of […]
Our assignment for today covers many chapters, but they are short and many of them similar in structure. The high point of the reading is when we conclude that God is one, which is also the central teaching of the Old Testament. But like the Old Testament, our Compendium reading takes on a journey from […]
With these chapters, we enter the heart of classical philosophical thought about God. We begin to see why God is so very hard for us to understand, and why a pagan philosopher would have been excited to read Exodus 3, where God says of himself, “I am who am.” I had to something a little […]
We continue to ask what a “first mover” is like by exploring the idea of eternity. As he will do many times in the coming chapters, St. Thomas teaches us that our words have to grow, to open up and be purified, before we can apply them to God. Download links for the audio files are […]
Our class session will start with more time on chapter 3. However, chapters 4-6 begin the exciting work of saying what this “first mover” is really like. We’ll start with one of the strangest and yet most important claims, namely that God is immobile, and move on to a new way of thinking about being […]
What a great start to the semester! We made great progress toward spelling out the syllogisms in Compendium chapter 3. Each section found a slightly different way to present the arguments, but to help everyone consolidate their notes, I want type out one version of what was said. Syllogisms in Chapter 3 The argument will unfold in two […]