Like Anselm, Aquinas was concerned with both the heart and the head. What do you see here that might especially appeal to the "head," to those seeking a rational approach to life? What do you see that appeals to the heart, to those who want a strengthening of their faith?
“For diving Wisdom Himself, Who knows all things must fully, deigned to reveal to man the secrets of God’s wisdom [Job 11:6] … by performing works surpassing the capability of the whole of nature, namely, the wondrous healing of the sick, the raising of the dead to life, a marvelous control over the heavenly bodies …”
ReplyDelete“On the other hand those who introduced the errors of the sects proceeded in contrary fashion, as instanced by Mohammed, who enticed peoples with the promise of carnal pleasures.”
Both of the above quotes seem to appeal to the heart. The first is somewhat exciting, and rather than dealing with the likely somewhat tedious issues of, for example, if God and Jesus are the same beings or not, it just gets straight to the good stuff – the miracles, the awesome power of God. That’s the kind of thing that might stir something in a believer’s heart, and maybe the reminder would resolve them in their faith. The second one is just the beginning of a section where Aquinas points out the differences in Christianity and other beliefs. Earlier in the course, a blog option was why some people might not like Christianity. I said something about it making life “hard,” or perhaps less “fun.” I think many Christians, myself included, have probably wanted to do things that we can’t or shouldn’t do, and perhaps have questioned why we restrict ourselves to the teachings of Christianity when others get to do things we would like to participate in. The reminder that despite those things looking appealing, or fun, they are just empty and destructive things that have no place in our lives is a good one to keep in mind.
For appeals to the head, I think you could cite most of Aquinas’ writings. He’s very methodical and lays out everything in a very clear, organized manner. Perhaps Chapter XIII of Summa Contra Gentiles is a good place to look, where Aquinas makes the argument that the sun, an object in motion, must have a mover. He goes on for several pages to argue that ultimately, that mover must be immovable itself and that immovable being must be God. It’s tough to wrap my head around it, but it sure should be appreciated by those concerned with reason and logic.
While skimming through, I found a quote that I think appeals to the heart rather nicely. “On the other hand those who introduced the errors of the sects proceeded in contrary fashion, as instanced by Mohammed, who enticed peoples with the promise of carnal pleasures.” While this could have many meanings, the meaning I believe it has is if we see, hear, or try something we know it not right but keep going back to it, eventually we will be addicted to that thing. Even if the heart thinks it is wrong, we will keep doing the thing because it makes the head feel good.
ReplyDeleteMoving onto the head. There are a lot of good passages and quotes in his writings that could appeal to the head, to many to write here.
Aquinas is one of my favorite church fathers to read through personally, although I do not have enough understanding to grasp his theology quite yet, fully. He was brilliant in his systematic theology, which I would greatly attribute to the head. Systematic theology dives into every topic and tries to tie them together as they relate to Christianity. This theology is something that I value very profoundly, especially as it relates to the whole of Christianity. We have so many denominations, and knowing what to follow or believe in is hard. Systematic theology is complex as it looks at every part of the faith and then relates them to the whole, as Aquinas did. It is really the best way to deconstruct your faith and rebuild it with the principles and ideas that most closely draw you toward God. However, as I stated above, a great deal of this is done inside the head using reasoning to support your evidence.
ReplyDeleteI was once Catholic and needed to analyze what I was genuinely following, and early on, I began to read Aquinas. What I found in his works was his ability to look at each piece of evidence and relate them to the whole. This led me to do much of the same at a far more superficial level than Aquinas because much of the work had already been reasoned through. However, I systematically worked through theology to the best of my ability to come up with what I thought represented true faith. I wish we could still be of one true religion and do this; however, pride has gotten in the way throughout history.
The idea of pride is what I will use to get to my next point in that it is the heart of a man, especially like Aquians. You see, his works reflected his brilliance, so imagine if he had desired to become the pope, which he, to me surly, could have done. He could have likely changed how the church looked, especially with how he worked through theology. He did not desire that; however, he wanted to be a part of the larger body of Jesus Christ. His heart seemed so pure to him and his admittedly humble nature. It was not in power that he became closer to Christ; instead, in turning to know Christ, he grew closer to Christ. In doing this, he put aside pride and arrogance and let his walk with Christ show through his writings. Then at the end of the day, if you disagree with him, that is perfectly fine. As he is only telling you what he knows to be true of God, but far more significant than that, Aquinas desires for the reader to know the most important thing he has discovered about God is how he loves God within his heart. Anything more than the love gained for Christ is merely the reflection of their relationship in his mortal life.
Tanner Simon
Thomas Aquinas’s writing appeals to the head because he uses clear, logical thinking. For example, he gives several proofs for God’s existence, like the argument from motion, which shows that everything moving must have been started by something else, and that first mover is God. He also answers questions and objections carefully, showing that belief in God is reasonable. This helps people who want to understand their faith with their minds and see that faith and reason work together.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, Aquinas speaks to the heart by showing that God is loving and cares for all creation. He explains that the world has order and purpose because God made it that way. This gives people hope, especially when life is hard, because they know God is in control. Aquinas also writes about grace, which strengthens believers and guides them. His work encourages trust in God and helps deepen faith, not just knowledge.
The sections I've noticed that tended to appeal to the 'rational' thoughts, aka people who require reason in order to believe, were focused on the natural world. Aquinas points out that everything, in some way, shape, or form, moves. But something must have made those things move, as nothing can begin moving on its own without having a soul and some concept of thought.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, he points out the imperfections in nature, citing that the imperfections are only there to prove that God exists, but that he cannot appear before us directly (or something along those lines). Aquinas also mentions that it is the way in which we govern the world that logically proves that there is a God.
As for the heart, the part that stuck out to me the most was Aquinas stating that one could sense the presence of God in everything, namely the beauty of nature, imperfect as it is. The presence of God is within this imperfection.
It is also noted that God governs our behavior, our nature. Without God, we would likely act no differently than that of an animal. Therefore, we know that God exists.
These are two different, yet overlapping, arguments. While they do address the topic of 'heart vs logic' in its own way, it speaks on the same information because God is everywhere. No matter what we discuss, God will either exist or not exist depending on how we look at it and discuss it.
Thomas Aquinas appeals to both the head and the heart because he rationally believed that they went hand and hand and were a topic of interest, amongst not just himself, but others as well. By the first page of the Summa Theologiae, you begin understanding how he appeals to both of these topics.
ReplyDeleteHe is very reasonable and systematic in his approaches to find an answer to "The Existence of God". He sounds as if he is very influenced by classical philosophers and by using logic, he breaks down the all the questions he has started to ask the reader. The Third Article I really liked as it read, "For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality." He is asking whether God exists or not and he goes straight to the laws of motion. This really appeals to the head, yet it strangely appeal to the heart even more.
If you can rationalize that in order to have an object in motion, someone or something in actuality had to have caused it to happen, it can indeed appeal to the heart. If a reasonable philosopher felt any conviction from Thomas Aquinas' approach to explaining the existence of God, that would have done its job both ways.
Luke Reierson