8/8/2019 Comments on Saint Thomas Aquinus'

1/2

mments on Saint Thomas Aquinus' "Nature and Domain of Sacred ... http://core.ecu.edu/engl/kaind/crit/aquite

f 2 06 26 2008 11

Saint Thomas Aquinas "Nature and Domain of Sacred Doctrine"

Purpose of Thinking

To explain the methods employed in the scripture to reveal God's meaning to man.

Question at Issue (problem)

Specifically set out by Aquinas "In Ten Articles" to determine whether:

sacred doctrine is necessaryit is a scienceit is one or manyit is speculative or practicalit can be compared to other sciencesit is wisdomGod is its subject matterit is argumentativeit rightly employs metaphors and similes (Ninth article)the sacred scripture of this doctrine may be expounded in different senses (tenth article and theexplanation of 4-fold typology)

Information

In the ninth and tenth articles, the most interesting points of information are Aquinas' use of Dionysius'previous thought to explain how metaphor is used and Augustine's to expand on the idea of the two-fold(actually four-fold) way to read scripture. These are supplemented with "proofs" and examples from thescriptures.

Concepts

(Ninth article) The scriptural use of metaphor allows man, who understands through interpretation of thephysical world, to understand the word of God at a variety of levels. He say that "God provides for

everything according to the capacity of its nature...[and]...it is natural to man to attain intellectual truthsthrough sensible things, because all our knowledge originates from sense." He explains that we can't knowGod at a level beyond our ability or willingness to understand, and so divine truths that we can access haveto be explained at a level we can understand. He also seems to suggest that it would be impossible forpeople to understand God in any direct way--it is beyond our comprehension--so, at our level ofcomprehension, "what he is not is clearer to us than what he is." Further, the truth behind the metaphors willnot be understood by those who are "unworthy". (Tenth Article) The scripture can be read two ways 1) theliteral which includes history, etiology and analogy 2) and the allegorical which includes three spiritualsenses: allegory, moral, and anagogic. The typology represents a heirarchy of meaning in which each sensehas the complete meaning and therefore no confusions or contradictions exist. The literal is the truth of fact;the old testament prefigures the new and so is allegorical; the moral is that which "signifies" that which is"done in Christ"; and the anagogic is allegorical to the "eternal glory," or the ultimate design of God.

Crucial Assumptions

Aquinas discusses Scripture in terms of science because of the assumption of its Truth. A furtherassumption based on the form of presentation is that since it is "Truth" it can be explained. Anotherassumption is that the scriptures use metaphor to reveal meaning to men and that it can be read on each offour levels simultaneously.

Implications and consequences

Aquinas sets out the system of four-fold typology which will be used in a variety of forms by Dante, later inthe Romantic period by Coleridge and Carlyle, and in the 20th century by Northrup Frye. Also it seems as

8/8/2019 Comments on Saint Thomas Aquinus'

2/2

mments on Saint Thomas Aquinus' "Nature and Domain of Sacred ... http://core.ecu.edu/engl/kaind/crit/aquite

f 2 06 26 2008 11

though in the form, Aquinas pre-figures scientific inquiry, not in subject or substance, but in form--i.e."proofs".

Points of View/Influences

One of the interesting things here is that Aquinas uses argumentation in the form of a series of proofs thatresemble scientific inquiry to discuss the form and meaning of scripture. He begins with a series ofobjections (the Ninth article specifically dealing with the use of simile and metaphor) to a premise and themgives a series of replies to the objection. This seems to pre-figure Descartes in the attempt to show thatsomehow sacred texts and/or subjects which rest on "faith" can somehow be explored with a scientificmethod. It seems more than simply a rhetorical strategy in Aquinas, but as if he really wants to somehowsee a way to prove the unprovable. It's an interesting approach given that little was known "scientifically" atthe time but that the Western impulse to order and scientific inquiry is already apparent. I see a connectionbecause of this move on Aquinas' part between Greek and Roman forms of argumentation and theemergence of scientific (empirical) methods of inquiry. One interesting divergence from the Platonic ideal isthat when Aquinas speaks of the scriptural use of metaphor, he suggests that peoples' understanding ofthings comes by way of the sensual world, though at different levels. This is how he explains/justifies thescriptural use of metaphor. At the same time, while he recognizes that people understand things through thephysical world, his argument suggests that the physical world is a metaphor for the "Truth" that rests in themind of the Divinity. This does not privilege the world of ideas over the physical world in the same sensethat Plato does but rather puts them in a relationship of one to the other and gives an importance to the

physical world in the way that it reflects, rather than imitates, God's Truth in a way that is accessible to man.

Return to Aquinas' Menu PageReturn to the Introduction Page