Thomas Aquinas' Theologica in Prima Pars Essay Example

Introduction

Thomas Aquinas combined the theological principles of faith with philosophical principles of reason. He struggled to bring back the relationship between philosophy and theology. The theologist believed that revelation was crucial in guiding reason hence preventing people from making mistakes. As such, reason could demystify faith. He discusses the roles of faith and reason in perceiving and proving the existence of God. This paper will explore how Aquinas' collection of writings in Summa Theologica shapes the theology of creation and evil. It will focus on the first cause of all things, precisely the cause of evil.

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Summary of Summa Theologica in Prima Pars

Aquinas believes that every being that exists is from God. In his theological works, he affirms that God is the cause of all beings. In essence, the things diversified by the participation of being to become more or less perfect are caused by the First Being who is God in this case. Concisely, creation can be the action of God alone as the power of the maker is based on the measure of what is made. In this aspect, it shows that God is the only Being with the power to create other universal beings (Hughes 17). Even though something may participate in the proper action of another, it would only be instrumental and not by using own power. Even as some people argue that the substance of the world may create other inferior bodies, it would be difficult since the secondary instrumental cause cannot participate the action of a superior cause. In all creatures, the trace of Trinity is evident as some things are reduced to divine persons. Therefore, the created substance represents both the cause and the principle.

In the collection, Aquinas asserts that the will of God is the cause of all things. As such, the world exists because God wills it to exist, but the ever existence of the world cannot be proved through demonstration. One cannot investigate the will of God by reason except for the things He has to the will of necessity. However, the divine will can only be manifested through revelation on which faith rests. This shows that the beginning of the existence of the world is an object of faith and not a demonstration in any way whatsoever (Eberl 31).

Regarding the distinction of things, all things come from the intention of God. The creator brought things to help communicate His goodness to the creatures. Since one being was not enough to represent His goodness adequately, He produced more diverse creatures. Through these creatures, the whole world participates perfectly to represent the divine goodness. Arguably, every evil has its cause. Evil shows the absence of a good that is natural and comes about due to a thing. Evil does not follow in the effect unless it pre-exists in the agent. However, in the voluntary things, the defect of action emanates from the will (Davies 21).

How Thomas Aquinas' collections of writings in Summa Theologica in Prima Pars shape the theology of creation and evil

In this collection, Aquinas believes that the existence of God can be demonstrated through a range of ways. He addresses the objections to using God as an object of demonstration. The first objection is about the existence of God as being self-evident. In this case, the theologist explains the meaning of something to be self-evident if it has predicate contained in essence of the subject. The distinction that he brings forth helps in the theology of creation when people are responding to the claim of God's existence being self-evident (Hughes 24).

Aquinas also argues that the assent of faith involves one embracing the teachings about the doctrines of God. Ideally, the scientific works of Plato, Aristotle and other medieval commentators argued contrarily to the truths of Christianity (Hughes 29). Aquinas on his side argues that the scientific claims and truths cannot contradict the faith truths. He distinguishes change and creation as the scientists had varying views about the world of changing things. In essence, the theologist expresses how the theological sense of creation incorporates the philosophical teachings, as well as the temporally finite nature of the universe. The teachings make people understand that creation accounts for the existence of things and not changes in things. This shows that even an evolving world was still created (Eberl 38). The theology of Aquinas has dominated the church by harnessing both faith and reason. Through the collection, people can distinguish between what is evil and what is good while understanding the cause of all evil. Additionally, in the theological field, people would believe that God is the first cause of all things, the highest being, as well as the cause of motion in other things.

Conclusion

The teachings and writings of Thomas Aquinas on the first cause of all things and the cause of evil continually draw the attention of many theologians. The theologian has shaped people's thinking and perception about creation and evil. The principles that he presents in his works anchor intelligibility in a society full of confusing claims. Aquinas asserts that God is the first cause of everything and that His existence cannot be demonstrated or investigated.

Works Cited

Davies, Brian. Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: a guide and commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Eberl, Jason T. The Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas' Summa Theologiae. London: Routledge, 2015.

Hughes, Christopher. Aquinas on being, goodness, and God. London: Routledge, 2015.