The Divine Lamp

Have you ever tried to read or study St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and found yourself bogged down at question 1, article 3? Perhaps, for you, the place to begin would be to read his compendium. What follows is an excerpt from that Compendium dealing with article 1 of the first question of the Summa. I have provided links to the Summa itself in case anyone wants to read through the articles in conjunction with the compendium; this might make going through the Summa a bit easier. I have also provided links to other sources for further ease.

Chapter 1 SACRED DOCTRINE: ITS NATURE AND EXTENT In this chapter the saint deals with the first question of the Summa: “The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine” which is divided into ten articles.

Article 1 of the Summa looks at the question: Whether, besides philosophy, any further doctrine is required?

This is treated in the first paragraph of the Comp:

• It is necessary for the salvation of man that, besides the natural sciences, there should exist some doctrine received by revelation which transcends reason. Moreover, that which is discoverable about God by human reason could be known only by a few, and that after much time, and not without a large admixture of error. It was good, therefore, for man to be taught by means of a doctrine divinely revealed; for salvation, which is in God, depends upon the knowledge of the truth.

St Thomas deals with this subject more fully in chapters 2, 3 & 4 of the Summa Contra Gentes. For more, see the full text of THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA article on revelation, especially the first 3 sections on pages 1-3. You can also profitably consult chapter 1 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as well as chapter 2.

For links to many online books and articles, podcasts and videos of interest to Catholics, please see the pages on my other site.

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