Prologue:
Because the Master of Catholic Truth ought not only to teach the
proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle:
As Unto Little Ones in Christ, I Gave You Milk to Drink, Not Meat--
1 Cor. iii. 1, 2)--we purpose in this book to treat of whatever
belongs to the Christian Religion, in such a way as may tend to the
instruction of beginners. We have considered that students in this
Science have not seldom been hampered by what they have found written
by other authors, partly on account of the multiplication of useless
questions, articles, and arguments; partly also because those things
that are needful for them to know are not taught according to the
order of the subject-matter, but according as the plan of the book
might require, or the occasion of the argument offer; partly, too,
because frequent repetition brought weariness and confusion to the
minds of the readers.
Endeavoring to avoid these and other like faults, we shall try, by
God's help, to set forth whatever is included in this Sacred Science
as briefly and clearly as the matter itself may allow.
Companion to the Summa (hereafter CS):
Thomas, faced with the abundance of his material, did not hope merely
to toss it before the minds of men; he expected to expose all this adequately,
lucidly, and as briefly as the matter permitted. Moreover, he was not aiming
at an increase in the intellectual jowls of the well cared for specialists
in philosophy and theology; he had in mind, rather, the underfed, the starving,
the little ones, beginners who had gone hungry too long. He expected to
avoid all that would confuse the thinking of these little ones, that would
impede their progress, that might contribute to their discouragement. The
thing seemed important enough to this first professor of the age of Universities
for an explicit statement of the instruments he had forged to bring it
about: order above all, simplicity, and the ruthless elimination of useless
questions, arguments and repetitions.
I, Q. 1, Art. 1 It is necessary for the salvation of man that, besides the natural sciences, there should exist some doctrine received by revelation; for many things are made known by revelation which transcends reason. Moreover, that which is discoverable about God by human reason could be known only to a few, and that after much time, and not without a large admixture of errors. It was good, therefore, for man to e taught by means of adoctrine divinely revealed; for salvation, which is in God, depends upon a knowledge of the truth.
The Division of the Book
The laziest man in the world might draw up a plan such as this. In fact, lazy men are usually prolific in their production of plans, perhaps the better to relish their idleness. The astonishing thing about Thomas’ project is that it came very close indeed to complete accomplishment, so close as to leave the onlookers breathless before the massive beauty of this intellectual cathedral, oblivious of its unfinished sacristy. Thomas’ project was stopped by the only thing that could stop it. He died while in the midst of his treatment of the sacrament of Penance.
The plan of the Summa is as simple as the statement of its aims by Thomas. The first part treats of God, both in Himself and as the principle from which the angelic, the human and the purely physical world take their rise; the second part treats of man’s movement back to the source from which he came; the third, of the means or the road which he travels to that goal and the home that waits for him at the end of the road.
It is the first part of the Summa which will occupy us throughout this volume. After a preliminary question (the burden of the rest of this chapter) we shall investigate the existence of the one God; then the inner life of the one true God, or the mystery of the Trinity; the rest of this volume will be taken up with a study of the angels, of men and of the world, for thus only can we have the full story of the procession of creatures from God. This latter part of the present volume will not involve argument about angels on the head of a pin; Thomas had no room for stupid questions. But it will involve the study and appreciation of all of the world, not merely the material part of it; of all of man, not merely the animal part of him; of all of the angelic world, not cynically amused caricatures of it. The pictures this study hangs in the minds of men will be strikingly different from those that today too often clutter the mind and shatter the heart. Man will not be found pictured here as a frightened god perched on the barren summit of a world in chaos. Nor will he be seen as no different in kind from the rest of the animals–his oddly human capacities for politics and poetry here are not only accidental differences which set him off from the beasts no more essentially than the fact that he is somewhat more fastidious about his bath. God will not have the hurried, harassed look of a timidly ineffective man; these angels will not be gliding around languidly looking for a holy card on which to alight. All these pictures have no inspiration in the world of reality; and it is only with reality that we are engaged in this volume.
It is extremely important, at the very outset, that we lay hold firmly on these two facts: Thomas, all his life, was a relentless searcher for reality, a ruthless enemy of falsehood; and his supreme work was a book of supernatural theology. In our own time, it has become the fashion to divorce theology from reason and so to destroy any certitude of its relation to reality. As for the supernatural, well that is an insult to our self-sufficiency not to be lightly suffered by an intelligent man. It is not too hard to understand the modern’s impatience with the supernatural, for man has always been proud; but only the intellectual suicide of positivism could be so absurd as to limit the horizons of a man’s mind to what he can uncover by the methods of science. This last has no need of rational refutation for the positivist contradicts himself in the denials that make up his doctrine; he advocates a way of death, rather than of life, for life cannot be lived on a basis of denials, it must be fled from. Men are intolerant of the cowardice of escape; they are sympathetic towards a spirit of independence, even exaggerated independence, though they, and everyone else, are barred from expressing that sympathy when the independence reaches the stage of voluntary confinement.
It is unquestionably true that man, left to his own devices, can gather a tremendous amount of information; so much, in fact, as to be smothered under the pile of facts he has heaped upon his own head. He can even, through the patient labor of the years, acquire something of wisdom’s understanding of the pattern of things, of the distinction between details and essentials, of goals and means to those goals. The point that is overlooked too often is that a man simply cannot wait so long for the advent of wisdom. He has to know these things from the beginning he has a human life to live through all the years that are demanded for the personal achievement of the long view of the wise man; and, for by far the greater number of men, the mind, the heart, the hands are well occupied in winning a livelihood from a grudging mother earth. To be quite frank, there are many men who will never arrive at wisdom under their own power if they live to be a hundred and have absolutely nothing to do but think. To be equally frank, it must be admitted that the wisest of men are going to make mistakes.
This matter of human goals that give the directions for human living is much too important to run such risks. This knowledge cannot wait, it cannot be restricted to a few, it cannot be punctuated by error; if we are content to have it so, it is only because we assume the unimportance of the human individual, the meaninglessness of human life, the certitude of long life, the indifference of truth. All of these assumptions are false. Because they are, man, even in those things that are not strictly above his human powers, must have help. He can assert his absolute independence only at the cost of compromising his knowledge of reality and, ultimately, at the cost of failure in the living of human life. He must accept truth from the source of truth; and be thankful the truth is given him.
Necessity of Wisdom
All this would be true if man’s life were to be fulfilled by a goal within the grasp of his natural powers. When we face the fact that the only goal of man is above all nature, the eternal vision of God, we see something of the desperate necessity for a divine revelation that will give him knowledge of that goal and the means by which he can arrive at it.
The illusion of independence can be bought at much too high a price. It could logically demand that we swim oceans rather than depend on a ship-builder and a navigator, that we toddle through blizzards naked until we can make our own clothes, that we fly by flapping our arms. Whatever the price paid, when we examine the thing in an honest light, the wonder is that we bought such a shoddy product at all; the certainty is that we have been badly cheated. There is nothing so completely useless as the illusion that we are self-sufficient, for there is nothing so completely false.
We must have wisdom from the beginning of life. It cannot be our own; nor is it sufficient if it is some other human being’s. It must be divine, for only God is wise from the beginning. To begin life with the wisdom lent us by divinity, and end it by possessing that wisdom; to meet the charges at each station of life with divinely minted coin; to see the road that stretches before us through the far seeing eyes of God — this is not an insult to human nature, it is an ennoblement of it.
I, Q. 1, Art. 2 This doctrine is a science proceeding from principles made known to us by the light of a higher science, as music proceeds from principles explained by arithmetic. For Sacred Doctrine proceeds from principles made known by the light of a higher knowledge, namely, the Divine Knowledge, and in it certain particulars are treated of, both as an example of life and in order that we may know clearly by what instrumentality this revelation is made.
A Divine Science — Its Object
In this atmosphere of nobility theology draws its first breath of life, for the deposit of divinely revealed truth constitutes the life principle of all theological science. If philosophy, as the apex of natural intellectual effort, has deserved the name of human wisdom, then theology is rightly called divine wisdom. All of its varied fabric is given solid substance by the thread of divinity that is woven into it; if we unravel that complex fabric, that single thread will always lead back to God, the source of truth and the goal of it. Without that thread of divinity theology is a name given to a crazy quilt that, paradoxically, is devoid not only of beauty but of variety, monotonous with the grey monotony of despair. It has nothing of wisdom about it, for it has nothing of meaning about it. But drawing its life-blood from the source of all order, theology is vibrant with such significance as man would not have dared to dream, with divine significance for creatures who hardly dare to face human life let alone dream of living divine life.
To speak of theology as a science may sound blasphemous to modern ears. Indeed, it is blasphemous if we restrict science to the treasure buried in the physical world, a treasure to be unearthed only by the pick-axe and spade of the experimental method. But if we take science, as it should be taken, in the larger sense of ripe knowledge plucked from principles that escape the blight of doubt, we can hardly mistake theology as a clever imitation of a live science, to be put under glass as a tribute not to its life but to its artificiality. We can, with an easy mind, expose it to the weather to live its rugged, vibrant life; let the rain fall on it and the wind tug at it, the sun shine on it and its enemies drag their tiny bodies over its broad branches. It will live; its roots are deep enough, its leaves broad enough, its branches high enough; it will live. though many a hybrid die beside it.
I, Q. 1, Art. 3 Sacred Doctrine takes account of all things only in so far as they belong to the formal order of Divine revelation. This science is one, neither wholly practical nor wholly speculative; but being of a higher order it includes both, yet remains one, as God knows both Himself and what He does with the same knowledge. It is, however, more speculative than piratical, for it treats more of Divine things than of human actions, being concerned with the latter only in so far as they are intended to lead man to the perfect knowledge of God, in which eternal beatitude consists.
Theology is no mongrel in the pack of sciences. Like every other science, it has its proper, and utterly distinctive, field–the field of revealable truths. Its paraphernalia is totally inadequate to furnish it with its principles: so, in common with all other sciences, it gets the principles with which it starts and on which it depends from some other source. The philosopher, with no human science above him, accepts without question the self-evident principles his reason discloses to him or he ceases to be a philosopher. The theologian accepts his principles, not from the science of the physicist, the mathematician or the philosopher, but from the science of God and the saints. No science proves its own principles; nor does theology. But the principles of every other science are susceptible, with the help of another science or directly from nature, of clear vision by the human mind; theology alone accepts principles too clear to be seen by any mind but the mind of God. It believes its principles on the authority of the Truth incapable of error or falsehood.
I, Q. 1, Art. 4 And this science is higher in dignity than other speculative sciences, for these derive their certainty from human reason, which may err, while Sacred Doctrine, owing to the light of Divine Knowledge, can never be deceived; moreover, they consider only things which are below reason, while she treats principally of such as transcend reason. Sacred Doctrine is also higher in dignity than other practical sciences, for, among such, that science is accounted the more honorable which is not subordinated to a further end, as military science is to civil; but the end of this doctrine, in as far as it is practical, is eternal beatitude, to which all other ends of the practical sciences are subordinate.
Let us suppose that all the sciences, in person, were invited to dinner by a great university. Where should theology be seated, among the practical or the speculative sciences? Well, the thing is more practical than domestic economy for it deals with the most practical of things the goal of a man and the roads to the goal; at the same time it is more speculative than metaphysics for it handles truths that are divine. It might take the grapefruit with the speculative sciences, move over to an empty chair for the soup with the practical sciences, back to its original place for the fish, and so on; a little fatiguing, perhaps, but then what can be done? Like many another person with an insoluble problem, the hostess will shelve it and pretend it does not exist, for the moment anyhow. Now about places, who will get the first place and who will slide humbly into the welcome obscurity of the seat far down the table? In the speculative section the question will have to be settled on the certitude of the science and the nobility of its subject matter. Theology jumps down from that mental shelf to worry the hostess: it would be hard to find a more noble subject matter than divinity or to compare the certitude achieved by a human mind to the certitude of the divine word. But the method! Yes, the others may be a little uppish on the question of method, but then how can we make a particular method the norm of precedence; is this a scientific dinner or a meeting of a secret society?
I, Q. 1, Art. 5 Also I, Q. 1, 7 And since it treats most properly of God as the First Cause, it is wisdom in the highest sense; for he is accounted wise in any department of knowledge who studies the highest cause in that department. Seeing, therefore, that Sacred Doctrine determines concerning God, not only as he may be known by creatures, but also as He is known by Himself alone, and by others through revelation, it is properly called wisdom in the highest sense, and God is the subject of it, for all things are considered with reference to Him, all things being related to Him either as their beginning or their end.
Very well, give theology the first place among the speculative sciences; at least that settles the question of where theology will sit. In the practical section, precedence will be determined by the ultimateness of the end served by the particular science. Obviously medicine will sit above domestic economy, but does it go above or below politics? We can settle that later; what is the very last end served by any science; theology again! The only solution is to sit theology in the very center with the speculative sciences descending on the right and the practical on the left, hoping, of course, that no wit brings up the matter of the sheep and the goats.
But enough of the dinner. Abandoning the figurative language and getting down to hard facts, it is true that the findings of the other sciences seem much more certain to us than the conclusions of theology. Of course; but the flame of an acetylene torch is not less bright because it blinds us, less visible because we must see it through smoked glasses; nor is the divine truth less certain because it is too clear for our eyes, it is not less sure because we have to see it through the obscure glass of faith. It is also true that theology uses philosophy; but that is not because the pillars of divine truth need so much bolstering, it is rather because of the comfort our weakness derives from the clasping hand of philosophy. But we shall come back to this matter of philosophy later on in this chapter.
For the theologian treats of nothing except in relation to the first beginning and the last end. He is in the intellectual order what the saint is in the practical order: a man wholly engaged with God. A general order covering the activity of the two men need suffer no single change in phrasing: “begin this task at once, work at it ceaselessly, finish it in eternity.” For the love of God is not to be encompassed in a lifetime; neither is the knowledge of God. However far afield the mind or the heart may seem to have wandered, both are engaged with God Himself or with the things that pertain to God as Beginning or as End. The saint knows the important answers by the quick intuition that has its deep roots in love; the theologian, by the reasoned argument that has its roots deep in study. When study and love are united to make a saint of a theologian, God has been exceptionally kind to men.
It is into the book of just such a man that we are timidly edging our way. There is a definite reassurance in the fact that Thomas insisted that reason roll up its sleeves and get down to its hardest task; this brings back the first day’s study of any science. Moreover he has adopted the fully developed form of that similar method of Socrates; and what is more familiar than a question? The double flattery of a question is hard to resist; the contentedly ignorant and the insufferably omniscient never ask a question, while the fool is asked a question only by mistake. A question, after all, is the movement of a mind in search of truth and there is nothing so pleasant to disseminate as truth. Children and scholars are living question marks and, as Thomas wrote for childish scholars, it was right that every article of his book be a question demanding a straight answer. To clarify the issue, an opponent, fictitious or real, is introduced each time with so forceful a presentation of objections as to cause a little anxiety in the heart of a follower of Thomas.
I, Q. 1, Art. 6 Also I, Q. 1, 8 Sacred Doctrine does not employ argument to prove its principles, which are articles of faith, but proceeds from them to demonstrate something else, as the Apostle argues from the resurrection of Christ to that of others. The inferior sciences, indeed, do not prove their first principles or argue with those who deny them, but leave them to be proved by a higher science, while metaphysics, which is the highest among them, only disputes with those who deny its first principles if the adversary grant something; if he grant nothing it cannot argue with him, but can still solve his objections. In like manner, Sacred Doctrine, having no superior, disputes with those who deny its principles provided the adversary grant something, and proceeds to argue from one article of faith against those who impugn others, as in the case of heretics. If, however, the adversary believe none of those things which are revealed, it is no longer possible to prove the articles of faith by reason alone, but only to solve objections brought against a faith which is rooted in infallible truth. For as it is impossible that what is contrary to truth can be proved to be true, the arguments brought against faith can be answered.
It is difficult to conjure up a picture of a rollicking theologian. Perhaps there have been such, but the odds are against it. Not that theology demands that its disciples all have long, white beards; but it does seem to demand that its youngest masters be old and its oldest masters be young. Perhaps all this is because of the bouquet that wisdom throws off as we warm the word in the hollow of our hands. We do associate wisdom with old age, not because the mind of the old is keener, the heart more eager, but because the tired feet have wandered enough to know the highroad from a bypath, the old eyes have seen enough, to know a trifle from the gem for which a man must sell all he has, because the old hands have worked at tasks enough to know the ephemeral from the enduring. Old age should know more of the answers, it should see more of the pattern, it should escape more of the confusion of the terrific detail of life. Theology is wisdom, old with the agelessness of eternity; but young with the youth of an eternal beginning.
The wise man to be consulted for the answers about the new house that is going up is the architect, not the bricklayer; if he does not know the reasons for things, there aren’t any. He may be stupid in many other lines, but in this one, because he is master of the ultimate purposes of the building, he is wise; in any line, this knowledge of ultimate purposes brings wisdom. When the knowledge is of the last of all purposes, it brings that wisdom that needs no qualification; by it a man is simply wise. This will be the man who knows the answers that really matter; these are the answers for, which the theologian exists.
The body of the articles throughout concentrates on the work of explaining, illustrating, persuading, refuting and, where possible, proving. Thomas, of course, does not argue about theology’s principles; no science does that. The inferior sciences depend on their superiors to take care of the borrowed principles; metaphysics, without a superior, will argue about its principles with an opponent who grants some of them; with an opponent who denies all of them it can do nothing but refute the denial, exposing its falsity. The procedure is the same in theology, with the added assurance that every objection in denial has its answer for these principles rest on the immutable truth of God.
But there is plenty of room for argument in theology beneath the principles; nor has there ever been a slackening of that argumentation that destroys error, preserves truth and uncovers still more of truth. Here philosophy is put to work in earnest; here human reason is employed to its fullest strength; for here is a task worthy of the great potentialities of the mind of a man. As a reward for this back-breaking labor, theology restricts the field of possible philosophical error, releasing this flood of conserved energy into the channels of real philosophical investigation. Philosophy is not substituted for, it is not destroyed, not diluted; for grace does not destroy nature, it perfects it. It is not superseded by a higher wisdom; it is consecrated by that higher wisdom.
I, Q. 1, Art. 9 I t benefits Sacred Doctrine to express things Spiritual and Divine by the use of corporeal metaphors, for God provides for every creature according to his nature, and men are led naturally by means of things sensible to knowledge which is purely intellectual. moreover, the Sacred Scriptures are for the instruction of all men, and the uncultured apprehend intellectual things more easily under corporeal similitudes.
I, Q. 1, Art. 10 And this Doctrine has several meanings under one letter. There is the literal, which is also called the historical sense, and the spiritual, when the things expressed in the words mean something else. The spiritual sense is threefold; for as the Old Law is the sign of the New, and the new Law is the figure of the future glory, there follows from this the allegorical sense. As they signify what makes up eternal glory, they give the anagogical sense. Since God is the author of this Doctrine, and he comprehends all things in the mind at once, it is most fitting that the one literal sense should contain many meanings.
For further reading: THE WISE MAN’S BOOK by Walter Farrell
