St. Augustine of Hippo and St.

Thomas Aquinas
Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Augustine (354-430) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) both set out to
Christianise the Greeks. The fact that the Greeks did not know Chistianity because their
culture preceded Christ, did not deter these theologians, who held the doctrines of the
ancient ancient Greeks in high esteem. Therefore, both St. Augustine and St. Thomas
Aquinas, who lived approximately 900 years apart, wanted to reconcile Greek theory
with Christianity, so that the greeks would no longer be a threat to Christin Dogma.
Saint Augustine: Bringing Together Greek and Jewish Beliefs
Surprsingly, perhaps, St. Augustine does not consider Christianity incompatible
with Platonism. He even suggest Plato was familiar with the Old Testament, although
Gaardner points out that this is unlikely.
St. Augustine reconciles the biblical idea that god created the world out of nothing
and the Greek belief that the world has always existed, with a simple modification
“…before God created the world, the “ideas” were in Divine mind. So Augustine located
the Platonic ideas in God and in that way preserved the Platonic view of eternal ideas”,
says Gaardner.
There are aspects of St. Augustine’s thought that differ from Platonic thought, for
example, the fact that he expounds on the struggle throughout history between good and
evil. Gaardner claims this linear view of good and evil in history is not a Platonic
viewpoint.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Everything Has a Purpose
St. Thomas Aquinas became a Dominican Friar against the wll of his family- his
Greek hero was Aristotle. Aquinas’ key works were Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa
Theologica.
Like Augustine, Aquinas believes it is possible to reconcile Christian faith with
the teaching of a greek thinker.
“Aquinas was among those who trid to make Aristotle’s philosophy compatible
with Christianity. We say that he created the great synthesis between faith and
knowledge. He did this by entering the philosophy of Aristotle and taking him at his
word”, says Jostein Gaardner. What St. Thomas Aquinas claims is that there need be no
conflict between Christianity and Platonic thought, because both often say the same
things.
In other words, we can use reason to reach Christian truth.
The Existence of God
 Aquinas believes that everything has a purpose. Jeremy Harwood in “St. Thomas
Aquinas,” Philosophy, 100 Great Thinkers, says that “…all rational knowledge was a
acquired through sensory experience on which the mind could then reflect.” This purpose
is given by God and applied to everything , whether animate or inanimate. But, Aquinas
also acknowledges the power of divine revelation, as something beyond that achieved
through sensory experience, or, in a word, empiricism.
St. Thomas Aquinas claims five proofs fo God’s Existence and to achieve this he
uses deduction based on pure reason. “His conclusion was, unquestionably, the Prime
Mover, the niversal First Cause without whom nothing could exist,” says Harwood. We
kow, without needing to read the Bible, that it’s wrong to hurt people, and that we must
do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We can recognize just by looking at
natural things like flowers, that they are the work of God.
A Hierarchy on Earth but Female Equality in Heaven
St. Thomas Aquinas established hierarchy of being, derived from Aristotle, which
fitted in well with Christian theology. God is at the top, above the Angels, and then the
hierarchy filters down to man before encompassing animals and plants.
In the hierarchy of being, Aquinas consider Man as the life-giving force, and
concequently woman is his inferior, However, as Jostein Gaardner explains in Sophie’s
World:
St. Thomas Aquinas Revelation
According to Jeremy Harwood, Saint Thomas Aquinas suddenly writing his
Summa Theologica. “Four months before his death he experienced some form of
cathartic religious experience during mass,” says Harwood. He quotes the Saint. As he
explains why he never picked up his pen again.
“ All that I have written seems to me like straw, compared to what has now been
revealed to me,” Sadly, we will never know the true nature of that revelation.

The Biblical God and Humanity

Diagnosis: Human Disobedience- We misuse our freedom and choose evil over good
and therefore mess up our relationship with God. God punishes our disobedience by
sending pain, suffering, and death. [Did god know all this was going to happen
beforehand?] There is thus a tension between our inclinations and our duties, but why do
our (biological tendencies) imply moral failure?
God’s Covenants and Regeneration- God made us to be in a relationship with him, we
broke that relationship, so God musk fix it- hence the idea of salvation initiated by the
mercy of God. In the Old Testament, this is described as the idea of a covenant between
God and his chosen people- the Jews, especially Noah, Abraham and Moses. Still,
problems persisted, sin did not disappear from the earth, the jews commit genocide that
god orders, and more. God uses history to punish both friends and foes alike, but the idea
arises that God’s mercy can also intervene in history to rectify all these problems. “Thus
the hope arose among Judaism for the coming of a God-appointed savior, “the Messiah,”
which Christianity identify with Jesus.
The New Testament- The Jewish rabbi Jesus didn’t leave any writing but the new
religion of Christianity developed with the letters of St. Paul and the gospel narratives
about his life written between 40 to 70 years after his death. [His existence as a historical
figure has also been called into question.] Christians soon recognized god the father, god
the son, and god the holy spirit who inspired Christian believes- thus 3 persons in 1 God.
What is a Christian? This is complex question, but at a minimum it requires believing that
jesus was at least a special, historical, revelation of god and that God was uniquely
presents in Jesus.
The New Testament Theory of Human Nature- St. Paul talks of (the level of) spirit
and (the level of old nature) flesh. This distinction is one “between regenerate and
ungenerate humanity, redeemed and unredeemed human nature.” The idea, as expressed
in the Sermon on the Mount, seems to be that the best of human nature rejects power,
fame, wealth, and sex for moral righteousness. Sex is a particularly vexing issue, as both
St. Paul and St. Augustine deride it. As for women, Jesus evidently didn’t choose as
disciple and St. Paul and Christianity ever since “… has found females theologically
problematic…”
The New Testaments Diagnosis of Sin- We are all imperfect in God’s eyes, as is the
allowed to save his family and all the animals. There are also stories of sons of God
having sex with woman and races of giants. [ This as all in the first book of the bible.] No
doubt the text “is a complication of several ancient stories containing different
conceptions of the divine.
The Hebrew Theory of Human Nature- Humans exists “primarily in a relation to God,
who has created us to occupy a special position in the universe.
God’s Salvation in Christ- It is unclear what Jesus thought of himself, as it was Paul
who first formalized the doctrines of salvation and the incarnation. Paul thought that God
was uniquely present in Jesus and his life and death somehow restored our relationship
with God. Paul believed that one misdeed condemned all humanity and one righteous act.
Spiritual or Supernatural Versions of Christianity?- But how are we to rationally
understand perplexing Christian doctrines, like the resurrection and virgin birth? Must we
just accept them on faith? What of the outlandish material in the book of revelation? How
can resurrection bodies not exist in space and time? One might respond by partaking in
the spiritual life of the church, regardless of the truth of its theological claims, but surely
this can be achieved without accepting all the supernatural and metaphysical claims.