The Westminster Handbook to Thomas Aquinas

209 Pages·2016·17.62 MB·English

by  Joseph P. Wawrykow

THE WESTMINSTER HANDBOOKS
TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
The Westminster
Handbook to
Thomas Aquinas
Joseph P. Wawrykow
WJK
WESTMINSTER
JOHN KNox PRESS
LOUISVILLE' KENTUCKY
© 2005 Joseph P. Wawrykow
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
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publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon
Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.
Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copy
right © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.
Book design by Sharon Adams
Cover design by Cynthia Dunne
Cover art: Monks Copying Manuscripts
(Corbis/© Archivo Iconografico)
First edition
Published by Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards
e
Institute Z39.48 standard.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
050607080910111213 14 -10 9 8 7654321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wawrykow, Joseph Peter.
The Westminster handbook to Thomas Aquinas / Joseph Wawrykow.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-664-22469-5 (alk. paper)
1. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274. 2. Theology, Doctrinal-History
Middle Ages, 600-1500. 1. Title.
B765.T54W262005
230' .2'092-dc22 2005042240
Contents
Series Introduction
v
Introduction
vii
Abbreviations
xv
List of Articles
xvii
Articles
1
List of Latin Terms
171
A Note on the Literature
175
Primary Bibliography
177
Secondary Bibliography
181

Series Introduction
The Westminster Handbooks to Christian Theology series provides a set of
resources for the study of historic and contemporary theological move
ments and Christian theologians. These books are intended to assist
scholars and students find concise and accurate treatments of impor
tant theological terms. The entries for the handbooks are arranged in
alphabetical format to provide easy access to each term. The works are
written by scholars with special expertise in these fields.
We hope this series will be of great help as readers explore the riches
of Christian theology as it has been expressed in the past and as it will
be formulated in the future.
The Publisher
v

Introduction
Thomas Aquinas was born in either 1224 or 1225 at the family castle at Roccasecca,
located about midway between Rome and Naples. At the age of five, he was sent to
the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, where he spent the next ten years, receiv
ing his elementary education as well as exposure to the monastic life. In 1239 he was
sent to Naples for more advanced education in the liberal arts, likely with the expec
tation that he would eventually return to Monte Cassino. However, while in Naples
he came into contact with the Order of Preachers, more commonly known as the
Dominicans (after their founder, St. Dominic), one of the relatively new mendicant
(begging) orders, and in 1244 he took the Dominican habit. After overcoming some ini
tial family opposition to this decision, he was sent to Paris in 1245, where he contin
ued his training in philosophy and probably began his theological education. In 1248
he followed Albert the Great to Cologne, where he continued his theological training
and perhaps served as an assistant to this great intellectual, who was well versed in
theology and philosophy as well as other disciplines. From 1252 to 1256, he was back
in Paris as an advanced theology student; at this time he delivered his lectures on the
Sentences of Peter Lombard, which eventually were made available for copying (see
Scriptum on the Sentences). In 1256 he assumed one of the Dominican chairs in theol
ogy at the University of Paris, the greatest center of scholastic theology in the Middle
Ages, a position he held until 1259 (the period from 1256 to 1259 is thus designated the
first Parisian regency). In 1259, he was called back to Italy to serve the educational
needs of his order by teaching at Orvieto and then Rome. In 1268, he returned to Paris
for a second regency, until 1272. After that, he was back in Italy, at Naples, where he
continued work on his great Summa Theologiae (begun in 1266) and other writings. On
December 6, 1273, he had an experience while saying mass that brought his writing
career to an end. This has been explained variously by different scholars: Perhaps he
suffered a stroke or a breakdown; perhaps he underwent an intense spiritual experi
ence that made academic work seem beside the point. At any rate, he stopped writing,
leaving the ST incomplete, in the midst of the discussion, in its Third Part, of the sacra
ment of penance (the Third Part was also to have contained a discussion of the remain
ing three sacraments-holy orders, extreme unction, matrimony-and then conclude
with a treatment of the final things). Aquinas died in early March 1274, while travel
ing, at the request of the pope, to the Second Council of Lyons, which the pope had
called to bring the Eastern and Western churches back into union. Aquinas was
declared a saint of the Catholic Church in 1323; a man of deep humility and holiness,
he was celebrated especially for his great, and insightful, literary output.
vii
viii Introduction
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theology continues to be of interest to Christians both Catholic and Protestant. In his
theologizing, he benefited from certain medieval developments. Aquinas was a
scholastic theologian, and much of his work was done at the university, itself a
medieval innovation. He received his training at the university, first at the studium gen
era Ie at Naples and then at Paris, Cologne, and finally at Paris again. Once he com
pleted his training, he worked as a theologian at the University of Paris (1256-1259;
1268-1272) or in university-like settings in Dominican houses of study back in Italy
(1259-1268; 1272-1273). The university as center of learning and education was of rel
atively recent origin, having taken shape over the course of the twelfth century and
having found more or less fixed form early in the thirteenth. That Aquinas's theolog
ical achievement owes much to his university setting cannot be doubted. Prior to tak
ing up his own chair in theology, he had to go through the curriculum that had been
set by the masters and that provided to all scholars a common educational experience.
Thus, in the arts he would have received a solid grounding in the writings of Aristo
tle, which were more and more available in Latin translation. In the faculty devoted
to theology, he would have obtained a closer grasp of Scripture, as well as of the medi
ating postscriptural Christian theological tradition. As a scholastic theologian, Aquinas
also would have had a recognizable set of tasks to perform: In the slogan that had been
coined at the turn of the thirteenth century, the scholastic master lectured, disputed,
and preached (Iectio, disputatio, praedicatio). Lecturing was always on a set text, and the
text of the theological faculty was the Bible. The master of theology at the University
of Paris was in fact designated a "master of the sacred page." Preaching too was impor
tant, although, unfortunately, only a handful of Aquinas's own sermons have sur
vived. In disputing, the scholastic's dialectical skills came to the fore. Disputations
were of two types. One sort, the quodlibetal, was held at Advent and Lent; here, the
audience suggested topics, as well as arguments, for discussion, and these disputa
tions could pose a considerable challenge to the master. The other kind of disputation
reflected more closely the research agenda of the master. The master would set the
topic, and his advanced students would contribute arguments pro and con, with the
master eventually determining specific issues of dispute.l These disputations could
be long-term affairs, extending over a year or more, comprising several questions for
dispute that stand in some connection to each other. Even in Italy, when teaching for
the Dominicans, Aquinas adhered to the pattern of lecturing, disputing, and preach
ing. From his final year we have an impressive example of his preaching, in his hom
ilies on the Apostles' Creed, which are available in English translation.2
That Aquinas was a member of the Dominican order was also significant for his
theological work. The Order of Preachers had been founded early in the thirteenth cen
tury to combat heresy. Dominic and his first followers preached against the Cathars
in Southern France, dualists who posited a universal conflict between matter and
spirit, between evil and good. Dominic recognized that preaching would be more
effective the more learned and better informed the preacher was, and so he sent young
Domincans to the university towns, to learn from the masters and make use of the new
learning in their pastoral work. The Dominicans also quickly developed their own
educational system, at both the local and provincial levels, and friars were expected
to take advantage of these resources to enhance their pastoral performance.3 Accord
ing to the later thirteenth-century work, The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic, study
itself could be seen as a form of prayer.4 In such an environment, the work of Aquinas
would have been cherished and promoted, with Aquinas given all conceivable sup
port to engage in his academic work. The fruits of his research would, in turn, be
passed on to his fellows, both at the university and in the order, to the benefit of the
church. Actually, a handful of Aquinas's writings are distinctively "Dominican." The
Introduction ix
new mendicant orders could be quite controversial, especially as active at the univer
sity. Secular theologians saw these orders as a threat to their monopoly over theolog
ical education, and severely attacked them. In defense, Aquinas provided a few
writings that countered such attack, while explaining what is involved in this form of
discipleship to Christ. It has also been suggested that Aquinas's most famous work,
the ST, itself is a distinctively Dominican work, born of Aquinas's desire to improve
the education of fellow Dominicans in moral theology, so crucial for pastoral activity
(preaching and sacramental activity). Up to this time, Dominicans had learned moral
theology through treatises on virtues and vices. In his ST, Aquinas has a hefty section
on moral theology (see I-II, II-II), but puts that discussion after an account of God and
the procession of creatures from God (Part I). He then places after the ST's Second Part
a treatment of Christ (III). Moral theology is thus put in its proper theological and
christological context.s
Aquinas was a prolific author, and his corpus comprises more than eight million
words. A fair number of his writings are due to his professional responsibilities, or to
his training to become a master.6 Hence, his first great foray into systematic theology,
the Scriptum on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, which originated in his lectures on the
Sentences, qualified him for elevation to a chair in theology. His biblical commentaries
also originated in classroom lectures, whether at Paris or back in Italy in Dominican
houses of study. And his numerous collections of disputed questions go back to his
magisterial disputations, although he published them in more polished and compre
hensive form. The disputed questions nicely complement the presentations in the sys
tematic writings. To take but a few examples: the sixteen questions de malo go into
considerable detail on sin and vice, topics covered in the First Part of the Second Part
of the ST; the ten questions de potentia, crafted in the mid-1260s, treat material exam
ined in the ST's First Part, often in much greater detail and complexity? there are
briefer disputed questions in Christology8 and the virtues, including charity.9
But not all of Aquinas's writings are to be ascribed to professorial work. Some are
extracurricular, reflecting Aquinas's personal interest. This is the case for two of the
systematic writings for which he is best known: the Summa contra Gentiles, and, the
ST itself. In these writings, Aquinas is exploring ways in which the truths of the faith
might be best organized, presented, and explored. He is arguably searching in these
writings for an improvement over what was available in Lombard's Sentences-so too
the Aristotelian commentaries10 and commentaries on select works of Boethius and
Pseudo-Dionysiusll and on the Liber de Causis. In none of these cases was Aquinas
under professional obligation to write these works. That he engaged these texts closely
was due to his perception that a finer grasp of their contents could prove beneficial to
his general theological work.
The present volume provides an introduction to the theology of Thomas AqUinas.
Individual entries are devoted to important features of his theology. The Handbook
aims at providing newcomers to Aquinas with a reliable guide to his teaching; it
should prove of value as well to more experienced readers of Aquinas. For each entry,
I sketch the main points of the teaching on a given topic, indicating the passages in
Aquinas on which I have drawn. I would reconunend Ulat as one l'eads the entry one
consults these passages, to secure and confirm the teaching. Por ach entry, r have also
provided secondary sources where particular pOints can be foll wed up.J2
These entries are keyed to the ST, on which he worked from 1266 on. At times I cite
other writings to shed additional light on a position or to indicate where there has been
development in Aquinas's thought on an issue. Each part of the ST is made up of ques
tions, each of which is in turn comprised of articles. The number of articles per ques
tion is not set; Aquinas devotes as many, or as few, articles as he needs to explore the
question in sufficient depth. An article in the ST is itself composed of four parts; we