Commentary Of St. Thomas Aquinas On The Book Of John Analysis
Rudi te Velde Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas. Introduction Right at the beginning of his Commentary, Thomas states that the principal theme of the Book of Job is that of divine providence, especially as related to the domain of human affairs.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
This specific theme appears to be connected with a problem. The suffering of the innocent is for many a serious objection to belief in the justice of God: why does God allow the innocent and the just to suffer? It is the apparant lack of Commentary Of St. Thomas Aquinas On The Book Of John Analysis order in the human world oBok constitutes the problem of Job. In order to meet this objection, the Book of Job intends to show that and how human affairs are in truth ruled by divine providence, and that the rule of divine providence in human life AAnalysis wisdom as well as justice. It was around this time that he was also composing the third book of the Summa contra Gentiles whose subject is providence as well. Moreover, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the systematic elaboration of the concept of providence provides the necessary tools Thimas the conceptual background for the interpretation of the biblical text.
We will, therefore, start with an exposition of the concept of providence as treated in ScG; in 1 Cf. The message of the Book of Job, as read by Thomas, is that human life comes to its final truth, not in this life, but only in the life to come. The Concept of Providence ScG As said in the introduction, the fact that Aquinas was commenting on the book of Job parallel with composing the third book of the Summa contra Gentiles on providence, would be reason to expect that the treatment in ScG were full of references to Job. For Aquinas, apparently, the book of Job is not a relevant source of his systematic treatment of the concept of providence. The reason must be that there exists an essential difference in perspective between both discussions of providence.
The treatment in ScG is philosophical or theoretical in character: the focus is on the concept of providence, how it must be understood, and that the reality of the providential regime does not necessarily exclude contingency, evil, chance, free will, etc. The book of Job, in contrast, tells us the story of Job who experiences the extreme disharmony between his inner moral rightheousness and the afflictions of his 2 I have found only three references to Job in the part on providence: III, c. The read article of Job with his friends gives expression to the bitter human experience of suffering and the apparent lack of justice. One might say that, in the book of Job, Analhsis concept of providence is presupposed; the problem for Job is not the nature of providence in general, but Thomaw how to recover his faith in the moral order of providence which is apparently contradicted by the extreme disharmony he experiences in his life.
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Belief in providence means that reason is hold to be the determining principle in reality instead that things are merely the result of chance. The providential order of the world is essentially an order exhibiting divine reason and wisdom. Later, when philosophical thought made progress, it came to a more developed understanding of the intelligible order of reality and its causal principles. Things happen not by chance, but generally for the good, Aquonas part of a good order governed by a divine intellect.
The rule of divine providence is thus affirmed by way of excluding fortune and chance. Providence, however, can also be affirmed in a too strong sense as leaving no room at all to chance and contingency in the world. Contingency, as Thomas understands it, is characterized by a relative lack of reason: something is contingent inasmuch as it has the possibility to exist or not to exist. The contingent can article source to be or to act in a determined way; hence, it is marked by ontological deficiency.
According to the Greek-Aristotelian view the universe is divided in a higher part, characterized by necessity and perfect rationality, and a lower, sublunar part, in which contingency reigns. Now, the crucial question is whether providence rational order and contingency lack of order are not mutually exclusive. The problem of providence, especially as it is addressed in the third book of the Summa contra Gentiles, arises at the crossroads of 6 Cf. ScG III, c.
In order to appreciate how thoughtfully Thomas deals with this problem in the ScG, I shall mark the various steps according to which he construes his understanding of het concept of providence. Next, when we speak of God governing the world, this should not be understood in a external manner as if God governs an already existing world more or less like a human king. God is active in the world in the sense that he gives being to all things and preserves them in being ScG III, Providence is not really different from the act of creation. By one and the same act God produces all things, preserves them in being and leads them to their proper good and end through the powers and operations which are given to them.
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Providence is, so to say, the continuation of the work of creation in the sense of making things, each according to its own nature, to realise their own finality, as included in the comprehensive goodness of the order of the universe. The difference compared with creation is that in the execution of his providence, God relates to creatures which are already constituted in their own specific nature and mode of operation. Essential to providence is that there are two levels of causality to be reckoned with: the first cause, which is God, and the second created causality of creatures who are active in virtue of Analysiz powers they are provided with. The causal activity proper to creatures is said to be totally dependent upon the divine power which is active in all things.]
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