St. Thomas Aquinas (Noun)
Meaning
(Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology; presented philosophical proofs of the existence of God (1225-1274).
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- Thomas Hobbes developed the philosophical theories that counter St. Thomas Aquinas on nearly all significant topics.
- Through this reading St. Thomas composed many sermons which contained even for their times vast scholastic knowledge as on certain points only St. Thomas expressed himself with finality on matters theological.
- St. Thomas is among many Roman Catholic saints whose devotion became a major inspiration to Jacques Maritain alongside that of St. Thomas' disciple St. Albert the Great.
- In the twelfth century this would be seen as an end in itself - as the prime expression of the will of the people as it was expressed during the highest crisis of the Middle Ages that was resolved by Thomas Aquinas in the universities.
- He proposed his so-called "Five Ways" (Latin: "Quinque Viae") for demonstrating the existence of God, the first three of which are cosmological arguments based on the concepts of movement and causation.