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| From the Wikipedia article on the Summa— St. Thomas and his Summa Theologica. |
Recently, two of the three Catholic parishes my wife and I attend and are involved with, have been giving away copies of Matthew Kelly's latest book, The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity. I had read Kelly before, and I'm being gracious when I say Kelly is not considered a teacher of religion, a philosopher, or a great Catholic writer...unless volume of words, repetitive words, is a criteria. He could, however, be labeled as the philosopher king of glurge—fictional, absurd tales, that distort historical fact and thus fail at their task.
One of the priests at our parish gave the book a glowing review. Nonetheless, I picked up one of free copies of "The Biggest Lie..." and read it. After I read it, I concluded that getting parishioners to read Matthew Kelly may reveal why so many are leaving the Church, or just not interested.
Kelly's book is unlike any other Catholic book aimed at arming and lifting up the faithful. For one thing, the book has no citations, footnotes or bibliographies...things that Catholic writers typically find necessary. Another thing
one might find in a good Catholic book are references to Scripture—plenty of them, perhaps one a page. Kelly quotes only one Bible verse in 114 pages, but not to let a good thing get by him, he references it twice. A third thing we might find in good Catholic writing are fresh or intelligent insights regarding the things of God. Kelly has none. In fact, he begins with a story I heard 50 years ago from a mediocre Baptist preacher.
For three days after finishing the book I dropped into an intellectual depression. No wonder the Church is suffering (and we're not talking about the Church Penitent in purgatory). Time to do something to redeem my mind. For one thing, I posted an honest review of The Biggest Lie on Amazon, and sent the link of the reviews to the priest who liked the book. I saw him this morning after Mass. He was not pleased with my 1-star rating or the review. But God liked it, and I found some peace. I mean, how else would I rate a book titled, "the Biggest Lie...?" (A of my critique version is HERE.)
ANTIDOTE FOR GLURGE—THE SUMMA
I have a PDF version of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa on my iPad. It is not a version that adjusts the text size and thus the number of pages on the reader. Rather, it is a straight PDF of a printed version of the Summa—fixed type size and page length. When you open it up, you are reminded of what you're in for—the Table of Contents is 150 pages long. And the whole book, although Aquinas reportedly never finished it, is 4,183 pages. At the same time each article within the Summa is just over one page long—(there are 3,125 articles). It's as if there was a sort of Twitter version for theology back in the time he wrote this (1265-1274).
The Summa was written for beginning theology students and literate lay persons. It explains the Christian faith and defends it against the heresies of the day...some of which are still around. So, reading the Summa is very useful, even today. And you, guessed it, there are citations and plenty of references to Holy Writ.
DOES GOD EXIST?
Famous among even modern secular philosophers, is an early article in the Summa that tackles the question "Whether God Exists?" St. Thomas provides five "proofs." What is so nice about reading the Summa is the way each article is organized. First the question is stated ("Whether God Exists?"). Then he presents the more common and articulate objections to God's existence. He then gives his rebuttal and follows up with post scripts that address the initial objections specifically. The whole article is very short with very concise and carefully chosen words.
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| B.C. from our up-coming book BASIC CHRISTIANITY. SEE LINK. |
1. The Argument from Motion. Whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. But this cannot go to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and consequently, no other motion, and that is absurd. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understand to be God.
2. The Argument from Nature of Cause. Every effect has am (efficient) cause. And since no effect can be its own cause, there must be a prior cause. Now, it is not possible to go back in infinity, because in all efficient causes come in order, each cause has an effect. For, if there is no first cause, there are would be no other effects and the world would cease to be. Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.
3. The Argument from Possibility and Necessity. In nature there is the possibility to be or not to be. And what is now, at one time was not. That is, there was a time when nothing existed. Therefore, if there is the possibility that nothing existed, it was necessary for something to exist before to bring into existence that which now exists; and that necessity which makes everything possible from nothing is what we call God.
4. The Argument from Gradation. Of everything that exists there are things that are more or less good, hotter or colder (like fire and ice); or more or less best, noblest, and more or less true. And those things that are the most true are those that are the greatest in being. Now, the maximum of any category is the cause of everything in that category, like fire is the source of everything that is hot. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.
5. The Argument from Governance of the World. Everything in nature has a purpose and an end which it accomplishes, even those things which lack intelligence. This can only be by design. If a thing lacks intelligence it cannot fulfill its purpose unless it is directed or endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore, some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.
Now, don't you feel better?
I do.
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