Tuesday is feast day of St Thomas Aquinas, one of the Catholic Church’s 37 “super saints”, or Doctors of the Church. This week marks the 800th anniversary of his birth.
He was a Dominican priest and remains one of the most famous theologians of all time. He took seriously the medieval maxim that “grace perfects and builds on nature; it does not set it aside or destroy it.”
Aquinas embraced Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, fusing their philosophies with the principles of Christianity. Along with some more of his insights, he created a school of thought that encompasses both theology and philosophy, now known as Thomism.
However, during his studies, Thomas was nicknamed by his peers ‘the Dumb Ox’ because of his large frame and his slow speech. Yet, his teacher St Albert said of him: “We call this man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound throughout the world.” This comment has proven to have been prophetic.
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One of Aquinas’s most enduring and important contributions was his ability to bring together concepts that often appeared to be in conflict: faith and reason, theology and philosophy, religion and science.
He argued that reason and faith do not have to be exclusive. Indeed, reason can strengthen faith. As a consequence, his thought is often highlighted as an intellectual reference to confront the challenges of modern times.
Why, though, should not alone theology but society as a whole be concerned with the musings of a thinker from the Middle Ages? I would like to suggest three reasons Aquinas can be a partner in conversation for us today.
First, we live in the era of “fake news” where often the repeated lie becomes the truth. Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Boris Johnson are just three examples of the havoc that can be created when people have a casual relationship with the truth.
Sociologists claim that we live in a “post-truth era”. Aquinas gives us not so much the “call to prayer” but the “call to truth”, where it is not to be traded as a currency to advance a particular agenda. Pope John Paul II said Aquinas “disinterestedly loved the truth”.
Aquinas believed that there are great truths all around us or, as in Patrick Kavanagh’s words, in “the bits and pieces of everyday”. We just have to look for them.
Second, I watch the news every evening and generally it depresses me, because it seems that our world is growing more intolerant and polarised each passing day. One of the simplest, yet most important aspects of Aquinas’s philosophy is the notion that truth can be found in the many, even those we do not expressly agree with.
Aquinas steers us away just from thinking that “I am right.” Instead, he nudges us to say: “Don’t be afraid. Let’s look at what others have to say.” His methodology is more necessary today than ever.
Even though we might be on completely different sides of things, he wants us to find out what the other side’s position is. What does it look like to walk a mile in the shoes of someone who takes an opposite position to mine? Armed with this strategy, we can develop a better idea of truth.
The law should not be followed when to do so would be wrong
— St Thomas Aquinas
Rather than retreating to the sanctuary of our own preconceived answers, Aquinas dares us to constantly ask challenging, even uncomfortable, questions.
Third, he offers an important warning against an unbending moral legalism. In this context it is worth noting the way the Dominican Order in its constitution has always stressed the principle of “dispensation”.
Perhaps that is why the legitimacy of exceptions is recognised in the writings of Aquinas. He held that fairness or good sense – “epikeia” – should be used to recognise when human law might be inappropriate in a particular case.
In his own words: “Laws are made for human actions. But such actions are individual and concrete situations, and they are infinitely variable” and that “the law should not be followed when to do so would be wrong”.
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His theory of exceptions is in contrast to current unbending interpretations of his natural law. The application of “epikeia” enhances justice, revealing glimpses of a higher “law beyond the law”.
In this perspective, for example, while the obligation to confidentiality is very important, the grave needs of others or the common good might justify the revelation of a secret.
The more general moral guidelines such as the first principle enunciated by Aquinas – good is to be done and evil is to be avoided – are true in all cases.
As we get into more specific situations, though, it is difficult to argue for absolutist positions.
Aquinas reminds us that such is the complexity of the human condition that moral absolutes are difficult to sustain – unless these are thoughtfully and painstakingly nuanced and allow a legitimate place for exceptions.
John Scally is a lecturer in theology at Trinity College Dublin
