Voices and influences
Thomas Aquinas
He wrote the most careful theology of the Middle Ages, then saw something of God and called all of it straw.
Summary
This site quotes Thomas Aquinas 295 times across 17 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived died 1274.
- Quoted here most in Isaiah: 111 of 295.
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Thomas Aquinas
- Lived
- died 1274
- Tradition
- Patristic
5 of 295 quotations
Own words
Quoted at 50 words or fewer, because Thomas Aquinas's works are in copyright.
Next he sets forth the manner; hence he says, "Their fatness." Fatness in Scripture is sometimes taken in a good sense, sometimes in a bad sense. In a good sense, insofar as it signifies devotion of mind: Ps. 62: "Let my soul be filled as …
Psalms 17:10 They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance. BSB
"They surrounded me." Here the necessity of deliverance is set forth. And first he shows the magnitude of deliverance. Second, the prayer he pours forth to God in tribulation. Third, he sets forth the hearing of his prayer, "he heard." Note that these three -- …
Psalms 18:4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. BSB
Next he applies the remedy, namely of divine help. Where first he proposes the remedy. Second he explains it. He says therefore, "Within myself." Another reading has, "From myself my soul was disturbed." The first is better; as if to say: what is the reason, …
Psalms 42:6 O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar. BSB
"Therefore we will not fear." Ps. 26: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" As if to say: I will fear no one. And rightly, because he himself is "our God, a refuge and strength, a helper in the tribulations …
Psalms 46:2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth is transformed and the mountains are toppled into the depths of the seas, BSB
Fourth, in the fear of their enemies, for they will tend the mountains and abandon the plains: and as for the hills: and all her cities shall be wastes (Jer 49:13), and: you endeavor to lay hold on the height of the hill (Jer 49:16).
Isaiah 7:25 For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Thomas Aquinas 295 times across 17 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Thomas was born about 1225 at Roccasecca, between Rome and Naples, the youngest son of the count of Aquino. His family sent him at five to the great Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, expecting him eventually to be its abbot — a rich and respectable position for a younger son. He studied at Naples instead, met the Dominicans, and joined them. The Dominicans were beggars. His family reacted by having him kidnapped on the road and held in the family castle for about a year. His brothers, according to the early accounts, put a prostitute in his room to break his resolve; he drove her out with a burning stick. His mother finally let him go. He went north to Cologne and Paris and studied under Albert the Great. He was large and silent, and the other students called him the dumb ox. Albert told them that the bellowing of this ox would be heard around the world. He taught at Paris, at the papal court, at Naples. He wrote at enormous speed, sometimes dictating to several secretaries at once on different subjects. The project of his life was to show that reason and revelation do not contradict each other. The works of Aristotle had recently come back into Europe through Arabic and Greek translations, and they looked dangerous — a complete, powerful account of the world built without Scripture. Some churchmen wanted them banned. Thomas took them up instead and argued that truth found by reason and truth given by revelation come from the same God, and cannot finally conflict. Grace, he wrote, does not destroy nature but perfects it. The Summa Theologiae is the result: thousands of questions, each stated, each answered first by the strongest objections against his own position, then decided, then the objections answered one by one. He wrote it, he said, for beginners. He also wrote the Summa Contra Gentiles, and commentaries on most of Aristotle and on much of Scripture — Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Matthew, John, and all of Paul. The Eucharistic hymns Pange Lingua and Adoro Te Devote are his. On 6 December 1273, while saying Mass at Naples, something happened to him. He stopped writing. His secretary Reginald pressed him to finish the Summa, and Thomas answered: I cannot, because everything I have written seems like straw to me compared to what I have seen. He never wrote another line. The Summa is unfinished. He died on 7 March 1274 at the abbey of Fossanova, on the road to a church council, about forty-nine years old. Sources: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles; William of Tocco, Vita Sancti Thomae Aquinatis; G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. V.
295 quotations across 17 books
Where this voice is quoted
Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me?
“Second, he indicates the sign of his divinity confirmed by witnesses: fear not, as if to say: be not worried for me, as if I would fail in a test of my divinity, below: I have made you to hear new things (Isa 48:6).”
He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.
“As to its material cause: he has cut down cedars, which are also used for base purposes: the works of the hand of the workman has cut a tree out of the forest (Jer 10:3).”
Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’”
“Second, under the metaphor of a father who begets: woe to him that says to his father, as if to say: I am a father begetting Cyrus and like a mother conceiving him in intention, and therefore you ought not contradict me in this, just…”
Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
“Hidden, not visible like our gods; the savior, not weak: he made darkness his covert (Ps 18:11).”
They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
“Second, he shows their exaltation as to the confusion of their enemies: they are all confounded: the nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their strength (Mic 7:16).”
But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.
“Third, as to the perpetual salvation of the Jews: Israel is saved for ever, unless he should sin, or of the spiritual Israel: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of you, you shall fear evil no more (Zeph 3:15).”
I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.
“Second, he foretells its nearness: I have brought near, I will bring, using the past tense for the future, my justice, concerning Babylon for you through Cyrus, or the justice of Christ, below: my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed…”
You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.
“Second, their pride of heart: and you have said, setting out their proud thinking: I shall be a lady for ever: she says in her heart: I sit a queen (Rev 18:7); he also sets out the foolishness of the proud, that they did not…”
You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.
“And as to astrologers: let now the astrologers stand against their enemies, if they could, for they abounded in these arts, too: be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear (Jer 10:2).”
Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image…
“And then from this, he draws the reason: I foretold; as if to say: that you were prone to idolatry, I foretold, lest you ascribe my benefits to idols: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread (Hos 2:5).”
See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
“I have refined you, wishing to cleanse you through trials, but not as silver, which is cleansed, but you were not corrected: the founder has melted in vain (Jer 6:29); I have chosen you, namely, cleansing you through poverty, punishing you by the plundering of…”
I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.
“Third, he assigns the reason for his prosperity from divine help: I, even I; his way is made right, not absolutely, but so that he might destroy Babylon; otherwise, it cannot be explained of Cyrus, but only of Christ, as Jerome says, for Cyrus was…”
Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”
“And he sets out the return of the captives: behold these shall come from afar, from the east, and from the sea, the west: I will bring them from the north (Jer 31:8).”
Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.
“And the manner of its fulfillment: your builders are come, that is, the rebuilders, namely, Zorobabel and Jesus and others already before my eyes; they that destroy you, the Chaldeans: the hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house (Zech 4:9).”
Yet the children of your bereavement will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; make room for us to live here.’
“Third, he foretells the multitude of its inhabitants: the children of your barrenness, that is, those who were born when they believed you were barren, emptied of inhabitants, below: enlarge the place of your tent (Isa 54:2).”
The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.
“The Lord God has opened my ear, to understand: I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me (Ps 84:9[85:8]); one is your master, Christ (Matt 23:10).”
For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the…
“924. [Second,] he deduces the benefit of divine comfort: the Lord therefore will comfort, as to the rebuilding of cities, all the ruins: you are comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in all things (Ezek 14:22); as to the cultivation of…”
For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”
“Third, he shows their fragility: for the worm shall eat them up as a garment: who am as a garment that is moth-eaten (Job 13:28).”
So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
“931. Second, he announces to his people that the Lord has heard his petition: and now, as it was when they came forth from Egypt, they that are redeemed, from captivity in Babylon: for the Lord will lead them back (Bar 4:23).”
Among all the sons she bore, there is no one to guide her; among all the sons she brought up, there is no one to take her hand.
“937. Second, he excludes every human remedy, namely, of defense: there is none that can uphold her; of liberation: there is none that takes her.”
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
“Second, he sets out the promise: no vessel that is formed against you shall prosper, that is, he will scatter everything formed, as to those attacking with deeds, and every tongue, as to those attacking with words, above: they shall be as nothing (Isa 41:11).”
I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
“Second, as to everyone generally: every one that keeps the sabbath from profaning it. And concerning this, he does two things.”
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest, lying down in death.
“Second, he promises them rest: let peace come, let him rest in his bed, that is, he will be secure in his own home, or in the repose of his own heart: you shall know that your tabernacle is in peace (Job 5:24).”
“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
“And he deduces a proposition: there is no peace to the wicked, namely, that they may be saved, above (Isa 48:22) has the same.”
Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease.
“He also sets out the eternity of its governor: your sun, which is God, shall go down no more: but you are always the selfsame, and your years shall not fail (Ps 101:28[102:27]). And the days of your mourning shall be ended.”