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
if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
“Then when he adds and know his will, he mentions their prerogative in regard to the fruit of the law: first, with respect to the person himself; second, with respect to others, at are confident. In regard to the first he mentions two fruits.”
if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,
“Then he mentions its fruit with respect to others who find themselves in three different situations, so far as knowledge of the law is concerned.”
You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
“Second, in regard to defiling another person through adultery, when he says: you who say men should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? They are all adulterers, like a heated oven (Hos 7:4); each neighing for his neighbor's wife (Jer 5:8).”
What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
“After showing that Judaism, which involved receiving the law and circumcision, is not sufficient for salvation without the law's observance, through which the gentile without external Judaism and circumcision obtains the fruit of each, he now objects to his own doctrine: first, he presents the…”
Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
“Then when he says, and he was not weak, he shows Abraham's firmness. For as temperance is shown not to be weak, because it is not overcome by strong temptations, so faith is shown not to be weak but strong, because it is not overcome…”
Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
“Then when he says, in the promise also of God, he commends Abraham's faith in the repeated promise that his seed would be exalted. First, he mentions the firmness of faith; second, the cause of the firmness, at giving glory to God.”
being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
“Then when he says, giving glory to God, he gives the reason why Abraham's faith was firm, for he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God by considering his omnipotence: great is his power (Ps 147:5).”
Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”
“The second authority contains the coalescence of gentiles and Jews. Hence, he says: and again he says: O gentiles, once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12); rejoice, you gentiles, with his people, i.e., adopt a common joy together with the Jews, who were…”
who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
“Who have for my life laid down their own necks, i.e., put themselves in danger of death to save my life, an indication of the greatest charity: greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).”