Mountains and Peep Holes
The Universal Issue
St. Thomas Aquinas argued that faith and reason must complement each other in his work Summa Contra Gentiles. His work was written in the mid 13th century, and his arguments have equal significance in the 21st century, exposing the same universal controversies. A modern American understands the conflict of faith and logic equally as much as a 13th century Italian. He argues that Aristotle's rational methods of understanding and religion's claims to faith could in fact coexist, despite the objection of other thinkers. Since Aristotle was a secular figure it further divided the idea of faith and reason being remotely compatible. Not only could they coexist, argues Thomas, but the two groups of understanding even complement each other. Thomas endeavors to mend the contradicting issue of faith and reason. This paper will discuss how Thomas Aquinas used the primary ways of knowing truth to connect faith and reason.
God
Makes Knowledge Accessible
St. Thomas makes a powerful argument in the beginning of Chapter VII of Summa Contra Gentiles that God gave revelations to humankind, and those revelations are understood with natural reason. His third sentence of the chapter reads "Nor is it lawful to deem false that which is held by faith, since it is so evidently confirmed by God" (333). Thomas states that faith is "evidently confirmed" by God in the tangible ideas and physical objects of this world. If God indeed made the world then the human understanding of the world cannot possible contradict the understanding of God. In order to understand faith, reason and the ultimate truth, it is important to accept that the mind has the ability to process and remember truth. St. Thomas contends that the human mind understands complex ideas by breaking them down to natural reason. "Therefore God does not instill into man any opinion or belief contrary to natural knowledge" (334). Thus "...since God himself is the author of our nature. Therefore the divine Wisdom also contains these principles." (334). God makes his divine knowledge accessible in rational ways, and if either the revealed idea or the rational understanding contradict each other then the idea cannot possibly be true. Thomas utilizes the common situation of a teacher and a student to help understand of the situation. He claims that if God gave contradicting truth in his physical creation, he would be corrupt, and God cannot possibly be corrupt. This argument would not work as well in modern American society since there is not the established cultural authority that God is just, or even that there is a God. For Thomas Aquinas, the argument that God's knowledge is true as God is true would have made quite the impact for his audience in a theologically steeped society.
Mountains
and Peep Holes
Faith goes beyond reason, but reason cannot contradict faith. Reason gives a glimpse of the wonderment of faith. Reason provides a confirming hint for the banquet of faith that humanity cannot fully taste. It fails to fully explain the vastness of God but gives a small testimony to the larger picture. Imagine looking at the picture of a mountain range. From a distance and without any obstructions the whole picture is fully visible. God is the mountain range understood by faith, and only God can see the entire picture. Now imagine a paper covering the photograph allowing the audience to see through a dime-sized hole. This limited view of the mountains can be a good analogy for tangible, finite, human reason. The audience, through faith, can trust that there is an entire mountain range despite their limited view. Likewise, using rational thinking, people can choose to accept the greater truth of who God has revealed himself to be.
Parallel to Thomas' argument that faith and reason cannot contradict is this following scenario. If the image through the peep hole was a beach, then obviously that would be giving a false account of what really lies behind the rest of the paper. Likewise if reason does not agree with faith then it is giving a false testament to the whole picture of truth. Thomas stresses and even exhorts that reason cannot contradict faith or that would render one of the two false, and it has to be human reason that is false. God is truth and thus contradicting faith in God means disagreeing with ultimate truth. Analyzing further, reason cannot explain all of God's being but it does point to it in comprehensible human ways.
God's
Truth and Human Reason
Thomas uses the primary ideas of truth to make the argument that faith and reason must agree with each other. He uses the first principle of non-contradiction to show that if one or the other conflicts then there is a flaw in the whole understanding of truth. Therefore since God is truth they must agree, either that or human reason, not faith, must be at fault. Then Thomas applies the condition of the mind's ability to know truth to explain that God reveals himself to his creation in natural ways of understanding. St. Thomas uses the principles of truth to make his argument that faith and reason can and do compliment each other.
