An Introductory Note
Chesterton’s book is more a
biography on a man who happened to have been an influential theologian than a
book of theology. This book aims at leading the reader to further reading of
Thomas’ teachings. The type of Aquinas that Chesterton presents is a man of
mystery. He says that whether we love or hate Aquinas, it is clear that Thomas
Aquinas was one of the towering geniuses of human history right up there with
Einstein and Newton. He also presents Aquinas as the greatest philosopher since
Aristotle and may be the greatest ever. He also presents Thomas Aquinas as a
man who was humble and had an inner deep longing for the truth. Here in this
little presentation of mine I would like to present the events and issues that
Chesterton states in this book, which are very important in the life of
St.Thomas Aquinas which made him a great philosopher and theologian the world
ever had.
A Struggle for Fidelity to God’s
Call
Thomas Aquinas was a high ranking
Italian noble man, horrifies his family by joining not the traditional monastic
order which his father Landulf Aquino wanted him to join, but the friars, the
new religio-social movement pioneered by St. Dominic[1] in
the year 1215, where the friars embraced for themselves the vow of poverty and
went around begging and dedicated their lives to preaching. Thomas was a quite
large and heavy boy.[2]
His characteristics were absent mindedness and reflectiveness. His father
thought that nothing could be done with this boy and so wanted to make him an
abbot so that they keep up their worldly rank and so he was put in the
Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. But Thomas’ idea was different; he
wanted to join the Dominican Order. His brothers who were not ready to make him
a Dominican friar kidnapped[3]
him and put him in the tower room of his castle, where Thomas began his
meditation and contemplation on philosophy and other doctrines. Chesterton
makes this point very clear when he names the chair that was there in that
tower room as the chair of philosophy. He also says that it is in that very
room where Thomas fell in love with philosophy and never rose again in his
life. The family even proposed to the Pope that Thomas could be allowed to be
the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino wearing the Dominican
habit. But Thomas remained a Dominican friar until the end of his life.
The First Revolution
This book, though it has as its
subject St. Thomas, also speaks about other four great monks who had a very
close connection with Thomas they are: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, St.
Albert[4]
and St. Bonaventure. St. Francis and St. Dominic are considered as twin brothers;
Thomas and Francis are considered as nephew and uncle. Chesterton also says
that Thomas was the faithful spiritual son of Dominic and Bonaventure was the
spiritual son of Francis. Physically speaking Thomas and Francis were very
different personalities but in relation to the work that they were doing they
are united very deeply. These saints were trying to bring a reformation, Thomas’
was in the world of mind and Francis’ was in the world of the worldly. One main
thing is that they were not trying to bring something new to the Christianity
but only defending Christianity. Actually speaking Francis saved the Church
from Buddhism by his love for nature and Thomas saved the Church from being
Platonist by his love for Greek philosophy. It is believed that Francis was
following Ovid and Thomas was following Aristotle but Chesterton makes it very
clear that both followed only one master: Jesus Christ. Dominic and Francis are
considered as heavenly twins, two saints in a single halo and two knights
fighting on the same horse, precisely because they both joined together and were
leading a revolution. Dominic converted the heretics and Francis converted the
Christians to Christianity again. Thomas during his time was taking part in
this revolution.
Major Revolution
As I have stated above the first
revolution in which Thomas took part was initiated by Dominic and Francis. The
main revolution that Thomas himself started and in which he succeeded was the
rehabilitation of Aristotle. This was the major revolution that Thomas did in
his life span. During Thomas’ time there were two dangers present: first the
danger of the Orthodox or those who too easily identify the old order with the
Orthodox and condemn Aristotle, second of the Arabs, who got hold of the Greek
manuscripts before the Italians. These Moslems were not so orthodox, but they
were trying to turn Aristotle in to a Pantheist philosophy. These two were
outside the Catholic Church, but the major danger that was present in the
Catholic Church was that the early Church was more Platonist. The Fathers of
the Church were Neo-Platonists and Augustine was the main one among them. The
Platonist ideas of Augustine lead to a mood which unconsciously committed the
heresy of dividing the substance of the Trinity. It thought of God too
exclusively as a Spirit who purifies and a Savior who redeems and too little as
a Creator who creates. Thomas wanted to correct this idea of Plato by an appeal
to Aristotle, by presenting the positive creation where God creates the world.
It was not that he was breaking away from Augustine, Anselm and Albert but he
was agreeing to some points and disagreeing in some points. In fact we can say
that it was Thomas who saved the human element in Christian theology.
During that time the Church was in
fear of Mohamed more than of Aristotle, so at first the Catholic Church was not
worried about the Aristotelian idea brought forth by Thomas. The fear that the
Catholic Church had was that the Thomist may become a good philosopher and not
a good Christian. The Catholic Church clarified the ideas of Thomas through the
Bishop of Paris Stephen Temier, before whom Thomas made clear that he was more
Christian in adapting Aristotle’s concept. The friends of Thomas translated the
works of Aristotle after this towards which the Pope was much tolerant. Actually
this process was called the Baptism of Aristotle. Thomas’s Aristotelianism
simply means that the study of the humblest fact will lead us to the discovery
of the highest truth. This process is more logical than biological, he was more
worried about philosophy than science; he also said that we must start from the
beginning of the ladder. In this great revolution what protected him were his
simplicity, goodness and love for truth.
Disputation Against Manichaeism and
Siger of Brabart
In
his life time Thomas also had to fight against Manichaeism which held the view
that the material world is intrinsically evil and so we have to undergo severe
bodily suffering to overcome this. The Church was also tending towards this
idea due to the influence of Plato, but Thomas made the idea of penance very
clear saying that we Catholics do penances not because the world is something
bad but because this penance may correct the attitude of man towards the world.
After reconciling Aristotle with the Church Thomas thought that his work was
over, but he had to fight against Siger of Brabart a Sophist who had learned
Aristotle from the Arabs. Siger was propagating that human being’s head is divided
in to two and so man has two minds one to believe and the other to disbelieve,
but Thomas said that there were no two ways of finding the truth but rather it
was an untruthful way of pretending that there are two truths. Thomas refuted
him saying that faith is one truth; nothing discovered in nature could
ultimately contradict the faith; so there can not be two truths. By this be put
an end to Siger who was indirectly trying to say that truth is not one.
Chesterton says that it is in this refutation that the Dumb Ox turned into a wild
bull against his enemy because the theory of Siger was identified with the
theory of Thomas. That is the reason why Thomas came heavily on Siger. After
this he wanted to remain in silence and retreat because of the mystical vision
that he had. It is said that Thomas died during his journey to do a
disputation.
Conclusion
Thomism is essentially a philosophy
of commonsense. Thomas did not identify Jesus with Aristotle but he identified
Aristotle with Jesus. Some consider Thomas as the end of scholastic philosophy,
but the end does not mean the destruction but the fulfillment. I very often
think of Thomas as a man of great intellect and wisdom but through this book
Chesterton shows that Thomas was a person who was very humble and had a deep
love for the Catholic faith and dedicated his entire life for defending it.
For References
Chesterton.
G.K. St. Thomas Aquinas – The Dumb Ox.
New York: Image Books.1956.
[1] Dominic Guzman is the founder of
the Dominican Order of friars which he founded in the year 1215. It is to him Mother Mary
gave the Holy Rosary.
[2] Since Thomas was a quiet and heavy
boy the classmates in the class of Albert the named him the Dumb Ox.
[3] His brothers wanted to give him
the name the runaway abbot that is the reason why they kidnapped him.
[4] He was an Aristotelian in the
making. He was a German teaching in Paris and was called the Universal Doctor
because of the range of his scientific researches. He was the teacher of Thomas
who prophesized that the person whom his companions were calling, “Dumb Ox”
would bellow so loudly that this bellowing would fill the world.
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