A 13th. Century friar called Thomas Aquinas tried to show that philosophy and religion need not be at loggerheads. He said that faith and reason were often two paths to the same end. Through reason, the Greek philosopher Aristotle had identified an "unmoved mover"; a supreme being whose existence at the beginning of time set the universe in motion.To Aquinas, this harmonized with the Christians' faith in God, who created all things. He argued that without God there could be no universe:
"To take away
the Cause is to take
away the Effect"
Aquinas was the son of an Italian nobelman. At the age of 19 he ran away from home to join Dominican friars in France. His brothers promptly brought him back and kept him holed up in the family castle for a year, trying to bring him to his senses. But nothing would put him off the idea, and eventually his family relented.
Dominican friars were intellectuals, trained to answer questions challenging Christianity. After hundreds of years in obscurity, Greek philosophy was once again being studied. Aquinas absorbed many of Aristotle's ideas and used them as a platform for his own thinking. His aim was to prove God's existence through reason (the tool of the philosopher). The result was two massive books in which he managed to weld the philosophy of Aristotle to Christian belief.
After experiencing some kind of divine vision, Aquinas stopped writing; saying words were "mere straw". Two years later, a bump on the head caused a decline in health. He ended his days in an Italian monastery, where he was discovered expired in the lavatory. After his death, Aquinas' work became the approved philosophy of the Church and earned him a place with the saints.
Aquinas combined the philosophy of
Aristotle with the Christian religion.
Aquinas became so fat he needed to have a special niche cut into his dining table.
Angels are between human beings and God.
People's souls have the ability to reason.
Animals have souls capable of feelings.
Plant souls ensure growth.