Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and the Providence of God:
Foundation Stratum of the Great Tradition
by
Wayne Van Kauwenbergh
A Research Paper
Presented to Professor A.G. Padgett
As a Requirement in
Course ST1415 ST:1 Creation and the Triune God
2011
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INTRODUCTION
A physical community is defined by its underlying geological strata in ways
current inhabitants take for granted. Where there is no stable rock in which to anchor
there are no skyscrapers, where there is not soil to sustain forests for wood, or accessible
and workable stone, or kilnable clay for brick, other materials must be found or imported.
Where there is not enough water to support more than a certain amount of activity, no
greater activity can be sustained.
This would be perhaps an apt metaphor for the Providence of God itself and how
it shapes us, but it also applies to the treatment of the Providence of God by Thomas
Aquinas and how it shapes both Christian Systematic Theology and the outlooks of the
Christian who has never heard of Thomas.
Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, Question 22 took on all comers to
expound a view of God’s Providence answering questions regarding God’s intent, human
role and purpose, the role of government, and the questions of predestination and free
will. Agree with Aquinas or not, the scope of interrelatedness and comprehensiveness in
Summa is magnified by presentation at the New Advent website in internally and
externally cross referenced links. Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica
http://newadvent.org,/summa/1022.htm, accessed October 2011. One can leap from one
aspect of the Summa to another to get some idea of how much Aquinas was dealing with
to keep logical consistency. Amidst of this organic whole are a few central concepts,
central nodes, the reach out and underlay the systematic theology of the whole. The
Providence of God in Question 22 is such a central concept.
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A good operative definition of providence, not Thomas’, might be:
God’s creative, caring and sustaining action towards the universe, including
general creation and upholding of a natural order (General Providence) and
toward specific individuals and specific situations, including but not limited to
granting, without diminishment of His attributes, the dignity of causality/free will,
miracles/exceptions to the natural law as understood by science (Special
Providence), and revealing principles for human carrying out of the temporal, and
non-eternal (Government).
Who was Thomas Aquinas?
Thomas was born to a family in the lower Italian nobility in 1224 or 1225, and
brought to the monastery of Monte Cassino, the motherhouse of the Benedictine monks,
by his family as an oblate at the age of 5. His family hoped he might eventually become
the abbot of Monte Cassino, but Thomas did not share that ambition. Rebelling against
his family design, he proceeded, after five years of study at the university at Naples, to
join the relatively new order of the Dominicans in 1244 despite vigorous action by his
family that, according to some sources, included kidnapping him. Compare Walker,
Norris, Lotz and Handy, A History of the Christian Church, 4TH Ed. (1985) at 337-348
with The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed. Volume 14 (2003) at 14(Hereafter NCE2).
Personally reserved and corpulent, dubbed “the Dumb Ox” by some of his fellow
Dominican friars, he commenced an itinerant career, changing station for various
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reasons; going to Paris for his novitiate, to Cologne for study and lecture as a bachelor or
theology, then back to Paris for his masters. In 1256 he was accepted into one of the two
Dominican chairs at the university at Paris, but was turned out the following year as the
result of a dispute between the mendicant orders and the secular masters of theology at
the university. From 1259 to 1268 he was in Italy, teaching and writing at Naples,
Orvieto, Rome and Viterbo. In 1269 he returned to Paris for three years as a member of
the faculty. In 1272, he was called to Naples, in order to establish a center for Dominican
learning. In 1274, age 50 or 51, he died on the way to attend a conference at Lyon. The
Summa was conceived, apparently, in Rome in 1265 and worked upon for at least most of
the rest of Thomas’ life. See NCE2 Volume 17 at 19. There are many different points of
emphasis between the NCE2 and Walker. What is presented above is where the various
sources seem to agree.
What was Thomas’ World ?
Several great changes were sweeping the Western world without which Thomas
and the Summa could not have happened.
First, Europe had rediscovered, from the Moors and other sources, Aristotle and
the other classic Greek writers. Not only substantial knowledge, belief, and doctrine were
being recovered, but the rhetorical forms, including that into which the Summa is written.
Secondly, the Scholastic period of theology had begun, early scholasticism being
marked by wandering masterswho wrote and taught where they could find a patron or an
audience. Thomas is regarded as the most prominent theologian of what became known
as the High Scholastic period. See Francis Schlusser Fiorenza, “Systemic Theology: Task
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and Methods” Systemic Theology Volume 1 at p.1, ed. by Fiorenza and Galvin (1991)
pp.14-20 (1991).
Third, new institutions were being established that were more friendly to the
study and writing of theology. These were in addition to but not supplanting the offices of
the bishops and the existing monastic institutions. Some of these new institutions were
the new mendicant orders of monks, such as the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
Another such new institution was the university, which evolved in various forms from
student or faculty guilds or protective societies in various localities. The wandering
masters sometimes found home in these institutions, although the battle between the
various orders and the secular faculties of theology were apparent, as in Thomas’ case.
What follows below is a summary, hopefully accurate, of Thomas’ statements
given in Question 22 of Summa. Because of length limitations the question and answer
rhetorical format Thomas borrowed from Aristotle and all of Thomas’ classical allusions
and references are omitted.
However, those who have received a Catholic or mainline Protestant religious
education will recognize things that might have provoked a thought or two during your
formative years, part of the substrata of your world view. To further explore both
Aquinas and yourself go to the New Advent website, enter the Summa and begin to
“Summa surf.”
What the Summa Says about the Providence of God
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I have retained the questions as quotes from Aquinas, with the answers
summarized and paraphrased.
“Article 1. Whether providence can suitably be attributed to God?”
It is necessary to attribute providence to God, for all the good that is in created
things has been created by God. In created things good is not only found in their
substance but in their ordering towards an end and especially their last end, the divine
goodness, the order created by God. God is the cause of all good things by his intellect
and every type of effect and order of things pre-exists in the divine mind. Human being
ordering things towards their own end is prudence; God ordering of things towards His
own end is Providence. Two things pertain to the care of providence, i.e. the reason of
order: first providence and disposition, and secondly the execution of order, which is
termed government. The first is eternal, the second temporal.
“Article 2. Whether everything is subject to the providence of God?”
All things are subject to providence, whether corrupt or in general or in their
individual selves. God is the first agent of all things, and is all knowing,, and all things
must of necessity come under his knowing. There is a distinction between universal and
particular causes, such as the apparent chance meeting of two servants at a common place
to which they were sent by a common master. Though it appears chance, the master
knows. Similarly, the master may allow defect or evil to exist in order to achieve a
greater good. The lion would cease to live if there was no slaying of animals, and there
would be no patience of martyrs if not for tyrannical persecution. God is so great that He
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may produce greater good even from evil. God has left man to himself, but not exempted
him from divine providence, giving mankind as rational creatures possessing free will
control over mankind’s his actions, to which fault or merit may be imputed.
“Article 3. Whether God has immediate providence over everything?”
God has immediate providence over everything, from the smallest to the largest
matter. He may, however, empower his creatures with the dignity of causation, out of the
abundance of His goodness.
“Article 4. Whether providence imposes any necessity on things foreseen?”
Providence imposes necessity upon some things, but not all. The different
gradations found in every being, the assorted necessary, contingent and proximate causes,
are all subject to the immediate providence of God, but necessity is not imposed upon all
things.
Conclusion
Keep in mind the summary above lacks the questions, rebuttal, and crossreferencing of Thomas. The questions Thomas answered, which seem so mundane to
many contemporary Christians, were alive in Thomas’ time. Agree with him or not,
Thomas is in the philosophical, legal and theological ground we stand upon, including
where Luther made his stand. A good summary of the controversy over what Thomas put
forth can be found in NCE 2 volume 17 at 40 “Thomism.” The Fiorenza article
previously cited gives an excellent explanation of Aquinas precursors and successors, and
what developed from Aquinas. Work, logically done, thoroughly explained and
referenced had a power all its own beyond the man who did not want to be an abbot, but a
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teacher. Over six hundred years after Thomas’ death his work, started as a teaching tool.
was endorsed as doctrine by the Pope, and while one may not agree with Thomas, he
cannot be thoughtfully ignored. The teacher taught, indeed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. http://new advent.org Accessed October
17, 2011.
Fiorenza, Francis Schusser. “Systemic Theology: Task and Methods.” In
Systemic Theology (Volume 1), ed. F. Fiorenza and J. Galvin, Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 1991. 1-77.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition. New York: Thomson-Gale, 2003.
Walker, Williston, Richard A. Norris, David W. Lotz, and Robert T. Handy. A
History of the Christian Church, 4th Edition. New York: Scribner, 1985.