Thomas Aquinas’ Divine Attributes of God
Saint Thomas Aquinas is held in very high regard in the Catholic Church. He is considered to be one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in history. After providing arguments for the existence of God with reason, he derived the many attributes of God also with reason. I’ll discuss two of these attributes in this essay.
God possesses many attributes that make Him “God.” Aquinas derives many of these attributes and uses reason to explain them. The two Divine Attributes I’ll discuss are God’s immateriality and His all-powerfulness.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God is Pure Actuality, basically meaning that He is absolutely perfect. In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles. Potentiality refers to the possibility of qualities or abilities being developed. Potentiality requires change. Actuality refers to the fulfillment of the said possibility. Actuality is the actual thing and not the potential thing. I know, it’s a little hard to grasp. Like I said, God is Pure Actuality. He does not change. He is Pure and Absolute Perfection. He always was and always will be and will never change. God is changeless because change involves the passage from potentiality to actuality, and God is only Pure Actuality. He cannot change. St. Thomas wrote that God is immaterial. He is not a material being. Matter is subject to change, and change involves moving from potency to act. Matter is always subject to change. Think of any material thing. Take a pencil, for example. That pencil will not stay the same forever. It may get shorter or maybe it will break. It is simply matter and matter changes.
Thomas Aquinas displays God as the unmoved Mover. He is the source of all things. He is the unchanging Changer. Aquinas stated that God is all-powerful. God is all-powerful because He is the source of everything. Aquinas reasons and argues this point by displaying the fact that God created the universe and gave it all of His qualities. “A cause cannot give what it does not have,” St. Thomas wrote. Therefore, God possesses all the qualities that He gave to the universe. You might ask, “Does that mean that God can possess any form of bad? Such as stupidity or blindness?” Evil is not a quality or attribute. It is simply the lack of good. Just like stupidity is the lack of intelligence. These things are not qualities themselves, they are the lack of qualities. Therefore, God only possesses all perfections, which makes Him all-good.
The main principles of just-war theory
The just-war theory is composed of several fundamental rules concerning war. Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas both contributed greatly to this doctrine concerning war. The just-war theory is typically considered a Christian invention. Augustine stated that in order for a war to be just, the injustice of the aggressor must be great. Both St. Thomas and Augustine stated that a just cause is required to make a war just. One of Aquinas’ conditions that he said must be met in order for a war to be considered just, is that those fighting the war must intend the advancement of good or avoidance of evil. The goal for those going to war should be to ensure peace. The just-war theory states that war should be fought as a last resort if negotiating with the other side fails. Many rules for war were established and developed during the middle ages. Women and children were not to be harmed. Churches were not to be destroyed. Those participating in the war were not to completely ravage and destroy, wherever they went.