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The Demands of Sacred Doctrine on ‘Beginners’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Anthony Keaty
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Extract

Thomas states in the Prologue to the Summa theologiae that he intends to teach beginners (incipientes). This description of the Summa’s intended audience might lead us to ask what qualities identify beginners (incipientes) as beginners. Alternatively stated, we might ask what deficiencies these beginners must overcome in order to become proficient.

The Prologue itself suggests one answer to these questions. Beginning students, or as Thomas describes them in the Prologue, “novices in this doctrine” (hujus doctrinae novitios) are impeded in their efforts to learn sacred doctrine by a multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments. In addition, things which are necessary to a sound grasp of sacred doctrine are presented according to the order required for the exposition of a text rather than according to the order of learning. Finally, frequent repetition of material bores and confuses the student.

In his reading of the Prologue, Marie-Dominique Chenu suggested that Thomas would have understood beginners as those who lack a sufficient grasp of the intelligible principle that pervades sacred doctrine. Chenu argued that with the influx in the West of the Aristotelian corpus in the 13th century, theologians were forced to ask anew the question, “Is sacred doctrine a science?” It was in part to show that sacred doctrine is truly a science that Thomas sought to construct his Summa theologiae according to an intelligible order. This effort to show the scientific nature of sacred doctrine was no mere academic exercise, though. Effective learning required that the material taught be presented in such a way that the student might grasp the unifying principle of the material itself.

Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 84 , Issue 993 , November 2003 , pp. 500 - 509
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 "Quia catholicae veritatis doctor non solum provectos debet instruere, sed ad eum etiam pertinet incipientes erudire, secundum illud Apostoli, 'Tamquam parvulis in Christo, lac vobis potum dedi, non escam'; propositum nostrae intentionis in hoc opere est, ea quae ad christianam religionem pertinent eo modo tradere secundum quod congruit ad eruditionem incipientium." (ST, Prologue)

"Because the teacher of Catholic truth ought to instruct not only the advanced, but to him it also belongs to instruct beginners, according to the Apostle, 'As children in Christ I gave you milk, not meat.' (I Cor.3 :1 ) our intention in this work is to hand over that which belongs to the Christian religion by a mode suitable to the instruction of beginners."

2 "Consideravimus namque hujus doctrinae novitios in his quae a diversis scripta sunt plurimum impediri, partim quidem propter multiplicationem inutilium quaestionum, articulorum, et argumentorum, partim etiam quia ea quae sunt necessaria talibus ad sciendum non traduntur secundum ordinem disciplinae, sed secundum quod requirebat librorum expositio, vel secundum quod se praebebat occasio disputandi, partim quidem quia frequens eorumdem repetitio et fastidium et confusionem generabat in animis auditorum." (ST. Prologue)

"For we have considered that novices to this doctrine are greatly impeded in those books which are written by different authors, partly because of the multiplicationem of useless questions, articles, or arguments; partly also because those things which are necessary for such students to know are not handed over according to an order of learning, but according to what the exposition of books requires or according to what the occasion of disputing furnishes; partly because frequent repetition of those things generates both boredom and confusion in the spirit of the hearer.”

3 Marie-Dominique, Chenu, Toward Understanding St. Thomas, translated by AM. Landry and D. Hughes (Chicago: H. Regnery Co, 1964), pp. 303-305Google Scholar.

4 Chenu, Toward Understanding St. Thomas, pp.300-301.

5 According to Chenu, Thomas determined that organizing principle of sacred doctrine was that of exitus-reditus. As such, the proper place to begin the study of sacred doctrine was with the treatise on God from whom all things come. See Chenu, M.-D., “Le plan de La Somme,” Revue Thomiste 39 (1939) 95-108Google Scholar; Toward Understanding Saint Thomas,p p. 298-322.

Inspired by Chenu’s argument concerning the scientific organization of the Summa theoIogiae, different authors proposed different “plans” according to which the Summa theologiae was organized. Tom O’Meara presents a helpful summary of the significant proposals made in the course of this debate. See Thomas, O’Meara, ”Grace as a Theological Structure in the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas.“, RTAM 55 (1988), pp. 130-53Google Scholar.

6 “secundum illud Apostoli, ‘Tamquam parvulis in Christo lac vobis potum dedi, non escam.” (ST, Prologue)

7 Thomas Aquinas, Expositio et Lectura super Epistolas Pauli Apostoli. Opera Omnia, volume 20 (Vivés: 1871-72), p.628.

8 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

9 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

10 See Thomas Aquinas. Expositio el Lectura super Epistolas Pauli Apostoli, pp.628-629.

11 Thomas Aquinas, Expositio et Lectura super Epistolas Pauli Apostoli, p.629.

12 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

13 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

14 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

15 Leonard, Boyle, The Setting of the Summa Theologiae of Saint Thomas, Etienne Gilson Series, vo1.5 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1982)Google Scholar; John, Jenkins, Knowledge and Faith in Thomas Aquinas (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997)Google Scholar.

16 Thomas will also use the term, incipientes, to identify those who occupy the first stage in the life of charity (ST.II-II.24.9) The chief task, Thomas says, for these incipientes in the life of charity is to overcome the concupiscence that has ruled their fives (ST. II-II.24.9). Similarly. Thomas’ use of the term incipiens to refer to the beginning student whom he addresses in the Summa theologiae suggests that these beginners must turn away from their fleshly way of thinking in order to adopt a more spiritual knowledge.

17 The above translation is a translation of the text of Isaiah as given by Thomas in his commentary on I Corinthians. "Oculus non vidit, Deus, absque te, quae praeparasti his qui diligunt te." See Thomas Aquinas, Expositio et lectura super Epistolas Pauli Apostoli, p.625.

18 The above translation is a translation of the text as given in Thomas' commentary on I Corinthians: "quod oculus non vidit. nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus his qui diligunt illum."See Thomas Aquinas, Ibid.

19 Thomas Aquinas, Ibid.

20 "Primo quidem, quia non subjacet humanis sensibus, a quibus omnis humana cognitio initium sumit. Et ponit suos sensus. Rimo, visionis, quae deservit inventioni. .. . Secundo ponit sensum auditus, qui deservit disciplinae." See Thomas Aquinas, Ibid.

21 "Deinde excludit notitiam ejus intellectualem dum dicit neque in cor hominis ascendit." See Thomas Aquinas, Ibid.

22 Thomas, Aquinas, Expositio Libri Posteriorum, Opera Omnia, Leonine edition, (Paris: J.Vrin, 1989), p.90Google Scholar. For an English translation, see Commentary on the Posterior Analytics of Aristotle, tr. by F.R. Larcher (Albany, NY Magi Books, 1970), pp. 79-80.

23 Thomas Aquinas, ibid.

24 Thomas Aquinas, ibid..

25 Indeed, the underlying aim of the entire first question (ST. I. 1) seems to be to convince the student that the proper and necessary starting point for the beginning student's study of sacred doctrine is God, as the prologue to question 2 tells us.

In a manner similar to twelfth and thirteen century commentary prologues which introduce their text with a consideration of such topics as the intentio, auctor, modus, and the materia, Thomas also introduces his Summa theologiae with a consideration of the purpose (intentio) and structure of his work. See Richard, William Hunt, "The Introduction to the 'Artes' in the Twelfth Century," in Studia Mediaevalia in honorem ... R.J. Martin (Bruges: De Tempel, 1948), pp.85-112Google Scholar; Edward, A. Quain, "The Medieval Accessus ad Auctores," Traditio 3 (1945): 215-264Google Scholar.

The Summa's Prologue begins in its opening sentence by stating the purpose (propositurn nostrae intentionis) of the Summa. in 1.1, Thomas examines the nature of sacra doctrina itself. This examination of sacred doctrine, Thomas tells us, is meant to further specify the purpose of the Summa ("Et ut intentio nostra sub certis limitibus comprehendatur"). After the ten articles of I. 1. Thomas briefly describes the three part structure of the Summa that is consistent with the purposes of the Summa ("Quia igitur principalis intentio hujus sacrae doctrinae est Dei cognitionem tradere").