Chapter 8: The Scholar: Thomas Aquinas Flashcards
What is a theologian?
a. A Roman prayer group
b. A sacred site where Jesus once preached
c. A person who writes divinely inspired texts
d. A person who applies logic and reason to God
d. A person who applies logic and reason to God
Theologians can be found in which religion(s)?
a. Anywhere but primarily in monotheistic religions
b. Western religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity
c. Only in Christianity
d. All religions
d. All religions
What relationship between faith and reason best characterizes medieval philosophers such as Aquinas?
a. Reason makes sense only inside of a framework set by an overarching faith.
b. They always clash; to have faith is to be unreasonable.
c. Faith steps in anywhere reason falls short.
d. Both faith and reason, working together, answer the big questions.
d. Both faith and reason, working together, answer the big questions.
What do we call someone whose opinions, beliefs, and practices are at odds with the mainstream, or orthodox, views, especially views of an organized religion?
a. A devotee
b. A heretic
c. A blasphemer
d. A philosopher
b. A heretic
Someone who views human beings as the most important life-form and seeking understanding of human life in the here and now is called what?
a. A Christian
b. A humanist
c. A Western philosopher
d. A classicist
b. A humanist
What does it mean to be “fallen” in Christian theology?
a. Humans are corrupt and prone to sin, or wrongdoing, and cannot on our own be saved.
b. If one has fallen, one has been expelled from heaven without any possibility of return.
c. To have chosen a life of sin though goodness is a path available through one’s will.
d. Humans are made in the image and likeness of God but imperfectly so.
a. Humans are corrupt and prone to sin, or wrongdoing, and cannot on our own be saved.
Why did Christian theologians view some ancient schools of thought as heretical?
a. The curricula were designed for independent thinking permitting each to have a close personal relationship with God, which angered the priests.
b. Although their schools were guides to eternal salvation, the pathways taught were wrong.
c. Hedonists, Cynics, and Stoics all elevated Socrates to a Christlike position when there could be only one God.
d. They taught how knowledge and reason could improve our lives, focused on the here and now.
d. They taught how knowledge and reason could improve our lives, focused on the here and now.
What happens to Christian theology when the Second Coming of Christ does not come quickly after the death of Jesus?
a. It gets increasingly complex with inconsistent, even contradictory, interpretations of what is right and true.
b. It continues as it has been, steady is the course of faith.
c. It inspires deeper faith and obedience from Christians who begin mission trips to spread the Word.
d. It falters and growth slows for a few more centuries until it becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire.
a. It gets increasingly complex with inconsistent, even contradictory, interpretations of what is right and true.
What does it take to interpret revealed sacred dogma?
a. It takes official approval of the leader of the religion or state.
b. It takes skill, but also courage to confront the dangers of conflicting interpretations.
c. It takes special training in the branch of theology known as subjective apologetics.
d. It takes surprisingly little because it is very simple once fundamental principles are identified.
b. It takes skill, but also courage to confront the dangers of conflicting interpretations.
What two “worlds” does Augustine try to synthesize with early Christian theology that earn him the moniker “a colossus bestriding two worlds”?
a. Platonism and Manicheanism
b. Platonism and Aristotelianism
c. Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
d. Stoicism and Epicureanism
a. Platonism and Manicheanism
What was Augustine’s criticism of classical humanism?
a. It could not resolve contradictory interpretations of the New Testament.
b. Such focus on the power of the will to overcome emotions and desires left little room for the simple pleasures of everyday life.
c. As a humanist himself, he agreed with foundational principles, but some details of method still needed refinement.
d. It overemphasized reason and underemphasized the will, leaving no place for faith.
d. It overemphasized reason and underemphasized the will, leaving no place for faith.
What classical school of thought did Augustine say was fit only for swine, not humans?
a. Cynicism
b. Aristotelianism
c. Epicureanism
d. Pythagoreanism
c. Epicureanism
What is the basis for Ibn Sina’s conclusion that God must be a necessary being?
a. Without a necessary first cause, we might end up with an infinite regress of contingent causes and thus no reason for anything that exists.
b. Only embodied, material beings are contingent beings. God, as a transcendent being, must be necessary.
c. In polytheistic religions, there are no necessary gods; the discovery of a necessary being is the foundation of monotheism.
d. If God is not necessary, then neither are humans, and if we are not necessary, then there is no reason to live a moral life.
a. Without a necessary first cause, we might end up with an infinite regress of contingent causes and thus no reason for anything that exists.
Who argued that God exists separate from the world as a simple, pure mind?
a. Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
b. Aquinas
c. Maimonides
d. Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
d. Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
What is the method via negativa endorsed by Maimonides?
a. An approach to theology that says God is an all-powerful being ready, willing, and able to enact harsh punishments for human sins
b. An approach to philosophy that challenges the rise of Christian theology by asserting the potential of other theological traditions to reconcile faith and reason
c. An approach to theology that says only what God is not because we cannot conceive a being so different from us
d. An approach to philosophy that highlights the differences between the classical philosophers and the new ideas of the time since the persecution of Jesus
c. An approach to theology that says only what God is not because we cannot conceive a being so different from us
Thomas Aquinas was the champion of what great task of medieval philosophy?
a. To give faith to Stoicism
b. To integrate Aristotle with Christian theology
c. To overthrow Neoplatonism
d. To translate Arabian metaphysics into Latin
b. To integrate Aristotle with Christian theology
The term Scholasticism comes from a Greek root meaning what?
a. “Suffer in silence” complainers don’t win
b. “Enjoy leisure” time devoted to learning
c. “Sing God’s praises” in word and deed
d. “Work while we can” because the afterlife is unknown
b. “Enjoy leisure” time devoted to learning
How are philosophy professors and philosophy classrooms similar and different today as compared to in Aquinas’s day?
a. The rules and methods of debating ideas have carried forward from medieval times, but the topics have changed to reflect contemporary issues of global, not just European, concern.
b. Although we ask the same questions philosophers have been asking for millennia, it was only in the twentieth century that any school ever permitted women to study philosophy.
c. Medieval philosophers and contemporary philosophers do similar things in terms of questions and methods. Back then they were concerned with the beliefs of average everyday people; today only those enrolled in universities get to study philosophy.
d. They share methods of careful reading of texts and debating ideas; however, today we pursue truth where it leads rather than being required to defend Christianity.
d. They share methods of careful reading of texts and debating ideas; however, today we pursue truth where it leads rather than being required to defend Christianity.
What do they mean when philosophers say their questions about the existence of God are not questions of subjective states but of objective truth?
a. Philosophers seek rational proof of what really exists, not statements of individuals’ personal beliefs.
b. Philosophers make arguments based on reason, whereas theologians craft doctrines of faith.
c. The thesis, or conclusion, is not what is important to philosophers; only the reasoning in defense of that thesis matters.
d. Contemporary philosophers are no longer interested in doing the natural theology of Aquinas’s day.
a. Philosophers seek rational proof of what really exists, not statements of individuals’ personal beliefs.
How many proofs for the existence of God did Thomas Aquinas offer?
a. Five
b. Three
c. Two
d. One
a. Five
Why do the first three of Thomas’s proofs of God not really prove the existence of the Christian God we understand today?
a. The Christian God needs to be explained inside the system of the church, but Thomas tried to account for the system as a whole.
b. The proofs rely exclusively on natural theology, not the revealed word of God, as evidence.
c. There are no possible proofs for the existence of any God or gods because that is knowable only by faith.
d. An unmoved mover, uncaused cause, or necessary being could exist without also being a good and loving personal God.
d. An unmoved mover, uncaused cause, or necessary being could exist without also being a good and loving personal God.
What is the proof of God called that argues existence flows downward from perfection and completeness to various lower levels of being?
a. The argument from motion
b. The argument from necessity
c. The teleological argument
d. The argument from gradation
d. The argument from gradation
Which apparent inconsistencies and contradictions create the problem of evil?
a. Inconsistencies in the conditions under which high-income and low-income people live
b. Contradiction between God’s power and God’s inability to defeat Satan
c. Contradictions between scholasticism and science
d. Inconsistencies across God’s omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness
d. Inconsistencies across God’s omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness
What does it mean to say that evil is not actually a thing, it is a privation?
a. Evil has no objective standard but is defined privately by individuals.
b. People do bad things when they are deprived, when they are suffering a lack of resources and opportunities.
c. Human free will causes evil to come into being; it doesn’t preexist us.
d. Evil does not exist as an entity or force; to be evil is only to lack goodness.
d. Evil does not exist as an entity or force; to be evil is only to lack goodness.
What is Thomas Aquinas’s solution to the problem of evil?
a. God willed the existence of the devil, and consequently evil, because God was infinitely lonely and needed a being nearly equal to Him in power and knowledge but not identical in goodness.
b. There is no such thing as evil, only what people have decided is evil and then blame God rather than take responsibility themselves.
c. God willed not evil itself, only the real possibility of evil so that humans are free to choose and free to love God and others with a love freely given.
d. Good and evil are coequal only until Judgment Day, so the existence of evil is not a contradiction to God’s love, power, or knowledge.
c. God willed not evil itself, only the real possibility of evil so that humans are free to choose and free to love God and others with a love freely given.
