Unit 5 Flashcards
Three parts the Summa is broken into?
- God
- morality
- Jesus
What did Aquinas’s vision from God do
Caused him to realize his work had little value
Quote from Aquinas’s after he realized his work was of little value
“Everything that I have written seems like straw to me compared to those things I have seen and have been revealed to me”
“I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears to be of little value.”
What are the two types of happiness Thomas Aquinas spoke of
Perfect and imperfect happiness
Why is perfect happiness not attainable in the lifetime?
God created us with a desire to come to perfect knowledge of him, but true knowledge of God would require being able to see him directly
What is imperfect happiness
Achieved here on earth by our reasoning ability to contemplate truth; basically the more truth we know the happier we will be.
Where is the only place we can achieve perfect happiness
Heaven
What are the theological virtues revealed to mankind through Christ?
Faith, hope, love
What is a person’s ultimate end according to Aquinas?
To achieve perfect happiness
Why is enjoyment
Concerns satisfaction of worldly desire, short lived, even if we were to experience every possible enjoyment we would still be unhappy
What does happiness concern
Obtaining our perfection
What does it mean that God is infinite and eternal
Lasting or existing forever, without end of beginning
What does it mean that God is unique
God is the fullness of being and perfection
What does it mean that God is omnipotent
He is all powerful, he can do anything he wills, consistent with his nature; refers to God’s supreme power and authority over all creation
What does it mean that God is omnipresent
He is present everywhere at the same time
What does it mean that God contains all things?
All of creation is under God’s care and jurisdiction
What does it mean that God is immutable
God does not evolve, God does not change, God is the same God he always has been and always will be
What does it mean that God is pure spirit?
God is not a material creation, his image cannot be made. God is a pure spirit that can’t be divided into parts
What does it mean that God is alive?
We believe in a living God who acts in the lives of the people
What does it mean that God is holy?
God is pure goodness, God is pure love
What is Docetism?
This heretical doctrine said that Jesus only appeared to have a human body, so his suffering and death were not real. Docetism said Jesus is God in disguise. Denied the fully human qualities of Jesus
Gnosticism
Referred to several religious movements that claimed salvation comes from secret knowledge of God from God’s secret agent or elite
What is Arianism?
- Considered Jesus as existing midway between God and creatures
- Said that Jesus was greater than regular humans but less than God
- denied the eternal existence of the Son of God with God the father; in other words it denied Jesus’ divinity saying he was human like us and had no essence before he was conceived
What is the Summa Theologica
“An instruction book for beginners”, presents the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology
What is Monophysitism?
Believed that Jesus’ divinity fully absorbed his humanity; rejected by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. This council taught that Jesus had a divine and human nature
