| Aquinas' theology provides a thorough consideration of the doctrine of creation. His work remains helpful even today for one who desires to understand this central Christian teaching. The dissertation provides a detailed analysis of Aquinas' theology of creation as found in his mature Summa theologiae. The project is divided into an introduction and five chapters. Throughout the dissertation, there is a comparison of Aquinas' teaching in the Summa theologiae with the doctrine found in his earlier works, such as De potentia and Summa contra gentiles. Consideration is given to relevant contemporary secondary sources who address various topics connected to Aquinas' theology of creation, for example, Wippel, Dewan, Gilson, te Velde, Aertsen, Owens, and Pegis.;In the introduction to the dissertation, there is a discussion, first, of the importance of studying the work of Aquinas, second, of the sources Aquinas employs in cultivating his theology of creation, and third, of how Aquinas' doctrine of creation is situated in the overall context of the first part of the Summa theologiae. The first chapter of the dissertation treats question forty-four of the Summa theologiae, where Aquinas discusses how any entity qua entity may be understood to be created by considering it in relation to its efficient causation, the origination of its primary matter, its formal causation, and its teleology. This chapter also explores a variety of other philosophical themes which are present in Aquinas' theology of creation, for example, topics such as existence, participation, and causation. The second chapter involves a study of question forty-five of the Summa theologiae, where Aquinas develops his theology of creation by considering, for example, the relation of the act of creation to physical change, to God as a Trinity of Persons, and to natural secondary causation. In the third chapter, there is an exploration of question sixty-five of the Summa theologiae, where Aquinas considers the creation of physical bodies. This discussion provides a transition to the fourth chapter of the dissertation, which investigates question seventy-four of the Summa theologiae. In this question, Aquinas applies his theology of the creation of physical bodies to the interpretation of the account of creation found in the biblical narrative of Genesis. In the fifth and final chapter of the dissertation, there is a brief reflection upon certain objections to Aquinas' theology of creation. Such objections are to be found either explicitly or implicitly in the works of important modern and post-modern philosophers, namely, Kant, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. A concise synopsis of these objections is provided and the dissertation closes with a response. This final task employs the research of contemporary scholars who have investigated these important modern and post-modern thinkers. |
