Reflected glory: The role of the beatific vision as the foundation of the relationship of faith to philosophy according to Thomas Aquinas's 'Summa Theologiae' (Saint Thomas Aquinas)

In his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas asserts that Sacred Doctrine is a science subordinated to the science of God and the blessed. He thus draws the beatific vision firmly into the debate about the relationship of faith and philosophy. This dissertation provides an exposition of how Aquinas sets up the theoretical terms and relations between reason, faith and glory. Chapters 1–3 discuss the natural knowledge of God, the knowledge of faith and the beatific vision, respectively. Chapter 4 draws important conclusions about their relationship to each other and its implications for three areas of theology: fundamental theology, ecclesiology, and Christology.; Placing philosophy and faith in relation to the beatific vision reveals the similarities and differences between natural theology and Sacred Doctrine. Both seek a knowledge which is found only in the beatific vision. Insofar as they attain some real knowledge of God, they are also a beginning of the beatific vision. Sacred Doctrine, because it involves a movement from the knowledge of God in relation to His creatures to a knowledge of God in Himself and creatures in relation to God, is a means of ascent from the indirect knowledge of God attained in natural theology to the direct knowledge of God attained in the beatific vision.; The relation of faith and reason to the beatific vision has important implications for many areas of theology. The fundamental theological enterprise of elucidating the veracity and reliability of faith over against philosophy can only be complete if it considers the dependence of the faith of the believer on the vision of the blessed. In turn, such a consideration involves an understanding of the church as the link between those who believe and Him Who sees, and of the beatific vision of Christ as the principle of the knowledge of faith because it is the principle of beatitude.