The purpose of this paper is to reveal the prevailing Christian interpretation of religious faith during the medieval period, using Augustine’s and Aquinas’ corpora as primary sources. This study is distinct in that it explores the reasoning behind why an act of faith by a Christian is regarded as morally praiseworthy. To this end, the paper begins with a preliminary investigation into the nature of faith as understood by these two thinkers. Following that, the question of whether reason should precede or follow faith will be scrutinised in a theoretical sense. The study will also explore the impact on human free will of God’s intervention in the act of faith, and whether faith can be considered an act of man or of God. The study will also consider whether it is possible to reconcile these perspectives or avoid conflicts between them. The findings of this study show that, according to the Christian interpretation, conclusive reasons cannot be used to justify religious faith, as they undermine or eliminate human free will. If evidence were to exist, it would no longer be a matter of free choice for an individual to believe but rather a matter of necessity. For faith to be considered morally praiseworthy, it must be caused by one’s own free will, not by conclusive evidence.
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Nicholas Adams and Dr Richard Todd, for their thoughtful comments and valuable feedback on my earlier drafts of this paper.
References
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Volume: 34 Issue: 1, 211 - 242, 24.07.2023
Aquinas, Thomas. De Veritate. Translated by Robert W. Mulligan, James V. McGlynn and Robert W. Schmidt. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1952-54, available at: https://isidore.co/aquinas/ QDdeVer.htm. Accessed Sept. 27, 2022. google scholar
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Kenny, Anthony. What is Faith? Essays in the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. google scholar
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Price, Henry H. The Gifford Lectures Delivered at the University of Aberdeen in 1960. London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1969. google scholar
Rist, John. “Faith and Reason.” In The Cambridge Companion to Augustine, edited by Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann, 26-39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. doi:10.1017/ CCOL0521650186.003. google scholar
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Stump, Eleonore. Aquinas. London, New York: Routledge, 2003. google scholar
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Year 2023,
Volume: 34 Issue: 1, 211 - 242, 24.07.2023
Aquinas, Thomas. De Veritate. Translated by Robert W. Mulligan, James V. McGlynn and Robert W. Schmidt. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1952-54, available at: https://isidore.co/aquinas/ QDdeVer.htm. Accessed Sept. 27, 2022. google scholar
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———. Summa Contra Gentiles. Translated by Fr. Marietti Shapcote, 1961 edition. Aquinas Institute’s translation of Summa Contra Gentiles, available at: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~SCG1. Accessed Sept. 11, 2022. google scholar
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Bauerschmidt, Frederick Christian. Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213146.001.0001. google scholar
Cushman, Robert E. “Faith and Reason in the Thought of St. Augustine.” Church History 19, no. 4 (1950): 271-94. https://doi.org/10.2307/3161161. google scholar
Davies, Brian. “Thomas Aquinas.” In A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone, 643-59. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central. google scholar
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Hick, John. Philosophy of Religion. 2 ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973. google scholar
Hippo, Augustine of. The City of God. (For all of Augustine’s works, I used “A Select Library of the Christian Church: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,” edited by Philip Schaff, 8 vols., 1887-1902, reprinted edition of the American edition (New York: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995.) Christian Classics Ethereal Library, available at: https://ccel.org, Accessed Sept. 22, 2022. google scholar
———. The Confessions. google scholar
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———. Expositions on the Book of Psalms. google scholar
———. On Christian Doctrine. google scholar
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Jordan, Mark D. “Theology and Philosophy.” In The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, edited by Norman Kretzmann and Eleonore Stump, 232-51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521431956.010. google scholar
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Kenny, Anthony. What is Faith? Essays in the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. google scholar
King, Peter. “Introduction.” In Augustine: On the Free Choice of the Will, On Grace and Free Choice, and Other Writings, edited and translated by Peter King, ix-xxxii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511844720.001. google scholar
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Pawl, Timothy. “The Five Ways.” In The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas, edited by Brian Davies, online edition, 116-26. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/ oxfordhb/9780195326093.013.0010. google scholar
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Wawrykow, Joseph P. “The Theological Virtues.” In The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas, edited by Brian Davies, 288-305. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/ oxfordhb/9780195326093.013.0023. google scholar
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