I have trouble understanding Aristotle’s thought and how St. Thomas Aquinas incorporated it with theology.
Philosophy is the handmaiden to theology. You can’t do theology without philosophy. Theology is reasoning philosophically about divine objects.
Philosophy is being wise about natural things. Aristotle puzzled out the nature of things from the nature of grammar, rhetoric and logic, through
Parts of Animals up through his metaphysics–the summit of his thought. And where did all his great natural reasoning end? At the conclusion that there is a Prime Mover as literal cause of all natural movements–all generation, all corruption, all being and becoming.
Aristotle applied logic to nature.
Thomas applied Aristotelian logic and conclusions about the natures of things (from the nature of *being *thru the nature of
virtue through the nature of
man) to supernature. Theology is wisdom about divine things. Thomas was Aristotelian–he had similar genius, similar respect for nature; he stood on Aristotle’s shoulders looking at supernatural objects, using Aristotle to think well about God.
So how did he do it? Aristotle basically looked at the world as it is and believed that humans can find all truth in the world through reasoning and without needing a supernatural being. (Is this correct?)
As above, Aristotle followed the truth to the exclusion of all else. That lifelong following of the truth brought his thought ultimately to the ultimate concept of Prime Mover, cause of all movement of any sort. He pushed philosophy as far as it could go, arriving at the very brink of the idea of Creator. He followed it to the very doorstep of Truth Himself. Not having Revelation, he could go no farther. He embraced as much of the truth as God had revealed to him–which is all anyone is responsible to do.
And how did St. Thomas put that together with…transubstantiation with accident and substance?
Thomas embraced Aristotelian thought as true. He looked at the miracle of transubstantiation. He was able, using natural wisdom, to expose some depth to the question: “How does the natural material remain yet not remain?” Or, “How is Jesus physically present yet not physically discernible?”
Because supernature builds on nature, the natural principles serve and do not contradict supernatural reality. Trusting in human reason to serve Truth, Thomas worked out the language which the Church receives to this day.
Was Aristotle the first philosopher to come up with accident - substance and St. Thomas used it to defend the transubstantiation?
I believe Aristotle
was the first to come up with accident/substance. Doubt if Thomas was the first to see the application to transubstantiation–Christian philosophy was basically Aristotelian. Don’t know the actual trail of development.
And what about rational thinking and reasoning?
I’m all for it, as long as it is humble to faith. Thomas always explicitly and humbly submitted all his genius work to the Church as to one with the authority to correct, accept or deny any or all of his conclusions.
Hope that’s some help!
