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I'm not an expert in this, but I think there's an encyclical to the effect that Thomism is the philosophical basis of Christianity. I also think that his books

I'm not an expert in this, but I think there's an encyclical to the effect that Thomism is the philosophical basis of Christianity. I also think that his books were recognized by earlier encyclicals, but I don't know if there has been a consistent system of "official" encyclicals throughout the centuries.

90s_dev 1y ago
There's a papal document from about 2 years ago saying exactly the opposite, effectively that Thomism has been useful within Christendom to explain Catholic doctrines for hundreds of years, but now that Christendom is dead, new ways of explaining the same timeless, aphilosophical theologies must be invented, and Thomism essentially left in the past. I was particularly happy when it came out, especially with how it came from Rome, because I came to the same conclusion about 6 months prior.
- analog31 1y ago
  Fascinating. I certainly haven't kept up.
michaelsbradley 1y ago
Scholastic philosophy, to which Thomas Aquinas (13th Century) made an outsize contribution, dates to the beginning of the 2nd Millennium. But Christian theologians and philosophers had been writing for centuries before that. Scholasticism is also exclusively Western, but philosophy was and is as important in the Christian East as the West. In the big picture, Augustine of Hippo (4th/5th Century) is probably as important as Aquinas with respect to overall development of Western Catholic thought. In Eastern Catholic/Orthodox thought there are luminaries such as Gregory of Nazianzus (4th Century) and John of Damascus (7th/8th Century). What you may be thinking of is Pope Leo XIII’s ultra high praise of Aquinas in Aeterni Patris, published in 1879. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/docum...

90s_dev 1y ago

There's a papal document from about 2 years ago saying exactly the opposite, effectively that Thomism has been useful within Christendom to explain Catholic doctrines for hundreds of years, but now that Christendom is dead, new ways of explaining the same timeless, aphilosophical theologies must be invented, and Thomism essentially left in the past. I was particularly happy when it came out, especially with how it came from Rome, because I came to the same conclusion about 6 months prior.

analog31 1y ago
Fascinating. I certainly haven't kept up.

michaelsbradley 1y ago

Scholastic philosophy, to which Thomas Aquinas (13th Century) made an outsize contribution, dates to the beginning of the 2nd Millennium. But Christian theologians and philosophers had been writing for centuries before that. Scholasticism is also exclusively Western, but philosophy was and is as important in the Christian East as the West. In the big picture, Augustine of Hippo (4th/5th Century) is probably as important as Aquinas with respect to overall development of Western Catholic thought. In Eastern Catholic/Orthodox thought there are luminaries such as Gregory of Nazianzus (4th Century) and John of Damascus (7th/8th Century). What you may be thinking of is Pope Leo XIII’s ultra high praise of Aquinas in Aeterni Patris, published in 1879. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/docum...