Reading Francis

Today the Catholic Church celebrates St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Domincan priest and maybe the smartest Christian ever. His work brought together Christian theology and classical Greek philosophy in ways that show that faith and reason are not oppositional. In fact, for Aquinas the two perfect each other. 

Three quick things about Aquinas worth noting:

1. When he showed up at school, his classmates called him “the dumb ox” because he was big and didn’t say much. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
2. His classic work, the Summa Theologica, is a masterpiece of throwing out an argument, making the strongest case possible for it, and then systematically refuting it. It’s a fantastic rhetorical structure and I wish we were all better at what he did: learning enough about our opponents’ points of view that we can articulate their best case, even if we are unswayed by it, rather than railing against a “straw man” or, worse yet, impugning the motives of our opponents instead of engaging them respectfully. 
3. One day, Aquinas had a mystical experience of God, and after that, he quit writing, telling his assistant that he could not continue “because all that I have written seems like straw to me.” Knowledge and wisdom are wonderful, but they can’t hold a candle to the direct experience of a loving God. 

Maybe one of these three points will be useful to you this week. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.