Review: "Aquinas on Creation"

Aquinas on Creation

by Steven Baldner and William Carroll

     Read a book titled "Aquinas on Creation" which were translated by Steven Baldner and William Carroll. The book is basically the original writings of Thomas Aquinas on the text by his mentor Peter Lombard. The text and language is very dense and the reading is not recreational. It is amazing that the arguments posed by present day scientists and academics with genuine lives of faith still use the reasoning and assertions of this classic western thinker.

     In Physics during the last 50 years it has been noted that the constants that guide the behavior of our universe have values that happen to allow for the emergence of life. Gravity, as an example, is strong enough to induce fusion that powers our sun but weak enough to allow for planetary orbits at appropriate distances. The electrostatic constant, Plank's constant, nuclear force constants are seem to have values that are in the range that allows for life (some of these ranges are very small relative to possible values). This is the basis if the anthropic principle. The anthropic principle states that the universe has been formed with the possibility for life. This idea is consistent with the writing of Thomas Aquinas in the 1200's.

     I was especially impacted by the assertion that all things in the universe are good. "the divine power shines forth even among the wicked in the fact that they are held back and the divine providence shines forth through the fact that evil deeds are turned into good". The assertion by John Paul II that theology and philosophy need each other also is found in the writings of Aquinas.

     Thomas Aquinas also points out that creation is compatible with natural causes in nature. This continued to lay the groundwork for the the birth of science as an academic discipline in western culture. The tremendous support for science of all types by the church is fueled by the encouragement to understand all natural causes and links because they are certain to lead back to our creator.  This text confirms this ancient western tradition among the monotheistic faiths.