Hello everyone, I hope you guys are well because today we're going to have a discussion hellthread
on G. K. Chesterton's book of St. Thomas Aquinas. Since you guys have been reading the book I will cut it short: this book is a short introduction on St. Thomas's life. But do not be deceived, this book doesn't only contain the life of St. Thomas but also Chesterton's critique agaist the modern world and his philosophy. This 94 pages book brings more than what you would expect from an an introduction.To open the discussion, I will bring out questions. The first one is: Apart from being a biography of St. Aquinas, what other themes do you think were central to the book?
As always be civil or and enjoy the discussion #bookclub
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Perhaps it's time to also bring out the second question:
2. What do you think about St. Thomas's critique against Platonism?
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2. What do you think about St. Thomas's critique against Platonism?
One senses a certain rhyme in the course of philosophy, that the protege of Plato would inspire the man who would equal and, to credit Chesterton, overcome Augustine.
As the Hellenism of the Roman Empire began to decay, there was an upswell of popular underground religious cults. This energy flowed into the nascent Christianity and, combined with Roman persecution of the early Christians, was enough to profoundly engage the lower classes. But it took St. Augustine to forge the bonds between the Hellenic Platonism and Early Christianity; this it was that won over the intellectual elite to Christianity.
However it seems that the emergence of Islam, at the same time as the translations of Aristotle from the same, revealed the precariousness of this fault-line between popular Christianity and Augustine's Platonic interpretation.
St. Thomas' critique seems more like a recalibration of the structure of Christian thought to unify these different themes. To return to the question of Faith, it seems that Thomas was born to do this and at the perfect time for it to be accomplished. Chesterton comments, often with a hint of apology, on the fact that Aquinas' temperament or instinct was central to his success. Of this, there is little doubt - he was the man born to solve a riddle that had been developed and prepared for centuries.
