Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in Italy. He was one of the greatest medieval thinkers, being both philosopher and theologian. Thomas Aquinas was initially a Benedictine priest, but later decides to become a Dominican priest. Thomas Aquinas produced lots of works, but did not write after December 6, 1273 when he had a religious experience. Thomas Aquinas died in 1274 in Italy, and was canonized in 1323.

Aquinas believed that reason should be embraced by Christianity and developed rational arguments to prove God's existence through this reason. Aquinas believed that God intended us to use reason, that he made us that way, and when we use this reason we can see the world as being an emanation of God. In order to get closer to God, we must first understand him better, and the only way to do that was to use our logic and get to know God better. Aquinas brings reason back into the Middle Ages and teaches how to prove Christian faith through it.

First Way: The Argument from Motion
- Aquinas concluded that an object that is in motion is put in motion by some other object or force. He believed that ultimately there must have been an unmoved mover (in this case God) who put things in motion in the first place.

Second Way: Causation of Existence
- Aquinas concluded that through common sense and observation, it is evident that no object can create itself, and that instead, some previous object must have made it. There must have been an uncaused first cause (again, God) who started the chain of existence for all things.

Third Way: Contingent and Necessary Objects
- Aquinas believed that the extence of contingent beings (objects that can't exist without a necessary being causing its existence) would inevitably need an already existing being (God) in order for all of the contingent beings to exist.

Fourth Way: The Argument from Degrees and Perfection
- Aquinas concluded that for any given quality, there has to be a standard of perfection from which all such qualities are measured. In other words, there has to be a form of perfection (God) to which we can compare.

Fifth Way: The Argument from Intelligent Design
- Aquinas states that by the way the universe works, it can be concluded that it was designed by an intelligent designer (God).