report

1. Warm Up
1. Do you believe that you have a soul? If so, what do you think
happens to your soul after you die?
2. If you believe in God, what proof do you have that he/she/it
exists? Do you really need any?
3. Why do you believe people should do good things or the right
things?

2. St. Thomas Aquinas

3. Thomas Aquinas (1225-
1274)
 Born in Southern Italy
 From a noble family
 Wealthy
 Older brother inherited wealth
Primogeniture

6. Aquinas
 Studies to be a priest
 University of Naples
 Young and brilliant student
 Falls in with the Dominican Order
 Monks that focused on good works
 Gave up their money and power

7. To Praise, To Bless, and to
Preach

8. Kidnapping
 Travels to Rome to become a monk
 Brothers kidnap him, held captive in father’s castle for a year
 Refuses to change his mind, goes to Rome

9. Aquinas and Aristotle
 Aristotle was a man of science
 Order, natural world, how things worked
 Metaphysics
 Aristotle had been ignored for a thousand years
 Didn’t square with Christianity
 Nobody read during the Dark Ages!
 Can we fit science in with religion?

10. God and the soul
 God doesn’t look like a man
 Some believed our souls just went into one big cosmic soul
 Aquinas believed our souls maintain their identity
 God gives us each a unique soul for all eternity
 To get into heaven, one must show love to God on earth
 Doing good things = Loving God
 God = Good

12. Summa Theologica

13. Summa Theologica
 History of all Catholic reason and thought
 Talks about Augustine, Aristotle, Judaism, Islam, Christianity
 Wants to prove the Catholic Church is the one true faith

14. Five Proofs of God’s
Existence
1. 1st Mover
 Things are in motion
 Something had to start the motion
2. 1st Cause
 All effects have a cause
 There had to be an original cause

15. Five Proofs of God’s
Existence
3. Necessary Being
 All living beings are born and die
 There had to be a creation of the first being
4. Greatest Being
 All beings have levels of greatness
 There must be a greatest being at the top
5. Intelligent Designer
 All things that act must be designed