Thomas Aquinas on Wisdom by Robert M. Woods

In which way has philosophy blended the theoretical and the practical many may wonder. In the early times there may have been the reflection and the proper moral action people wanted to take, but they were always bounded to their own limited thinking and their understanding of the world at that time.

‘Yesteryear’ as today we can find enough people who would love to think about what is going on in the world and how we can find solutions for our living better than today. There are many who would love to see more mutual understanding, love and wisdom.

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For many philosophers to reason, reflect, imagine, conjecture, was part of what it meant to act faithfully in accordance with being in the image of God. Where the world went wrong is that many started not only to consider themselves to be in the image of God, but that many started looking at themselves as being part of God or even worse being God themselves. Though having God in you does not mean yet that you become God, though many take Jesus to be God because he had God in him. They forget that we also should try to receive God in us, to be like Christ Jesus, and to show others how we have God in us. But that does not make us God, like it did not with Christ, who was first lower than the angels, but than was made higher by his Father and was taken at His right hand to become a mediator between God and us.

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God has given the world His instructions, but He has given the humans the liberty to accept and follow them or to ignore them and to go their own way. The majority of the world has chosen to go their own way and to ignore God. So they have to bear the consequences of their choice.

There are not enough people who would like to take the time to look at them selves, how they are doing it in this universe, and contemplating which role they have to play in this universe. Lots of people are busy with thinking about themselves in a egocentric way but not in the relation of themselves with the others around them. Many might try to get wisdom, but often it is only to enrich themselves and not others. It seems that they do not come to see that wisdom is an understanding of the final cause. Like the writer of the article says “Sadly, this has all but been lost in science and philosophy today.”

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Preceding articles:

Where is the edge

The mythical conflict of science and Scripture (1)

The mythical conflict of science and Scripture (2)

Science and the Bible—Do They Really Contradict Each Other?

Sharing thoughts and philosophical writings

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Additional reading:

1. The business of this life
2. Created to live in relation with God
3. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform
4. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #3 Rejoicing in the insistence
5. Missional hermeneutics 2/5
6. Golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters obedience
7. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
8. Wisdom lies deep
9. Growth in character
10. Preparedness to change
11. Statutes given unto us
12. Thirst for happiness and meaning
13. A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses
14. It is a free will choice
15. Your life the sum total of all your choices
16. Leaving behind the lives we have touched.
17. Words in the world
18. Trust God to shelter, safety and security
19. God is my refuge and my fortress in Him I will trust
20. Gaining Christ, trusting Jehovah + Gain Christ, trusting Jehovah
21. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
22. Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12
23. Fragments from the Book of Job #3: chapters 21-26
24. Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31
25. Fragments from the Book of Job #6: chapters 38-42
26. Happy who’s delight is only in the law of Jehovah
27. Being one in Jesus, Jesus in us and God in Jesus
28. Morality, values and Developing right choices

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Thomas Aquinas on Wisdom

by Robert M. Woods

On occasion, but it should be with great frequency, within the context of a class discussion or even a lesson at Church, the topic of wisdom is discussed. Frequently, but it should be on occasion, the definition is put forth as practical or applied learning. It is at times like these I desired that Thomas Aquinas’s definition of wisdom had won the day in Western civilization. In truth, the Liberal Arts would have done much better through the ages if his definition had been the one people lived by and taught.

For Thomas, and most Philosophers until the modern world, Philosophy was essentially the “love of wisdom.” To engage in the the practice of philosophy was the faithful pursuit of wisdom wherever it might be found. The primary understanding of truth was saying of a thing what was and not saying of…

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