This essay seeks to explain the problem of faith and reason, Aquinas solution to the problem of faith and reason and Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

The distinction between faith and reason is one that explains the occurrence of things that can be explained and those that can not be explained. According to Aquinas, faith shows that one has theological reason that exceeds human reason. Aquinas explained that one can know the truth, but without faith it is termed as a half truth. However, the distinction between these terms remains controversial to many philosophers. This essay seeks to explain the problem of faith and reason, Aquinas’ solution to the problem of faith and reason and Aquinas’ solution to this problem.

The main issue about faith and believe is that one can seek the truth and not believe in it and yet the vice versa is not true. Aquinas describes reason and faith as ways of acquiring knowledge. Reason is what we know by through experience and logic. Thomas believes that it is possible to have basic knowledge about God without any explicit revelation. This means that all people could gain knowledge about God through reason. Faith is what we know through the revelations of God. Through faith, we can explain the existence of God. Wit is required to use both reason and logic for this to be acknowledged as a full truth. This is described by Aquinas as the “two fold truth”. Faith believes in things that can not be explained by logic reason. The question is why there is need for two truths. Why is one truth not enough? If God is able to offer supernatural explanations for all that happens, why is there need for one to have faith? Faith builds on reason since both are ways of realizing the truth. Let us now see how Aquinas addresses this issue of faith and reason.

Other great philosophers sought to develop a universal method of reasoning where one could learn all they needed to know about reality. Aquinas had no contradiction to this type of reasoning when it came to religious matters. He agreed with the fact that it was possible for one to learn about the teachings of God by faith and this was indeed the best way. He also went on to add that theology would be more accepted if its teachings were combined with reason to back up its claims. Theology is a science that can not survive without the incorporation of theoretical knowledge. In his explanation of faith and reason, Aquinas sort to give a distinction between theology and philosophy. A believer will only consider creatures as they were created by God while philosophers will consider creatures and what belongs to their nature. In explaining the theory of creation, a believer will accept the notion that all things are God’s creations. A believer will seek to explain all things that do not have a specific way of how they happened as the work of God. A philosopher on the other hand will seek how it happened and the reason as to why it happened. The question that remains is; are philosophers trying to question the existence of God by seeking reason for things that are only known to man by faith? Is it possible for one to only use faith as a source of knowledge without applying reason? Aquinas attempts to explain the reason why some things are in motion. If there is some thing moving, then it is put in motion by another thing. The series of movers can not be infinitely traced so there has to be a first mover who is God. Aquinas dedicated his thoughts by using nature to explain the existence of God.

In order to better explain faith and reason, let us take an example of the most controversial teaching in the Bible; the story of creation. In the first book of the Bible, it is indicated that God is the creator of all things. Through faith, most people who believe in God take this statement as true without any reasonable doubt. It is because they have acquired this knowledge through faith and not through reason. There are no concrete facts to back up this claim yet the theory of creation has been accepted by all believers as the work of God. Not all people believe that knowledge should only be acquired through faith. This is why other people including scientists have their own theory that seeks to explain the beginning of the world. In most cases theological and scientific theories have clashed in the effort to explain this phenomenon. Scientists claim that the theological theory does not have any basis. You get the information, but answers to questions as to how and why it happened can not be provided. There is only one ultimate answer to all those questions which is God is the creator and the knowledge of man can not be compared to the knowledge of man. It is not possible for us to understand the way of thinking of God so that w can know how he created the world. This only goes to show that, God’s teachings can only be understood and explained through faith and not reason. There is no way of explaining things that are only known by faith. However, according to Aquinas it is possible to acquire knowledge about the teachings of God through reason, but one will not learn the full truth without faith.

Conclusively, Aquinas believes that using only reason to gain knowledge about God is considered a half truth. One needs to incorporate both reason and faith so as to fully understand God’s teachings. It is true that one can gain knowledge about God through reason, however knowledge through faith is considered the best way. In trying to bring together the correlation between faith and reason, Aquinas’ explanation made them seem very distinct.