Episodes
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In this episode, Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham discuss divine persons in Thomas Aquinas's Summa. They talk through why Thomas thinks the word person eminently applies to God, and how it is fitting to use of God, even if the Bible does not use that term. Here is a link to the article I wrote on God's processions, relations, and persons to clarify things from the last episode: https://wyattgraham.com/god-two-processions-four-relations-three-persons/.
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In this episode, Wyatt and Ian stumble along trying to keep up with Thomas Aquinas as he explains how the Father, Son, and Spirit relate to one another while remaining the one God of Israel. The Bible tells us that the Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son of the Father. So they are distinct yet both remain the one God. How can we talk about this? Thomas summarizes the theological explanation of this reality through his discussion on relations in God. The key is that the word "generation" refers to the procession of the Son, while filiation and paternity describe the relation of Father and Son. But for the Spirit, there is no proper name for the relation. Both the procession and relation use a common word. So the pairing for the Spirit if spiration from the Father and Son and procession (the common term) of the Spirit from both. Emery writes: "It gives us paternity (the relation of the Father to the Son), filiation (the relation of the Son to the Father), the spiration of the Holy Spirit (the relation of the Father and the Son in respect to the Holy Spirit), and the procession of the Holy Spirit (the relation of the Holy Spirit in respect to the Father and the Son)" (Aquinas, 99–100). He further explains: “Thomas comes back to the linguistic problem which we have in talking about the procession of the Holy Spirit: we must use a common name (‘procession’) to designate both the origin proper to the Holy Spirit and the relations springing from this origin. Whereas, when we are speaking about the mutual reference of the Father and the Son, we can make a linguistic distinction between the procession (‘generation’) and the relations which it founds, (‘paternity’ and ‘filliation’), linguistic constraints compel us to designate the relations by the procession and the action themselves (‘procession’ and ‘spiration’)” (Aquinas 101).
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Episodes manquant?
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In this episode, Ian and Wyatt talk about the procession of the will in God, namely, that Love of God which we call the Holy Spirit.
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In this episode, Wyatt and Ian discuss divine processions, which refer to the how the Father, Son, and Spirit relate to one another. This section of the Summa Theologiae prepares us to talk about the "relations of origin" in God as well as the persons of God: Father, Son, and Spirit.
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In this episode, Ian and Wyatt discuss Providence and Predestination in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae---Book 1, Questions 22 to 23.
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In this episode, Wyatt and Ian (who pretends to be Matthew Mcconaughey) talk about the Love and Mercy of God in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae---Book I.Q20-21.
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In this episode, Wyatt and Ian discuss Thomas Aquinas's view of truth and falseness.
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In this episode, Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham discuss both how God knows and how we as creatures know anything. It's a bit technical, we hope to introduce you into the basic notions of how God and his creatures come to know truth which Thomas will discuss in ST I.16.
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While the Bible describes God in all sorts of ways, it also tells us that heaven and highest heaven cannot contain him (1 King 8:27). It tells us that God is Spirit, invisible, and immortal. Given what God is, does our language really tell us anything about God? Thomas Aquinas says "yes" it does; and not only that, the biblical authors intend to tell us about God. How? Aquinas surveys the options and concludes we can talk about God in a number of ways, especially through analogical or proportional statements. If you want to learn how to talk about God in a biblical and true way, listen to this podcast as Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham attempt to summarize question 13 of Thomas's Summa Theologicae on the divine names.
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In this episode, Drs. Graham and Clary discuss whether or not we can see God's essence directly in heaven. In a surprising turn, Thomas Aquinas says we can see God's essence in heaven. Why does he affirm this when he has already argued we cannot know God's essence (in our life here below)? Because the Bible affirms it: "we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
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In this episode, Wyatt and Ian discuss Thomas's view of God's immutability and eternity. They show how each of Thomas's affirmations of God fit together in a coherent way in accord with Scriptural teaching.
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In this episode, Ian and Wyatt return from their hiatus to discuss divine simplicity in Thomas Aquinas (ST I.Q3). While divine simplicity can be tough to understand, it's an important teaching for us to grasp as we seek to know the living God. Join us to learn more!
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In this episode, we take a break from our reading of Thomas Aquinas's Summa and instead discuss Thomas Aquinas with Ryan Hurd. We discuss Thomas Aquinas's view of the doctrine of God and talk through some of his basic approaches to theology. If you have been reading Thomas with us, this episode will help you appreciate his intellectual context better to help you read and understand his works. If you want to learn from Ryan, consider registering for his class at the Davenant Hall (online): https://davenanthall.com/product/compendium-of-theology-readings-in-thomas-aquinas/
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After affirming God's existence since God himself says he exists (Exod 3:14), Thomas shares five ways that show God's existence. In the context of the Summa, Thomas here aims to establish the existence of his object of study, which in this case is God. Here he follows a standard procedure in pre-modern scientific study to first establish the existence of a subject before characterizing how it exists or its essence. Drs. Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham discussed the First Way in some detail in their last episode as well.
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In this episode, Drs. Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham discussion Thomas's second question in the Summa. In Thomas's age, asking whether something exists was the first part of someone's study. Thomas obviously believes God does exist. In an almost comical line, Thomas answers the question "Whether God Exists" by saying "yes" because God says he does in Exodus 3:14, "I am who I am!" If God says it, then he must exist. Now, the Bible also says some people mentally believe God does not exist (Ps 53:1). So, while God does exist and it is self-evident, we can reason from God's created effects back to the existence of God, which Thomas believes we should and can do because Paul tells us to do so in Romans 1:20. Drs. Clary and Graham also discuss the first of the five ways of God's existence. They push back against the notion that God is somehow immobile since he is the first mover. That, they show, is not what Thomas has in mind.
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In this episode, Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham continue discussing Thomas Aquinas's view of Holy Scripture. They discuss his view of the four senses of Scripture: literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical. Thomas makes a (perhaps surprisingly) clear argument for the importance of the literal sense, and a way of grasping the spiritual sense of Scripture that neither negates nor destroys the literal sense.
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In this episode, Drs. Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham discuss how Thomas Aquinas is a teacher of common sense. As well, they discuss how Thomas Aquinas held to the authority and inspiration of Scripture for sacred doctrine.
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In this episode, Ian Clary and Wyatt Graham introduce Thomas Aquinas in preparation for reading Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae.
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