Aquinas’ Error

How Thomism Departs From Patristic Fundamental Theology:

In this presentation, I discuss Thomas Aquinas’ departure from some of the basic tenants of Patristic fundamental theology and St. Maximos the Confessor in particular who synthesized much of this tradition. Namely Thomas’ theology proper with the doctrine of actus purus influenced by both Aristotle and Islamic philosophers. This identification of the nature of God with this one aspect of being (or any one aspect of being) was explicitly not adopted by the Fathers because God’s absolute transcendence makes such identification with one category of being unnecessary. Likewise, this has profound implications for theological epistemology. For, actuality is the precondition for contact and knowing. When God’s essence is identified with His act (energia) the same ineffability proper to God’s essence applies to His act. Therefore, knowing God becomes an impossibility, and theology is left only with reflections on the effects of God-as-Creator discernable by natural reason. Thomas nominally retains the centrality of grace, revelation, and divine illumination in his theological epistemology; but due to his conception of the nature of God, these things cannot be God-as-He-is-present to us (energia) but mere creatures. Even with grace, no real epistemically grounding contact with God can take place. This is contrary to the teachings of the Fathers.