Aquinas and the Great Synthesis
Reason, revelation, and the problems that endure
Marrying Aristotle to Christian Faith
Thomas Aquinas argued that faith and reason cannot truly conflict, since both come from God. In his Five Ways he offered rational arguments for God's existence, drawing on Aristotle, while Maimonides had earlier done similar work reconciling Aristotle with Jewish scripture. Beneath it all ran deep puzzles: the problem of universals and the problem of evil.
“Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it.”
Where this sits in the course
“Aquinas and the Great Synthesis” is lesson 3 of 3 in Faith & Reason, a course about how faith and reason shaped the next great questions.. The lessons are sequenced rather than a menu, so this one assumes what came before it.
Faith & Reason is itself one of 18 courses in thinkr. The set opens with what philosophy is, moves through the Stoics and the Eastern traditions, then into what can be known, what exists, how to act and how power works — closing on practical reasoning you can use in an argument this week.
In the app this lesson is followed by 5 exercises that check whether the idea actually landed — and every answer, right or wrong, is explained rather than scored. That is the part a written page cannot reproduce.