PUSTphilo - Thomas Aquinas : Paris 1252-1259

Albert, having been asked by the Master General, assigned the twenty-seven year old Thomas as his candidate to be a Bachelor of the Sentences at Paris, the most important and active center of university and intellectual life at that time. He did this even though Thomas had not yet reached the age of 29, as required by the canons for taking up the office of teaching and commenting on the Sentences, the fundamental theological text during the whole of the Middle Ages and beyond, in the Faculty of Theology. This was Thomas's second important teaching assignment after his stint as bachelor of biblical studies in Cologne. The outcome of his courses was the lengthy work, Scriptum super libros Sententiarum, the most original commentary on the theological manual of Peter Lombard. In his commentary Thomas goes beyond the traditional way of outlining its structure. He chose a theocentric schema. This is the first time in theology that Thomas uses the going out from and the returning of all things to God. By pointing out a revolutionary given in theology, that is to say that God should be considered the true subject of theology and not only its object.

From this same period comes two other works. The first, De ente et essentia, written at the request of his Brothers in Paris, is a short treatise, heavily dependent on Avicenna, but very important for its definition of the concept of essence, its relations with reality, and its logical aspects. The second, De principiis naturae, likewise written because of a request he received, is on the other hand a treatise that depends on Averroes.

In a highly and sometimes violently contentious atmosphere, where secular masters were lined up against religious masters, Thomas was nominated Master of Theology by the Master General of the Order in 1256. (Bonaventure of Bagnoregio had received a similar nomination.) Thomas gave the first (called a principium) of two exacting inaugural lectures. He would have been busy at the University of Paris up until 1259 in his capacity as Master: commenting analytically on the complexities of different books of the Old Testament and about half of the New Testament; presiding over numerous private disputations (between a Master and his students) and public disputations on theological questions that were more relevant; responding to questions and objections; and, finally, giving a master's solution as he was expected of him.

Some disputations, called Quaestiones quodlibetales, were considered so important as to interrupt even the academic lectures (in Advent and Lent). The transcript of these oral debates came under the Master's authority who gave them a thorough, definitive editing before they were published. Five Quodlibets of Thomas date back to this Parisian period. They are much more than a transcript of a debate and reveal the highest level of intellectual activity.

The Quaestiones disputatae, De veritate are examples of this intellectual activity, with no less than twenty-nine questions subdivided into more than two hundred and fifty articles of which the first bears the title of a collection.

Thomas's De Trinitate of Boethius (Super Boetium de Trinitate) belongs In this period. It is an original work (Thomas is the only person who commented on Boethius in that century), unfinished, as are other his works in different genres, but very important for its metaphysics. We have an autograph of this work.

As a Master of Theology Thomas also preached to the University community, and then to the townspeople. His preaching to the latter is a sign of the very firm bond between the intellectual life and the life of the Church around centers of study of the Middle Ages. We have transcripts of about twenty of Thomas's homilies given in different places, that contain his teaching (on the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, the Ten Commandments).

Thomas was also passionately and polemically involved in opposing the secular Masters who were against mendicants (Franciscans and Dominicans) as faculty of the University. This was due more than anything else to the envy and jealousy aroused in them by the success of the mendicants and the religious masters working within the University population. His fiercest enemy was William of Saint-Amour. Against a series of objections proposed by William, Thomas wrote his Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem in defense of the position of the Religious and their insertion into the body of Masters in the life of the Church.

The Summa contra gentiles was begun at this time. It was a theological synthesis by the young Master of Theology, written at the request of his religious Brother, Raymond of Pennafort, for missionaries to provide them with some necessary intellectual understanding for combatting the objections of muslims.

	Bachelor of the «Sentences» then Master of Theology at Paris (1252-1259) Albert, having been asked by the Master General, assigned the twenty-seven year old Thomas as his candidate to be a Bachelor of the Sentences at Paris, the most important and active center of university and intellectual life at that time. He did this even though Thomas had not yet reached the age of 29, as required by the canons for taking up the office of teaching and commenting on the Sentences, the fundamental theological text during the whole of the Middle Ages and beyond, in the Faculty of Theology. This was Thomas's second important teaching assignment after his stint as bachelor of biblical studies in Cologne. The outcome of his courses was the lengthy work, Scriptum super libros Sententiarum, the most original commentary on the theological manual of Peter Lombard. In his commentary Thomas goes beyond the traditional way of outlining its structure. He chose a theocentric schema. This is the first time in theology that Thomas uses the going out from and the returning of all things to God. By pointing out a revolutionary given in theology, that is to say that God should be considered the true subject of theology and not only its object. From this same period comes two other works. The first, De ente et essentia, written at the request of his Brothers in Paris, is a short treatise, heavily dependent on Avicenna, but very important for its definition of the concept of essence, its relations with reality, and its logical aspects. The second, De principiis naturae, likewise written because of a request he received, is on the other hand a treatise that depends on Averroes. In a highly and sometimes violently contentious atmosphere, where secular masters were lined up against religious masters, Thomas was nominated Master of Theology by the Master General of the Order in 1256. (Bonaventure of Bagnoregio had received a similar nomination.) Thomas gave the first (called a principium) of two exacting inaugural lectures. He would have been busy at the University of Paris up until 1259 in his capacity as Master: commenting analytically on the complexities of different books of the Old Testament and about half of the New Testament; presiding over numerous private disputations (between a Master and his students) and public disputations on theological questions that were more relevant; responding to questions and objections; and, finally, giving a master's solution as he was expected of him. Some disputations, called Quaestiones quodlibetales, were considered so important as to interrupt even the academic lectures (in Advent and Lent). The transcript of these oral debates came under the Master's authority who gave them a thorough, definitive editing before they were published. Five Quodlibets of Thomas date back to this Parisian period. They are much more than a transcript of a debate and reveal the highest level of intellectual activity. The Quaestiones disputatae, De veritate are examples of this intellectual activity, with no less than twenty-nine questions subdivided into more than two hundred and fifty articles of which the first bears the title of a collection. Thomas's De Trinitate of Boethius (Super Boetium de Trinitate) belongs In this period. It is an original work (Thomas is the only person who commented on Boethius in that century), unfinished, as are other his works in different genres, but very important for its metaphysics. We have an autograph of this work. As a Master of Theology Thomas also preached to the University community, and then to the townspeople. His preaching to the latter is a sign of the very firm bond between the intellectual life and the life of the Church around centers of study of the Middle Ages. We have transcripts of about twenty of Thomas's homilies given in different places, that contain his teaching (on the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, the Ten Commandments). Thomas was also passionately and polemically involved in opposing the secular Masters who were against mendicants (Franciscans and Dominicans) as faculty of the University. This was due more than anything else to the envy and jealousy aroused in them by the success of the mendicants and the religious masters working within the University population. His fiercest enemy was William of Saint-Amour. Against a series of objections proposed by William, Thomas wrote his Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem in defense of the position of the Religious and their insertion into the body of Masters in the life of the Church. The Summa contra gentiles was begun at this time. It was a theological synthesis by the young Master of Theology, written at the request of his religious Brother, Raymond of Pennafort, for missionaries to provide them with some necessary intellectual understanding for combatting the objections of muslims. Bachelor at Cologne (1248-1252) – Portrait of a Religious intellectual © 28.2.2002, PUST.