"It is because the contemporary alternatives seem so one-sided and are not more evidently solutions to the problems which Thomas faced, and partly solved, that we return to him and to the tradition of theology and philosophy in which his Summa Theologiae appears: theology as the science of the first principle and this as the total knowledge of reality in its unity." -- Wayne J. Hankey, God in Himself (Oxford University Press, 1987), p.159.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Q13 A8: Whether this name "God" is a name of the nature?
Yes. The name "God" signifies the divine nature because, although God is not known to us in His nature (but is made known to us from His operations or effects), this name was imposed to signify Him existing above all things who is exercising universal providence over all things (since we can name a thing according to the knowledge we have of its nature from its properties and effects).