"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.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Q57 A4: Whether angels know secret thoughts?
No. Angels do not know the secrets of hearts because the rational creature is subject to God only, and He alone can work in it Who is its principal object and last end (Q63, A1; Q105, A5); consequently all that is in the will, and all things that depend only on the will, are known to God alone.