The Philosophy Book

92 THOMAS AQUINAS

accept Aristotle’s assertion that the
universe is eternal, because the
Christian faith says otherwise; but
he doesn’t think that Aristotle’s
position is illogical. Like Philoponus
and his followers, Aquinas wants
to show that the universe had a

beginning—but he also wants

to show that there is no flaw in

Aristotle’s reasoning. He claims

that his Christian contemporaries

have confused two different points:

the first is that God created the

universe, and the second is that the

universe had a beginning. Aquinas

set out to prove that in fact

Aristotle’s position—that the

universe has always existed—

could be true, even if it is also true

that God created the universe.

Creating the eternal

Aquinas steps away from Philoponus

and his followers by insisting that

although it is true, as the Bible says,

that the universe had a beginning,

this is not a necessary (undeniable)

truth on logical grounds. As they all

agree, God created the universe

with a beginning, but he could just

as easily have created an eternal

one. If something is created by God,

then it owes its whole existence to

God, but that does not mean that

there must have been a time when

it did not exist at all. It is therefore

quite possible to believe in an

eternal universe that had been

created by God.

Aquinas gives an example of

how this might work. Suppose

there was a foot making a footprint

in the sand and it had been there

for ever. Although there would

never have been a moment before

the footprint was made, we would

still recognize the foot as the cause

of the footprint: if it were not for the

foot, there would not be a footprint.

Aquinas and synthesis

Historians sometimes say that

Aquinas “synthesized” Christianity

and Aristotelian philosophy, as if

he took the parts he wanted from

each and made them into a smooth

mixture. In fact, for Aquinas—as

for most Christians—the teachings

of the Church must all be accepted,

without exception or compromise.

Aquinas was unusual, however,

because he thought that, properly

understood, Aristotle did not

contradict Christian teaching. The

question of whether the universe

always existed is the exception

that proves the rule. In this

particular case Aquinas thinks

that Aristotle was wrong, but he

was not wrong in principle, or in

his reasoning. The universe really

might have existed for ever, as far

as the ancient philosophers knew.

It was just that Aristotle, not having

access to Christian revelation, had

Aquinas believed the creation story

on faith, but claimed that some elements

of Christian belief could be rationally

demonstrated. For Aquinas, the Bible

and reason need never conflict.

God could have

made the universe

without humans and

then made them.

Thomas Aquinas