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Are there any Thomists here?

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concretecamper

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BonaVel5490 said:
Are there any followers of Thomas Aquinas here? If so, I've got a few questions... hope it's not a problem.

The first would be... what are souls, exactly?
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Couldn't you just look up what Aquinas said?
 
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Bob Crowley

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Chesster said:
I read him and agree with much of what he says but I have no official training in Thomistic theology.
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Disregard the previous question, Aquinas already explained that.
I got a better question here: Is it true that Aquinas' was among the first who thought the angels were completely immaterial? Wouldn't that mean Aquinas' view was novel? Many thought angels had "subtle" bodies before his time.
 
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I don’t think Aquinas was the first. St. John of Damascus says, “He (God) is Himself the Maker and Creator of the angels: for He brought them out of nothing into being and created them after His own image, an incorporeal race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire.” An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith Book 2 chapter 3. Notice that he calls angels “an incorporeal race”. There was disagreement regarding the nature of angels so it was a developing doctrine in Catholic thought. I think Aquinas was trying to solve the dispute.
 
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Chesster said:
I don’t think Aquinas was the first. St. John of Damascus says, “He (God) is Himself the Maker and Creator of the angels: for He brought them out of nothing into being and created them after His own image, an incorporeal race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire.” An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith Book 2 chapter 3. Notice that he calls angels “an incorporeal race”. There was disagreement regarding the nature of angels so it was a developing doctrine in Catholic thought. I think Aquinas was trying to solve the dispute.
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Maybe, but I've seen some that criticize the idea of angels being immaterial. Saying that only God was immaterial and angels having "subtle" bodies was the norm until the 13th century.
 
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BonaVel5490 said:
Are there any followers of Thomas Aquinas here? If so, I've got a few questions... hope it's not a problem.

The first would be... what are souls, exactly?
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Soul= spiritual, essence of a person
Body= physical

At death, they are separated. At the end of time, they will be reunited again. Just like Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Peace

(No, I am NOT a "thomist." Just basic theology is what I'm repeating).
 
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You might find this interesting and helpful, it's from the Summa: Question 75, Article 1 from the First Part.

SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Man who is composed of a spiritual and a corporeal substance: and in the first place, concerning what belongs to the essence of the soul (Prima Pars, Q. 75)

Is the soul a body? Is the human soul a subsistence? Are the souls of brute animals subsistent? Is the soul man, or is man composed of soul and body? Is the soul composed of matter and form? Is the soul incorruptible? Is the soul of the same species as an angel?
www.newadvent.org www.newadvent.org
 
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Chesster said:
It may have been the norm I don’t know but the idea of angels being immaterial certainly wasn’t novel to the 13th century.
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I've read some that have said otherwise. Including referring to the idea of fully immaterial angels as "incoherent". They mostly focus on the fact that angels were imagined to have airey bodies or fiery bodies (much like John Damascus said).
 
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Gnarwhal said:
You might find this interesting and helpful, it's from the Summa: Question 75, Article 1 from the First Part.

SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Man who is composed of a spiritual and a corporeal substance: and in the first place, concerning what belongs to the essence of the soul (Prima Pars, Q. 75)

Is the soul a body? Is the human soul a subsistence? Are the souls of brute animals subsistent? Is the soul man, or is man composed of soul and body? Is the soul composed of matter and form? Is the soul incorruptible? Is the soul of the same species as an angel?
www.newadvent.org www.newadvent.org
Click to expand...
Thank you.
 
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