Fr. Gregory Pine

So often enough, Augustine is treating a particular issue.

You got the Donatists over here doing whatever.

You got the Manichees over here doing something else entirely.

You've got the Pelagians over here doing a third thing.

And so he's addressing them, seeking to correct their errors, but also to edify the flock in a way that they can comprehend, in a way from which they themselves can profit.

but he's not thinking like, okay, we've navigated all of these different controversies, now it's time to set forward the faith in its entirety.

He'll have like certain treatises, which tend to be more systematic, like the In Caridion on faith, hope, and charity, but he never writes that work.

St.

Thomas comes at a time when people are beginning to write that work.

And you're recovering a lot of this patristic teaching.

St.

Thomas had access to all of these excellent libraries, which a lot of people had forgotten about for like 800 years.

That's an exaggeration, 600 years.

And then you also have the reintroduction of a lot of really beautiful philosophical resources.

So I think that part of St.

Thomas' genius is reliant on Aristotle's genius.

because you have these real insights from the platonic tradition but they're not necessarily set forward in systematic fashion they're set forward in the manner of a story or in the manner of a dialogue whereas aristotle he was a schoolman yeah you know he was again systematic in his approach and i think that aristotelian philosophy corresponds most closely with what is controversial thought at this point most people don't care but here we go hot takes within a very limited fold

And so St.

Thomas is recovering all of these riches from the patristic tradition and doing so with philosophical resources which cohere closely with reality.

And so he's able to set it forward in a way that cleaves to the thing itself.