This document provides an introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas and his theological method. It discusses how Aquinas used philosophy and reason to understand God, recognizing that God is ultimately unknowable. It also references other theologians like Karl Barth and their views on theology involving mystery and using words to describe God, who defies words. The document outlines the course and introduces key figures and texts to be covered, including St. Augustine.

1. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

3. Method in Theology 3 x 2 is _____. God is _____. A rose is _____.

4. Karl Barth (1886-1968) St. Augustine (354-430) “ If you have understood, then what you have understood is not God.” “ Theology means taking rational trouble over the mystery.... If we are unwilling to take the trouble, neither shall we know what we mean when we say that we are dealing with the mystery of God.”

5. Fr. Herbert McCabe, O.P. (1926-2001) Stanley Hauerwas (1940 - ) Thomas Aquinas is “the most agnostic theologian in the Western Christian tradition.” “ Recognition of truthful speech begins when readers identify the words they encounter as an honest expression of life’s complexities. The theological trick is to show that speaking honestly of the complexities of life requires words that speak of God…. The work of the theologian is word work, or , … ‘working with words in the light of faith.’ .. In fact, faith is nothing more than the words we use to speak of God. And yet the God to whom and about whom we speak defies the words we use. Such defiance seems odd, because the God about whom we speak is, we believe, found decisively in Jesus of Nazareth, the very Word of God. Still, it seems that the nearer God draws to us, the more we discover that we know not what we say when we say ‘God.’”

8. Required Texts