Reason and faith in Thomas Aquinas’ Expositio on Boethius’ De Trinitate

Abstract

This Expositio on Boethius’ De Trinitate is written in the years 1257-1258 and remains unfinished. It must he placed in the first Parisian teaching of Aquinas. It consists of three parts: a proem and two chapters. What Thomas tries to do in this work is to clarify a series of problems rather than directly comment on Boethius’ work. And among them stands out the epistemological clarification of theology. At this point we would have to talk about the knowledge of the divine essence from the relationships of faith and reason. God is not the first thing we know in this life. By recognizing human reason its own limits in relation to the knowledge of divinity, the possibility of a gratuitous supernatural knowledge is raised, which can only be reached through faith, which provides a firm knowledge of what is not accessible by human reason.

Keywords: reason, faith, nature, grace.