Is St. Thomas' Theology of Angels Biblical? #AskAFriar (Aquinas 101)

St. Thomas Aquinas is known as the Angelic Doctor, and he was given this title because his teaching on the angels is considered by the Church to be the most complete and correct. But one of our viewers wonders, is his teaching on this topic biblical? Stick around to learn the answer. Hello, my name is Fr. Ambrose Little, and I teach philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies. Welcome to Aquinas 101, Big Questions, Little Answers, the series where I do my best to answer your big questions about philosophy, theology, and more. One of our viewers asks, I started reading the Summa Theologiae. Lots of interesting ideas, but not enough direct scriptural references. For example, his ideas about the nature of angels and such are very detailed, but those details are not found in scripture, or did I miss them? What did Aquinas base his ideas and conclusions on? Is there a work and or expository type of book that demonstrates how he proceeds directly from a specific biblical verse or chapter? Could you please provide sources? The answer to this question is complicated. The first thing I want to suggest is a place where you can find a more complete answer to this question, namely a book on St. Thomas' teaching on the angels called Angels and Demons, a Catholic Introduction by Fr. Serge Tomas Bonino. There, Fr. Bonino helpfully discusses the biblical and patristic sources of Christian as well as how the church's reflection on angels developed up to the time of St. Thomas, and ending with information about later developments. It's a hefty book, but a helpful one for those of you interested in the sources. But to give a short answer to the question, St. Thomas' theology of angels is deeply biblical and is rooted in a history of commentary on angels, drawing both from scripture, tradition, and from philosophical reflection. While it is true that St. Thomas does not give long citations from scripture in the Summa, that is partially because of the nature of the Summa, which is a summary of theological reflection on the chosen topics. But if you look throughout the questions on the angels, you will find that St. Thomas draws from many passages of scripture for his theology of angels. He explicitly cites the following books of scripture, Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Tobit, Job, Wisdom, Proverbs, Chronicles, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, 1st Timothy, 1st Peter, James, Hebrews, and even others. And that is just in the Summa. If you go to other works of St. Thomas, you will find reflections on the angels in his commentary on the Nativity of Jesus and the Gospel of St. Matthew, in his commentary on Isaiah chapter 6, and on Hebrews chapter 1. In his Apuscula, or Little Treatise on Separate Substances, that is, on the angels, St. Thomas distinguishes what in his thought is coming from philosophical reflection and what comes directly from scripture. In fact, in chapters 19 and 20 of that work, St. Thomas tells us what he thinks must be held by all Catholics about angels based on the information we have from scripture. It should also be noted that St. Thomas's dependence on earlier Christian sources is not entirely separate from his biblical reflections. That is because most of the patristic and earlier medieval reflections on angels are strongly rooted in scripture. The two principal Christian thinkers who are sources for St. Thomas's thought about angels are St. Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius. While both thinkers use philosophical tools to reflect on the angels, they also draw from scripture as their primary source of information. St. Augustine, for instance, has one of his longest treatments of the angels in his literal commentary on Genesis. While Pseudo-Dionysius does not have any biblical commentaries in the strict sense, he does draw upon the Bible constantly in his treatment of angels, from both Old and New Testament texts. The passages of scripture that St. Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius use as the backbone of their discussions become the central scriptural texts for St. Thomas's own discussion of angels. What this means is that even St. Thomas's reliance upon the fathers of the church is deeply biblical, because their own views were deeply biblical. Lastly, it should be noted that there are a significant amount of philosophical sources for St. Thomas's thought. This is not entirely different from how we might use academic research to guide our analysis of particular scriptural texts. Some people will bring information from the study of history, science, or other disciplines to try and understand the meaning of particular questions that are not so clear in scripture. Now, some of the questions St. Thomas asks, like questions about the angelic intellect and will, do not have a lot of information to draw from in scripture, especially since they are about the interior life of angels. Therefore, these reflections of St. Thomas are more speculative, but they are based on his understanding of the human intellect and will, and his reflections on how that might work in a purely spiritual being. That being said, they are not totally separate from scripture, for St. Thomas does not want these reflections to contradict anything in scripture. On that last point, it is important to note that not all of St. Thomas's theorizing about angels holds the same doctrinal weight. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has found his comprehensive reflections helpful, both in interpreting scripture and in understanding the angels as persons who are interacting with us in subtle ways even today. After all, angels are not just beings we read about in scripture. In fact, the good angels are even part of the Church, and the thought of St. Thomas helps us to think about their place in the Church both now and in the life to come. Well, that's all I have for you today. Thanks for joining me for this episode of Big Questions, Little Answers. I look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, may God bless you and keep you in his grace. I hope that answers all your questions, but if not, please let us know by submitting your big questions using hashtag AskAFriar in the YouTube comments and on social media. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends. Because it matters what you think.