To: betty boop
It's an important question. I know both Plato and Aquinas had a theory of participation. For Aquinas, God's essence is one with his existence. If our existence is different because we are in space and time, we could still say with Aquinas that we share in his existence quodcumque ens creatum participat, ut ita dixerim, naturam essendi, (each and every created being shares, so to speak in the nautre of existence:" --indeed, say it as did St. Paul, that in him we move and live and have our being (that is also the passage which mentions the Unknown God). So also St. Anselm. But there may be other interpretations. Do you part ways with Aquinas?
To: cornelis; Alamo-Girl
Do you part ways with Aquinas? No, not necessarily. But don't forget, I put great stock in the complementarity principle.
Notwithstanding, I must also mention that of the two saints, Anselm is closer to my heart.
Where it seems (to me at least) that Aquinas was "constructing a [rational] system," Anselm simply said: "Speak to my desirous soul what you are, other than what it has seen, that it may clearly see what it desires." And again, "O Lord, you are not only that than which a greater cannot be conceived, but you are also greater than what can be conceived."
254 posted on
06/09/2007 4:31:16 PM PDT by
betty boop
("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein)
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