A comparison of views on angels by st augustine and st thomas aquinas

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece was the birthplace of Western philosophical ethics. The ideas of Socrates c. The sudden flowering of philosophy during that period was rooted in the ethical thought of earlier centuries.

Latin angelus; Greek aggelos; from the Hebrew for "one going" or "one sent"; messenger. The word is used in Hebrew to denote indifferently either a divine or human messenger.

The Septuagint renders it by aggelos which also has both significations.

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The Latin version, however, distinguishes the divine or spirit-messenger from the humanrendering the original in the one case by angelus and in the other by legatus or more generally by nuntius. In a few passages the Latin version is misleading, the word angelus being used where nuntius would have better expressed the meaning, e.

It is with the spirit-messenger alone that we are here concerned. We have to discuss the meaning of the term in the Biblethe offices of the angels, the names assigned to the angels, the distinction between good and evil spirits, the divisions of the angelic choirs, the question of angelic appearances, and the development of the scriptural idea of angels.

The angels are represented throughout the Bible as a body of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: They, equally with manare created beings; "praise ye Him, all His angels: He commanded and they were created" Psalm That the angels were created was laid down in the Fourth Lateran Council The decree "Firmiter" against the Albigenses declared both the fact that they were created and that men were created after them.

This decree was repeated by the Vatican Council"Dei Filius". We mention it here because the words: They are spirits; the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says: Attendants at God's throne It is as messengers that they most often figure in the Biblebut, as St.

Augustineand after him St. Gregoryexpresses it: I behold till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days sat: His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like clean wool: His throne like flames of fire: A swift stream of fire issued forth from before Him: This function of the angelic host is expressed by the word "assistance" Job 1: More than once we are told of seven angels whose special function it is thus to "stand before God's throne" Tobit The same thought may be intended by "the angel of His presence" Isaiah God's messengers to mankind But these glimpses of life beyond the veil are only occasional.

The angels of the Bible generally appear in the role of God's messengers to mankind. They are His instruments by whom He communicates His will to menand in Jacob's vision they are depicted as ascending and descending the ladder which stretches from earth to heaven while the Eternal Father gazes upon the wanderer below.

It was an angel who found Agar in the wilderness Genesis 16 ; angels drew Lot out of Sodom ; an angel announces to Gideon that he is to save his people; an angel foretells the birth of Samson Judges 13and the angel Gabriel instructs Daniel Daniel 8: The same heavenly spirit announced the birth of St.

John the Baptist and the Incarnation of the Redeemerwhile tradition ascribes to him both the message to the shepherds Luke 2:Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine: My Spiritual Brothers. By Alex Brittain 3/28/ PM. 0. vote Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine are arguably the two most important theologians in all of Christian history and are two of the most important Doctors of the Catholic Church.

Saint Thomas Aquinas was born in Italy. Saint Thomas Aquinas and Angels. The fact that Saint Thomas is called the Angelic Doctor is not due to his cherubic physique alone.

(ST Ia 50, 1) However, since humans are intellectual creatures, as he indicates at the end of this very argument, the need for some intellectual creatures is not sufficient to give us knowledge of the existence. The word "firmament" is used to translate rāqîaʿ (רָקִ֫יעַ ‬), a word used in Biblical initiativeblog.com is derived from the root raqqəʿ (רָקַע), meaning "to beat or spread out thinly", e.g., the process of making a dish by hammering thin a lump of metal..

Like most ancient peoples, the Hebrews believed the sky was a solid dome with the Sun, Moon, planets and stars embedded in it.

These files have been assembled over the last 20 years, and the archive is still g rowing.

All are welcomed to take advantage of this page’s centuries of knowledge related to first century studies and fulfilled prophecy. ANGELS: FROM THE TEACHINGS OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS. The following is from the teachings of St.

God's messengers to mankind

Thomas Aquinas, from the Summa Theologica Ia, The First Part, Questions: It seems that St. Augustine makes a real distinction between morning and evening knowledge in the angels, for he says (Gen. ad lit. Jul 23,  · Augustine v.

Aquinas. Saint Augustine and Aquinas are both famously known for their philosophical and theological explorations, with Augustine writing in the late fourth to early fifth century and Aquinas in the thirteenth.

Thomas Aquinas had similar views in that there is indeed life after death, and that the soul is separable.