Book contents
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on the One God
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on the One God
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Analytical Table of Contents
- Ante Studium (Before Study)
- Epigraph
- Commentator’s Introduction
- Question 1 The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine
- Question 2 The Existence of God
- Question 3 Of the Simplicity of God
- Question 4 The Perfection of God
- Question 6 The Goodness of God
- Question 49 The Cause of Evil
- Question 7 The Infinity of God
- Question 8 The Existence of God in Things
- Question 9 The Immutability of God
- Question 10 The Eternity of God
- Question 11 The Unity of God
- Question 12 How God Is Known by Us
- Question 13 The “Names” or Qualities Predicated of God
- Question 14 Of God’s Knowledge
- Question 16 Of Truth
- Question 18 The Life of God
- Question 19 The Will of God
- Question 20 God’s Love
- Question 21 The Justice and Mercy of God
- Question 22 The Providence of God
- Question 25 The Power of God
- Question 26 Of the Divine Beatitude
- Commentator’s Conclusion: Preamble to What?
- Index of Scriptural References
- General Index
Question 11 - The Unity of God
Article 3: Whether God Is One?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2024
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on the One God
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on the One God
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Analytical Table of Contents
- Ante Studium (Before Study)
- Epigraph
- Commentator’s Introduction
- Question 1 The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine
- Question 2 The Existence of God
- Question 3 Of the Simplicity of God
- Question 4 The Perfection of God
- Question 6 The Goodness of God
- Question 49 The Cause of Evil
- Question 7 The Infinity of God
- Question 8 The Existence of God in Things
- Question 9 The Immutability of God
- Question 10 The Eternity of God
- Question 11 The Unity of God
- Question 12 How God Is Known by Us
- Question 13 The “Names” or Qualities Predicated of God
- Question 14 Of God’s Knowledge
- Question 16 Of Truth
- Question 18 The Life of God
- Question 19 The Will of God
- Question 20 God’s Love
- Question 21 The Justice and Mercy of God
- Question 22 The Providence of God
- Question 25 The Power of God
- Question 26 Of the Divine Beatitude
- Commentator’s Conclusion: Preamble to What?
- Index of Scriptural References
- General Index
Summary
Many polytheists would be perfectly happy to borrow yet another god from Christianity, but only so long as they could demote Him from the One God to a god among gods: “What have you got against the others?” The naïve assumption is that God belongs to the genus “gods” – that He is just one more of those things (but in Christian belief, the real one). St. Thomas has argued that He is not that sort of thing at all – in fact, He is not a “sort of thing.” Moreover He is of such a nature that there could not be more than of Him. But how do we know He is one? Even someone who considers the many gods of polytheism false, foolish, base, demonic, or all too human may ask, “But is monotheism true?”
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on the One God , pp. 155 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024