Thomas Aquinas — Season 1, Episode 5: Doctrine of Creation
Documentary, Talk • 49 min • 1 season, 8 episodes
Episode synopsis
In lecture five, we explore the doctrine of creation through Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on why God creates despite His perfection and self-sufficiency. Aquinas argues that God creates not from need but from the Platonic principle of “bonum diffusivum sui” — the good is diffusive of itself. We then examine creation ex nihilo (creation from nothing), which reveals creation as a continual relationship with God rather than simply a past event. Bishop Barron concludes by discussing how God as artist creates a beautifully diverse world to display His glory, setting up the next topic of divine providence and the problem of evil.
About Thomas Aquinas
In Thomas Aquinas, a seven-hour course, Bishop Robert Barron guides us through a study of the theological and philosophical system of Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Dominican friar who masterfully synthesized Ancient Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine. We examine his Five Ways for demonstrating God's existence, his understanding of divine attributes and the Trinity, and his teachings on creation, providence, and the problem of evil. The course delves into Aquinas's philosophical anthropology, particularly the relationship between body and soul and humanity's creation in God's image. We conclude by studying his ethical framework centered on finding happiness in God as humanity's ultimate goal, and the role of virtues in ordering human life toward God.