ABSTRACT
The treatment of the doctrine of faith in the Summa theologiae is based on a particular Aristotelian conception of science. In the Summa Thomas intends to expound the scientia about God. Now, in order to get the scientia about God started one must know two preliminary things about God, namely, whether God exists and what God is. Both questions concern the scientia’s subject. It must be clear in advance that the subject exists and one must know its essence in order to be able to demonstrate the conclusions of the scientia with respect to its subject. In this chapter I shall concentrate on the fi rst issue, the question of whether God exists (an Deus sit). The next chapter is devoted to the question concerning the essence of God (quid Deus sit).
