Introduction

This introduction helps the reader see the contents and significance of the book. The book investigates to what extent interpretations of Thomas Aquinas’s view of the relationship between faith and reason have been shaped by the influence of typically modern rational paradigms – which the author calls “Lockean.” Aquinas’s texts will be explored to show that many of these interpretations are simply unconvincing, based as they are on a lack of consideration of what Aquinas clearly takes to be true –

that faith is caused mainly by God, from which it follows that faith is at least partly unresponsive to rational criteria. The book will argue that the way Aquinas treats faith puts our rational faculties in a condition to work that is more profitable than how they function in the Lockean view. In other words, reason works better once it is related to faith, taken as mainly caused by God and his grace.