Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
While the first sentence in this extract from Thomas Aquinas is reasonable enough, the remainder of it, and the fact that it occurs at the beginning of a work that promotes celibacy and poverty as part of the "contempt of earthly things", renders his thesis badly mistaken. Thank God the Reformers liberated us from this sort of thing:
The religion of Christ appears to aim chiefly it diverting the attention of mankind from material things, in order to concentrate their thoughts on the spiritual. Therefore Jesus, “the Author and finisher of our faith,” at His coming into this world, proposed to His faithful followers the contempt of earthly things. He taught this lesson both by His life and by His words.
Thomas Aquinas, Liber contra doctrinam retrahentium a religione (1261), C1.n69829.
The religion of Christ appears to aim chiefly it diverting the attention of mankind from material things, in order to concentrate their thoughts on the spiritual. Therefore Jesus, “the Author and finisher of our faith,” at His coming into this world, proposed to His faithful followers the contempt of earthly things. He taught this lesson both by His life and by His words.
Thomas Aquinas, Liber contra doctrinam retrahentium a religione (1261), C1.n69829.