4. The Middle Ages

It should be noted that St. Augustine established a paradigm which would serve as a structure for medieval theology. His view of the relation between faith and understanding had such a strong influence on Western theological method that the Augustinian synthesis, as it has been called, became normative. It provided the context within which most theological discussions were carried on. Anselm's famous saying in the prologue to his Proslogion, "I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand",11 clearly demonstrated the Scholastic methodological principle within the Augustinian tradition.

As the Doctor Angelicus12, Thomas Aquinas was indisputably the greatest medieval synthesist, who ambitiously embarked on a systematic account of the totality of all knowledge pertaining to God. His Summa Theologiae was the first real attempt to present theology as a science (scientia), that is, to investigate rationally what faith professes on the basis of the authority of divine revelation in the Scriptures13. In the first question of his Summa Theologiae, Thomas employs the Aristotelian distinction of sciences and distinguishes between two kinds of sciences: one proceeds from principles known in themselves by the natural intelligence, such as geometry and arithmetic. The other proceeds from principles known by the light of a higher science in which they stand as demonstrated conclusions. Thomas Aquinas modified Augustine's idea of divine illumination by expressing the human intellect in terms of two faculties: the passive intellect and the agent intellect. The latter originates from the divine light but is not the light itself. For Thomas, faith is an act of accent by the intellect to what has been revealed by God. But the intellect cannot perform this spontaneously unless it is lightened up from within by the grace of God. Thomas then typifies theology, or what he calls sacred doctrine (sacra doctrina), as a science of the latter type (a subalternate science), which "proceeds from principles known by the light of a superior science - the science of God and the blessed"14. This is important because it renders the principles of theology beyond the powers of natural reason to grasp, in themselves or demonstrate them from the principles of any other science. The knowledge proper to sacra doctrina can be known only as given to us by revelation. Therefore, theology is distinctly set apart from the strictly philosophical sciences, whose conclusions are ultimately grounded in principles accessible to natural reason15. In addition to philosophy, revelation is necessary because some of the truths of faith cannot be acquired through human reason. Moreover, revelation guarantees some of the knowledge of God that could be reached by human reasoning and makes it more comprehensible. More importantly, human beings can only attain ultimate happiness by revelation. The content of revelation is actually the goal of human life as divine creation. According to Thomas, this goal, in the end, is God Himself.

There is also a dynamic element in Thomas' idea of revelation in the sense that revelation can take on different forms and human understanding can grow over time. Revelation as the salvation plan of God has its own history and therefore human beings actually know more and more about the intimate life of God. In the Old Testament, the Word of God illuminates the prophets, who are then able to judge what is revealed and what to proclaim. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the summit of revelation and his apostles and Church continue to pass on the sacred doctrine of salvation to the people of the whole world.

Although the word revelation is not used as a technical term in the patristic period or in the Middle Ages, the idea of revelation is clear and simple: God has revealed Himself in nature and in human history. The Constitutions of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 well illustrate this idea:

"This holy Trinity, which is undivided according to its common essence but distinct according to the properties of its persons, gave the teaching of salvation to the human race through Moses and the holy prophets and his other servants, according to the most appropriate disposition of the times. Finally, the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, who became incarnate by the action of the whole Trinity in common and was conceived from the ever virgin Mary through the cooperation of the holy Spirit, having become true man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh, one person in two natures, showed more clearly the way of life."16

One important feature of revelation, which originates in the communal life of God Himself, is its dynamic and historical evolutionary process. However, revelation is perceived primarily as a doctrine or teaching of salvation, which is a way of life as is demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ. During the Reformation, as the protestants stress the principle of "sola scriptura" and the concept of personal illumination by the Holy Spirit, the issue of revelation becomes increasingly complicated and difficult. Revelation is then understood not from the perspective of history and incarnation but rather from the standpoint of its origin, of faith and of objective revelation.