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Thomism and Atheism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

James V. Schall
James V. Schall*
Affiliation:
Wolfington Hall, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057-2100, USA
*
Email: schallj@georgetown.edu
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Abstract

Atheism, the thesis that God does not exist and Thomism, the thesis that there are “proofs” for the existence of God based on experience and reason can be juxtaposed to each other as two extremes. On the other hand, the very statement of each implies the need to consider the other, so that the atheist and the Thomist both claim to belong to rational discourse, however much they differ in conclusions. The scriptural tradition has consistently found the one who says there is “no God” to be “foolish,” that is, someone with more than just an intellectual error.

Keywords

Thomismatheismacidiainfidelityprideself-creation
Type
Original Articles
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 92 , Issue 1041 , September 2011 , pp. 565 - 573
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 The Author. New Blackfriars © 2011 The Dominican Council.

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References

1 Psalm 53, 1 also reads: “The fool has said in his heart: ‘There is no God above.’ Their deeds are corrupt, depraved; not a good man is left.”

2 Lewis, C. S., “Letter to Marg-Reiter Montgomery, June 10, 1952, Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, (San Francisco: Harpers, 2007), III, 198Google Scholar.

3 Jaffa, Harry, Thomism and Aristotelianism (Westport, CT.: Greenwood, 1979)Google Scholar.

4 “Idleness (acidia), for the older code of behavior, meant especially this: that the human being had given up on the very responsibility that comes with his dignity; that he does not want to be what God wants him to be, and that means that he does not want to be what he really, and in the ultimate sense, is.” Pieper, Josef, Leisure: The Basis of Culture (South Bend. IN.: St. Augustine's Press, 1998), 28Google Scholar.

5 See James V. Schall, “On ‘Believing’ Atheists,” Ignatius Insight, on-line, January 13, 2010.

6 Rahner, Karl, “Atheism,” The Encyclopedia of Theology: The Concise Sacramentum Mundi (New York: Seabury, 1975), 48–49Google Scholar.

7 See James V. Schall, “Last Christian,” Inside Catholic, on-line, April 14, 2009.

8 Rahner, ibid. 50–51.

9 Ibid. 52.

10 Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, Salt of the Earth (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), 133Google Scholar.