faith

• He explored the premise that faith differs form both a priori and a posteriori

  knowledge, or ‘scientia’ as he coined it, because faith does not have the same firm self-evident

  certainty. He distinguished between unformed faith and formed faith.
• Scientia infusa – An ‘infused’ knowledge which is not learnt but given by God, this means Jesus had all the knowledge of God from

  creation. Jesus Faith in God
• Unformed faith refers to the

  belief of a person who can intellectually accept another person’s faith in God but, cannot accept it as

  true for themselves whereas formed faith is a faith in which as person accepts what they believe

  rationally through the intellect, concluding that it is true. Here we can see that is using reason alone

  one could arrive at unformed faith and it is only through faith and reason that one can gain

  knowledge of God. Reason, according to Aquinas can only take us so far
• According to the Catholic Church. the presence of the Holy Spirit is required to affirm faith fully as

  the virtues of faith, without God’s grace, can be regarded as simply human virtues. Therefore, it is

  through the Holy Spirit that Christians can fully understand God’s work in the world and come to

  gain knowledge of God in their lives. - corrects unformed faith
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes God’s grace as

  the gift of the Spirit and the “free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call and

  become children of God”.This view can be seem

  emulated in the scripture “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not

  from yourself but through the gift of God”.
• Unformed faith refers to the belief of a person who can intellectually accept another person’s faith in God but, cannot accept it as true for themselves whereas formed faith is a faith in which as person accepts what they believe rationally through the intellect, concluding that it is true. Here we can see that is using reason alone one could arrive at unformed faith and it is only through faith and reason that one can gain knowledge of God. Reason, according to Aquinas can only take us so far & faith, in contrast, is volitional and gives a stronger connection with God.
• • intellectual capacity is not enough - teleological observations of the world can be accepted as a logically sound argument by anyone including atheists but it is faith that facilitates knowledge of Gods existence rather than reception of an argument. We can intellectualise why Aquinas may belief in God due the teleological argument without believing in it ourselves