The Nature and Significance of Contemplation According to Thomas Aquinas | Prof. Rik Van Nieuwenhove
The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute
4.8 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
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Summary
Professor Rik Van Nieuwenhove explores Thomas Aquinas's concept of contemplation, emphasizing its intellective nature, self-transcendent character, and relationship to charity, while discussing its significance in modern life.
This lecture was given on November 28th, 2024, at University of St. Andrews.
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About the Speaker:
Rik Van Nieuwenhove lectures in Medieval Thought at Durham University, UK. He has published scholarly articles on medieval theology and spirituality, theology of the Trinity, and soteriology. His books include: Introduction to Medieval Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012); Jan van Ruusbroec. Mystical Theologian of the Trinity (IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003); Introduction to the Trinity (with D. Marmion) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011); and he is editor of The Theology of Thomas Aquinas (with J. Wawrykow) (IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005); and Late Medieval Mysticism of the Low Countries (with R. Faesen & H. Rolfson) (NJ: Paulist Press, 2008). Presently he is researching the topic of contemplation in Thomas Aquinas.
Keywords: Charity, Christian Love, Contemplation, Divine Names, Gratuitousness, Intellective Understanding, Modern Philosophy, Reason, Self-Transcendence, Thomas Aquinas
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. |
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| 0:25.1 | So I'm going to say a few words about contemplation and charity in Thomas Aquinas, |
| 0:30.0 | meaning and significance for today. |
| 0:32.9 | I apologize to those who have a strong theological background. |
| 0:37.3 | This paper is written for a broad audience, but hopefully there will be something in it for everybody. |
| 0:45.3 | The paper consists basically of two parts. |
| 0:48.3 | The first part deals with contemplation, self-transcendence, intellect and reason. |
| 0:53.3 | You should have this handout in front of you. |
| 0:56.0 | So first of all, what is contemplation according to Thomas? |
| 1:00.0 | Now today we probably associate contemplation with prayer, |
| 1:05.0 | or even see it as a part of prayer. |
| 1:07.0 | But that's not really Thomas' view. |
| 1:10.0 | For him, contemplation in general is the pursuit |
| 1:13.6 | of truth, be it speculative, as in the philosophical or theological sciences, or in a more general |
| 1:20.1 | vein, in the life of the Christian through faith. In the strict sense of the word, however, contemplation is deeply intellective. |
| 1:31.1 | And I'll explain what that word means later. |
| 1:33.5 | It has to do with insight and understanding as distinct from discursive reasoning, ratio. |
| 1:41.2 | So I'm going to try and unpack this. |
| 1:53.0 | The distinction, contrasts between reason or ratio and insight, understanding or intellectus, occurs throughout the writings of Thomas. |
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