Week 1 Course Material

Course Slides and Readings

Before the first session, please read:

• "Creation," by Kathryn Tanner, in Cambridge Companion to the Summa theologiae. Link here.

• The prologue to question 44 in the Prima Pars. Link here.

• Summa theologiae I, q. 44, a. 1. "Whether it is necessary that every being be created by God?" Link here.

• Summa theologiae I, q. 45, a. 1. "Whether to create is to make something from nothing?" Link here. 

Further Reading

Optional reading:

• Any of the articles in questions 44-49 of the Prima Pars. Link here.

Assignment

After the first session, write 300 words in response to one of the following:

1. Is God the final cause of all things? Explain your answer with reference to ST I, q. 4, a. 2.

2. Explain why creation is not change, with reference to Aquinas's (Aristotelian) understanding of change.

3. Is creation proper to a divine Person? Can we attribute it to a divine Person?

4. How is the trace (vestigium) of God found in creatures, and how does this relate to their distinction?

5. Did the world have a beginning? How do we know?