Rethinking God’s Existence as a Preamble of Faith in Aquinas’ View

Abstract

For Aquinas, the preambles of faith, including the existence of God, play a crucial role in his view of faith because they are presupposed by the articles of faith. However, the existing literature does not make it clear how exactly the preambles can be held. In particular, the existence of God seems to cause problems. Should it be held by demonstration or by faith? I think there are problems with both. A possible solution was suggested three decades ago. In this article I argue that this solution follows from a view of faith, fully attributable to Aquinas, which includes three dimensions, the intellectual, the moral and the religious. Hence, to say that in order to believe in God one must first prove or believe by faith that God exists is based on a limited perspective that reduces faith to the purely intellectual dimension.