Pontifical University of St.

Thomas Aquinas / 7 marzo 2018

Divine Wisdom in Teaching and Learning
J. Augustine Di Noia, O.P.

Wisdom 7, 7-10, 15-16 / John 17, 11b-19

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Who of us—whether student or

professor—has not marveled at the fact that St. Thomas intends his Summa
theologiae as a work for beginners in theology—ad eruditionem
incipientium? To be sure, St. Thomas is not thinking of beginners simply
speaking, for he would have presupposed in his readers a grounding in the
humanities and in Sacred Scripture. But he wants to exclude useless
questions and needless repetition in favor of a disciplined ordering of topics
that arises from the inner logic of the subject matter itself and the sequence
in which the truths of the Christian faith can best be absorbed by students
at the beginning of their study of theology or sacra doctrina.
The confidence on St. Thomas’s part that this complex and learned
work could function as a text for beginners rests on a conviction about the
profound intelligibility of truths of the faith. I prayed and prudence was given
me; I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. Divine wisdom comes to
us only as a gift. As granted to us in Baptism, it is radically unitary because
the triune God who is at its center is one in being and in activity, and
comprehends in one act of omniscience the fullness of his truth and wisdom.
Through the infused gift of faith—thus called a theological virtue—the
believer is rendered capable of a participation in this divine wisdom, but
always and only according to human ways of knowing. We truly know God,
but not in the way that he knows himself. According to Aquinas, the human
form that divine wisdom takes in our knowledge and understanding is
necessarily plural and in a true sense scientific in its structure.
When expounded in an orderly manner by a qualified teacher, the
doctrines of the Christian faith can be seen and to a certain extent
understood in their intelligibility and communicability even by the
beginning student.
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St. Thomas explains this relationship between the teacher and

student of divine wisdom in his Inaugural Lecture at the University of Paris
in 1256. He draws upon a verse from psalm 104: You water the mountains
from your chambers; from the fruit of your labor the earth abounds (Ps 104:13)
—rigans montes de superioribus suis de fructu operum tuorum satiabitur
terra, (Vulgate Ps 103:13). Accordingly, he states in the opening words of his
address, “The king of the heavens, the Lord, established this law from all
eternity, that the gifts of his providence should reach what is lowest by way
of things that are in between” (Rigans montes, c. 1).
Thus, Aquinas says, the minds of teachers can be likened to the
mountains upon which the rain falls. Like the mountains, they are watered
by the wisdom of God that is above and it is by their ministry that the light
of divine wisdom flows down into the minds of the students who are likened
to the fertile earth. In order for this transmission of divine wisdom to be
effective, the teachers must be innocent, intelligent, fervent and obedient,
while the students must be docile, able to assess what they hear, and have
the capacity to discover things. Because the fruit of the mountains is not
ascribed to teachers but to God, they can communicate divine wisdom only
in a ministerial or instrumental role. Although no one is equal to this
ministry by himself and from his own resources, he can hope that God will
grant him the proficiency needed to communicate to others the divine
wisdom he has received from God.
St. Thomas maintained this profoundly contemplative understanding
of nature of theological teaching and learning throughout his life. In the
inaugural address, theology involves a participation in the divine wisdom,
and it is the mission of the theologian to transmit this wisdom to others. Ten
years later, as he begins working on the Summa theologiae, he describes
sacra doctrina as “an imprint on us of God’s own knowledge”—velut
quaedam impressio divinae scientiae (1a. 3 ad 2um)—and later in the Summa
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describes his work as “contemplata aliis tradere”, deriving preaching and

teaching from “the fullness of contemplation” (2a2ae, 188, 6).
But what is truly remarkable about this contemplative understanding
of theology are its underlying convictions about the intelligibility and
communicability of the divine wisdom that is it object. Notwithstanding the
radical transcendence of divine wisdom—its essential incomprehensibility
and ineffability—with respect to human cognitive capacities, it can be taught
and learned. The limits here are on the human side: the problem is not that
divine wisdom is opaque but that it is too dazzlingly bright for the human
mind. In his astonishing love for us, God grants us a participation in the
divine wisdom by the grace of faith. But because this faith cannot fail to
plumb the mysteries of divine wisdom, as fides quaerens intellectum it
devotes itself diligently to understanding what is endlessly intelligible but
not beyond its ken. I preferred [wisdom] to scepter and throne, and deemed
riches nothing in comparison to her….Beyond health and beauty I loved her,
and chose to have her rather than the light, because her radiance never
ceases.
Furthermore, although before the depths of divine wisdom, silence is
sometimes the only appropriate response, there are also times when we
must to speak. Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments
at their worth: for he is the guide of wisdom and the director of the wise. As
we have seen, according to Aquinas, this is the teacher’s basic prayer. About
what he has learned of the divine wisdom, he cannot remain silent.
Surely this applies not only to the masters of theology, but also to the
preaching friars who are commissioned to preach the Gospel. Among the
students of Aquinas throughout his lifetime of teaching, there would have
been many preaching friars. In his inaugural address, St. Thomas says that
an indication that someone has truly learned what a master has to teach is
that the knowledge he has newly acquired becomes fruitful. Because it is
infinitely intelligible, the divine wisdom can be understood by the student
—whether as a future teacher or as a future preacher—who therefore must
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be enabled to communicate it to others. This involves not simply

understanding that what the teacher says is true but understanding why it is
true. It is for this reason above all that Aquinas insists that sacra doctrina is
a proper form of scientia. In this way, both the intelligibility and the
communicability of the divine wisdom can be insured. The more sacra
doctrina approaches scientia, the more firmly and fruitfully does it implant
itself in the student’s mind, and the more surely can he bring the Christian
faith to life in hearts and minds of his hearers, whether his audience be a
classroom full of students or a church full of the faithful.
St. Thomas’s insistence on the scientific character of sacra doctrina
does not reflect a concession to philosophical or secular standards of
rationality but arises from the logical coherence and inner intelligibility of
divine wisdom itself. The body of Christian doctrines—that is, the
formulation of divine wisdom according to human ways of knowing—thus
demands and sustains a scientific exposition grounded in reasoning and
argument. What is at stake is the very possibility of the assimilation and
communication of truth of the Gospel. Consecrate them in the truth, Our Lord
prays, “Your word is truth. As you sent them into the world, so I sent them into
the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be
consecrated in truth. In this light, St. Thomas’s concern to demonstrate the
scientific character of sacra doctrina reveals itself as pastoral and
evangelical, not simply scholarly and academic. In the end, the solicitude of
this saintly teacher for the advanced scholar no less than for the beginning
student of theology is a passionate solicitude for the divine wisdom. Beyond
health and beauty I loved her, and chose to have her rather than the light,
because her radiance never ceases.