Stworzenie u św. Augustyna i św. Tomasza z Akwinu

Abstract

For centuries man has been intrigued by the phenomenon of the existence of the world, especially the world’s age: whether it has a beginning or perhaps is eternal. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas share a consistent view that the fact of the creation of the world is truth in principle, going beyond the natural way of understanding of the human intellect, and that is why it was necessary for humans to learn about this truth through the revelation of God. Both Augustine and Thomas are very cautious in interpreting the nature of the act of creation, claiming that it stands behind this mystery of the incomprehensible will and power of God. They both also present the compatibility of the creation of the world by God out of nothing. The description of the creation of the world in the doctrine of Thomas is more systematic in terms of metaphysics than in the description of Augustine because of the distinction between necessary being and continent being, in which the essence and existence do not identify, which has influenced Thomas in his interpretation of the nature of the act of creation.