Thomas Aquinas

Episode Synopsis

In lecture three, Robert Barron explores Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of God’s attributes beyond his famous Five Ways. Through the via negativa (negative way) and via positiva (positive way), Aquinas develops a vision of divine simplicity in which God’s essence and existence are one, making God not simply a being among beings but “ipsum esse subsistens” (the subsistent act of being itself). The discussion concludes by examining God's perfection, goodness, immutability, eternity, and knowledge, demonstrating how these attributes flow from the principle of divine simplicity and reveal God as the ultimate ground of being who draws all creation back to himself.