Rick Santorum and Theology

Thursday, February 23, 2012

In the history of the Roman Catholic there are many theologians; some are more famous than others. For example, you may have heard of St. Thomas Aquinas. He is one of the Doctores Ecclesiae or "Doctors in the Church". These writers have received this title on account of the great advantage the whole Church has derived from their doctrine. St. Augustine of Hippo is another theologian that has this title, along with  St. Ambrose of Milan and St. John Chrysostom to name a few.

So, what if I told you that President Obama and St. Thomas Aquinas have something in common? In a way they do. If we look at what former Sen. Rick Santorum said about President Obama recently, we would see that Obama and Aquinas have something in common. Whey do I say this? Allow me to explain.

Santorum said the following about Obama but, before I go on: it is true that Santorum spoke later about this issue to "clarify" his remarks. However, that does not take away from what I am trying to get to and I ask you my dear reader to hang on with me on this. Santorum said: It’s not about you. It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your job. It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology.


Let us take the last sentence of that paragraph: Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology. Now, I am a student of Theology. By this I mean, that I have taken courses in Theology; one of classes was an independent study class I took a few summers ago called "The Theology of St. Augustine". With the help of my professor, I read and studied many of Augustine's works including some that I was already familiar with like Confessions, and others like Free Choice Of The Will. I also read a lot of theologians. As I say all this let me be clear: I DO NOT consider myself a Theologian or an "expert" in Theology. Again, I am only a student of Theology. (Note: This is something that I enjoy and if you know me personally you may have seen me at a coffeeshop with books by Augustine, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Rahner, etc sometimes with a philosophy book by people like Nietzsche or Kierkegaard in the mix because let us face it: I am very much a theology/philosophy geek.)

If we take that sentence we will notice the following terms: theology and bible. Also, Santorum claims that Obama has a theology, but that this theology is not a theology based on the Bible. Since it would take a separate blog entry just on the word theology, the etymology of the word, what my professors said about this word, what it means, etc, I am not going to look at this here. My main focus is on Santorum's statement not a theology based on the Bible and my earlier statement: So, what if I told you that President Obama and St. Thomas Aquinas have something in common?

St. Thomas Aquinas

Let us take St. Thomas Aquinas; according to the Roman Catholic Church, the theology of Aquinas IS based on the bible; I personally know many fine priests and theologians that agree with this. I would also guess that since Santorum is a Roman Catholic that he would also agree with this. However, I also personally know many fine people that DO NOT think that the theology of Aquinas is biblical. In fact, some very famous in people in history said this. All you have to do is look at the writings and letters of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Let us pick one: Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

Among the many problems that Luther had with Aquinas, was the use of Aristotle by Aquinas and others after him. In his Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church Luther Luther wrote that the Church had the true faith for more than twelve hundred years. But that when the Church started to embrace the pseudo-philosophy of Aristotle it came up with false doctrines that were in his opinion unbiblical like the doctrine of Transubstantiation, that to him was forsooth, a monstrous word for a monstrous idea! This is not to say that Luther was "right" and the Roman Catholic Church was "wrong" on issues like these one. There are plenty of arguments and counterarguments on this.
But again we can ask: 

Whose theology is "not based" on the Bible?

Luther, or Aquinas? 

The Churches of the Protestant Reformation, or the Roman Catholic Church?

Obama or Santorum?

To Santorum, Obama's thelogy is not based on the bible. But to Luther, the theology of Aquinas (and the Roman Catholic Church) is not based on the bible and/or corrupted by unbiblical sources like Aristotle. And since Santorum is a Roman Catholic, Luther could say to him that his theology is not based on the bible. So again: who is being "unbiblical" or has a theology not based on the Bible? 

The answers depend on you my dear reader. In the meantime I will continue reading, studying, thinking, talking to people, asking questions, coming up with questions to the questions, etc. I believe that this is more productive than telling people that their theology is unbiblical or that their theology is not based on the Bible. I have no problem having a conversation about this issue (it happens all the time) but usually I don't start the conversation by firing a cannon; I prefer the weapons of conversation and coffee lol.  Also, as a Christian, I simply remind myself that when it comes to matters of Scripture, of Theology, and other related matters I remember that the Son of Man was ready to say that there were things that even he did not know (Matthew 24:36). Who knows...maybe one day Obama and Santorum (away from cameras and microphones) could have a nice chat about this over a beer. Yes, I may be dreaming but hey...I am only a human being.  :)

peace,

--Mario 

Posted by Mario at 10:05 AM