Dominican friar reflects on St. Thomas Aquinas: ‘Full reason of truth only found in God’

A Dominican friar said that even though truth is found on different levels, St. Thomas Aquinas recognizes that the full ratio or reason of truth can only be found in God.

Father Mark Daniel Holtz, OP of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, said that the Thomistic thought about the plurality of truth is centered on God being truth itself and the “cause and grounding of all other truth in any way it is or can be.”

“There is perfect conformity between the things as God knows them to be, and how they actually are,” said Fr. Holtz in his speech during the first day of the 9th Annual Leonardo Legaspi Lecture Series at the University of Santo Tomas on July 18.

This year’s lecture series is dedicated to the legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas and the 700th anniversary of his canonization.

Father Holtz emphasized that God is “free from composition,” and therefore “distinct from human knowers."

“The God-Creator is at once knower, known, and the act of knowing,” the priest said.

He also explained that the acts of truth-seeking and truth-telling do not only rely on material objects as they share “cognitive and moral dimensions” measured by created knower’s intellect. This creates the distinction between divine and human intellects.

Father Holtz concluded that a deeper engagement with St. Thomas Aquinas’ thoughts about truth done in the “spirit of open and mutually curious dialogue” could further “benefit contemporary debates” on the issue.

Also speaking during the two-day lecture series were Professor Jovito Carino, who reflected on truth and dialogue in contemporary times using related Thomistic thoughts, and Fr. Rodel Aligan, OP, who called for authenticity amid the many difficulties in today’s digital age.

Dominican Sister Catherine Joseph Droste, a professor of Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, also graced the event.

Her speech tackled the role of the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom and counsel in proper self-formation toward dialogue and engagement.

In addition to the plenary sessions, the lecture series presented more than 50 academic papers from scholars of various origins. These were clustered into 16 topics, ranging from Asian cultures, Contemporary Ethical Theories, and post-Truth to Catholic Education, Modernity, and Modern Technology.

Held biennially, the Leonardo Legaspi Lecture Series serves as a forum to discuss sociocultural issues related to society and religion.

The event was named after the late Dominican Friar Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi, UST's first Filipino Rector Magnificus.

This year’s conference was jointly organized by the university’s Institute of Religion, Center for Theology, Religious Studies, and Ethics (CTRSE), Office of the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Graduate School, Ecclesiastical Faculties, and the Office of the Vice Rector for Religious Affairs (OVRRA). - Luke Godoy with inputs from Anthony G. Roman