Lesson 40 –
Creation With God's Wisdom

The fundamental theological axiom about the created world that underlies Wisdom Literature is that God created the physical universe to be both well-ordered and intelligible to human beings. Typically, God is presented in the Wisdom Literature as a wise craftsman who, like an architect or builder, erects the physical universe in accordance with his wisdom. In fact, since the created universe is characterized as an expression of God’s perfect wisdom, it serves as a medium through which human beings have access—albeit limited—to God’s wisdom.

Course Reading

Commentary on Romans 1:20, nn. 117-120 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Contra Gentiles bk. 2, c. 24 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on Romans 1:20:

Here it should be noted that one man manifests something to another by unfolding his own thought by means of such external signs as vocal sounds or writing. But God manifests something to man in two ways: first, by endowing him with an inner light through which he knows: send out your light and your truth (Ps 43:3); second, by proposing external signs of his wisdom, namely, sensible creatures: he poured her out, namely, wisdom, over all his works (Sir 1:9).

Course Listening

Scripture as Scientia Christi | Fr. Anthony Giambrone, O.P.