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Purpose Of Aquinas For Armchair Theologians By Timothy M Renick

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Timothy M Renick, author of "Aquinas for Armchair Theologians", questions why if God created a world of boundless goodness then why Satan (evil) exist. He also mentions that "If God is truly all-powerful (or omnipotent), then surely God has the power to eliminate Satan if he so chooses" (pg. 32). Many of his questions reflected on cultural and religious related questions that he believed others wonder. Renick did note that Aquinas admits that God does not make evil and only makes good. However, if evil is not a substance or a thing and does not exist at all then what then is evil?
The first purpose of "Aquinas for Armchair Theologians" seems to be to inculcate the reader that evil exists and is around us in many different forms that we do not recognize. All the reasons for evils existence that Renick discussed are compared to certain people and other living things. …show more content…

40), he also includes persuasive examples why he believes we as humans have free choice. The example the author mentions is someone reading a book (Aquinas for Armchair Theologians in specific) and you have the choice to continue reading, although you have the choice to have stopped. It was your choice. "God knew you would not put this book down and stop reading a moment" (pg. 41). Later, Renick acknowledged comments regarding free will and provided the audience the opportunity to understand what exactly free will is, however he includes some who think otherwise. By offering both examples and explanations of free will vs no free will, Renick potentially increased the reader's skepticism regarding these questions. Numerous statements express how Renick includes both point of views during the article. The author includes point of views from Christians such as Martin Luther (born A.D. 1483) and John Calvin (born A.D. 1509) and how each of them gave up on finding a way to resolve the tension between free choice and God's knowledge. For

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Despite this, because of reason and what God is envisioned to be, I agree with conclusions that Aquinas has made. Renick begins by asking the question “Why is there evil in the world?” The answer given by many Christians is that Satan is the reason evil exists since he corrupts God’s creation and history through Eden. Initially, I believed the same thing.

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