Saint Thomas
- proper noun
:
Santo Tomás
- Students of philosophy often study the works of Saint Thomas to understand the relationship between faith and reason.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas
Examples
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Murray notes that Saint Thomas followed Aristotle.
Academic text (2001) -
For me, it is in the thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas that solace and answers are to be found.
Academic text (2001) -
Saint Thomas Aquinas practically dares us not to believe.
Academic text (2001) -
Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person and His Work, the first volume of Torrell's magisterial study, is, as he describes it, a guide to the person and the work.
Academic text (2001) -
Torrell, however, has written other valuable studies of Aquinas, and so the goal of this brief note is to make the breadth of Torrell's writings known, for only the Initiation's first volume, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person and His Work, is currently available to the English reader.
Academic text (2001) -
Many of Saint Thomas's writings have had a profound impact on Christian philosophy.
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Saint Thomas Aquinas is often regarded as one of the greatest theologians in the Catholic Church.
Synonyms
19
9.1
A 13th century Catholic thinker and writer who used reason to explain faith
1
8.6
A medieval Italian thinker who used reason to explain Christian faith and argue that God exists
1
7.3
A priest and teacher from the 1200s who used reason to explain Christian beliefs
A 13th-century Italian priest and thinker who argued that faith and reason agree
An Italian Catholic thinker who tried to connect faith and reason
Surface Forms
Morphology
saint + Thomas
The form 'saint' + personal name is compositionally transparent so a learner who knows both words can infer this refers to a saint called Thomas (i.e., a holy person with that name). However, the specific referent and the cultural/canonical sense ('the Apostle who doubted' / 'Doubting Thomas') require background religious or cultural knowledge and are not derivable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Saint Thomas refers to Thomas Aquinas, a thinker from the 1200s who used clear, logical arguments to explain religious ideas and to argue for God's existence. Because he tried to bring 'faith' and 'reason' together, people use Saint Thomas when they mean religious ideas explained by logic.