Thomas Aquinas wrote a text later known as Quaestio de
attributis and ordered it inserted in a precise location of his
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard more than a decade
after composing this work. Aquinas assigned exceptional importance
to this text, in which he confronts the debate on the issue of the
divine attributes that swept the most important centres of learning
in 13th Century Europe and examines the answers given to the
problem by the representatives of the four mainstream schools of
his time: the Greek mystic Dionysius Areopagita, the Latin Saint
Anselm of Canterbury, the Jewish rabbi Moses Maimonides and the
Muslim philosopher Ibn Sina.
This in-depth study of Thomas Aquinas Quaestio de attributis (In I
Sent., d. 2, q. 1, a. 3) binds together the findings of previous
research on the unique history of this text by reconstructing the
historical circumstances surrounding its composition, shows that
the Quaestio contains Aquinas final answer to the dispute on the
divine attributes, and thoroughly examines his interpretation of
Maimonides position on the issue of the knowledge of God by
analysing this and other texts related to it chronologically and
doctrinally. The examination of the Quaestio reveals the background
of Thomas Aquinas renewed interest in Maimonides position on the
issue and brings to light elements of Aquinas interpretation that
are absent from his earlier references to Maimonides.
Moreover, the chronological and doctrinal connection of the
Quaestio de attributis to other Thomistic works with explicit
references to Maimonides enables a reconstruction of his
comprehensive approach to Maimonides teaching on the possibility
and extent of the knowledge of God in the Guide of the Perplexed
and highlights the place of Maimonides philosophical teachings in
Thomas own thought in issues like "Being" as the proper name of
God, the multiplicity of the divine names, the beatific vision in
the afterlife, the causes that prevent the instruction of the
multitude in divine matters and the role of faith and prophecy in
the acquisition of the true knowledge of God in this life.
The last chapter examines the reasons behind Aquinas silencing of
Maimonides name when introducing his Five Ways for the knowledge of
the existence of God, in spite of the evident relation between
these and Maimonides Four Speculations. The study is completed with
an extensive appendix that includes the text of the Quaestio de
attributis with an English translation and the critical edition of
several chapters of the 13th Century Latin translation of the Guide
of the Perplexed known as Dux neutrorum."
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