The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
Everyday Creation
October 13, 1998
Creation did not end with things being set in motion.
Typically, when we refer to creation, we mean the creation stories in Genesis – the biblical explanation for the creation of the world. Aquinas explained God as being the uncaused cause. He is the creator because he caused existence.
But, Aquinas explains that a different creation is ongoing. That creation is the creation of human souls.
Reproduction is a physical, bodily function, but the creation of a body does not necessitate the creation of a soul. It is God that creates the human soul:
The rational soul exceeds the whole nature and power of the body, since no body can rise to the heights of the soul’s intellectual activity. Nothing can act in a way that surmounts its species, because the agent is nobler than the patient and the maker excels his product. Hence, the power possessed by a body cannot produce the rational soul. (CT Ch. 93)
This explanation is made clear when one looks at the reproduction of animals. Animals, though some show some signs of intelligence, do not rise to the same rational level as humans. Thus, there is something extra that humans possess – a rational soul.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
