Thomas Aquinas tried to overcome the conflict between faith and knowledge and to combine morality and religion. According to his teaching, God is the greatest good; therefore, the highest good for man is union with God. In this situation, the morality is the movement toward God. Morality carries out virtues. Virtuous action is the action that expresses a conscious choice, the will of the individual. Bliss is the main goal of human activity and at the same time, it is beyond the capacity of man. This contradiction shows that in a number of points morality and religion have a different attitude to the world, and are essentially incompatible (Floyd).
Thomas Aquinas proves the incompatibility of the morality and religion by showing that they belong to the different spheres and that human virtues do not guarantee a true bliss, and a virtuous life is impossible without God's grace. It is possible to subdue the morality of religion and to create a “religious morality”, as did Augustine. It is possible to subdue the religion of morality and to justify a “moral religion” as it subsequently did Feuerbach. However, it is impossible to combine morality and religion, by seeing in one organic continuation of the other. This is one of the most important lessons of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas believed that religion can “solve” the challenges where morality was helpless. I agree with the statement of Thomas Aquinas that religion draws its strength from the powerlessness of morality, and the inability of people to cope with their difficulties on their own. I believe that the Christian thinkers of the middle Ages have done a lot to ensure that the suffering has become a link between man, God and the moral character of a medieval citizen.
Works Cited
Floyd, Shawn. Thomas Aquinas: Moral Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Malone College. Web. Accessed 03 Feb 2016 at http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-moral/
