Recent Thomistic Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show the contribution of recent Thomistic epistemology – that is, an epistemology rooted in the philosophical theology of Thomas Aquinas – makes to contemporary philosophy of religion. In particular, I show how recent philosophers and theologians (most of them of a distinctly analytic persuasion) are appropriating insights in Aquinas's philosophical theology in order to address perennial epistemological issues: most broadly, how it is that human persons know the world as well as the divine. One of the main conclusions of the article is that recent Thomistic epistemology (including the various species of recent Thomistic epistemology) offers powerful resources for properly understanding both the mind-world and mind-God relationship.