Jedność wiary i rozumu w nauce o aniołach św. Tomasza z Akwinu. Angelologia Akwinaty w perspektywie encykliki Fides et ratio Jana Pawła II
The Unity of Faith and Reason in the Teaching on Angels of St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’Angelology from the Perspective of the Encyclical Fides et Ratio by John Paul II

Summary/Abstract: St. Thomas Aquinas is referred to by Tradition as the Angelic Doctor due to his systematic studies on a number of questions concerning angelology. John Paul II, alluding to this title in Fides et Ratio, presents St. Thomas as a “master of the art of thinking and the model of practicing theology”, directing our attention to the exceptional and always relevant nature of Aquinas’ approach to the relation between faith and reason. As the Pope observes, the relevance of this approach is linked to the fact that erroneous perspectives in this field, in the form of fideism and the extreme rationalism which dominated the culture of modern Europe, have led to an acute crisis. According to John Paul II, the exceptionality of Aquinas’ approach lies in his skilful reconciliation of the supernatural and the rational character of the act of faith, and in his combining faith and reason into a unity, while respecting the indispensible autonomy of cognitive fields based on faith and purely rational reflection. Although there are no direct references to angelology in the encyclical, the presentation by the Angelic Doctor of the truths of faith, in this respect, constitutes a rewarding source of examples of fruitful cooperation between these two metaphorical wings of faith and reason, which in Fides et Ratio enable man to ascend to the heights of knowledge.

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