Thomas Aquinas’ Defence of the Doctrine of Purgatory

Abstract

The paper first points out that Thomas Aquinas conducted his discussions relying on beliefs shared with his adversary. Hence, in polemics with Christians, he appealed to the authority of Scripture, as exemplified in his argumentation in De rationibus fidei in favour of purgatory addressed to Greeks and Armenians who professed an erroneous doctrine regarding the state of souls after death. The aim of this paper is firstly to show the reasoning in favour of purgatory, including in particular the way in which the magister in Sacra Pagina made use of inspired texts in his argumentation in the work, and to indicate how the biblical texts that played a role in his polemic were explained by him in his biblical commentaries. Secondly, the article also seeks to point out the interrelation between the ninth chapter of How to Justify the Faith and the biblical commentaries, and to determine whether the Angelic Doctor’s argumentation remains convincing without recourse to these commentaries. In this sense, the article fits into the strand of biblical Thomism. And thirdly, the author of the article’s intention is also to identify the characteristic features of Thomasian exegesis made evident in De rationibus fidei.