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035 - Xxxv That The Several Names Predicated Of God Are Not Synonymous · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five of Suma Contragentilees, First Book on God
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Speaker 1: by Saint Thomas aquinas translated by the Fathers of the
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Speaker 1: English Dominican Province. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five that the several names predicated of God
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Speaker 1: are not synonymous. From what we have said, it is
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Speaker 1: also proved that although names predicated of God signify the
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Speaker 1: same thing, they are not synonymous because they do not
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Speaker 1: convey the same meaning. For just as various things are,
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Speaker 1: by their various forms like one simple thing, which is God,
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Speaker 1: so our intellect, by its various conceptions, is somewhat like
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Speaker 1: Him in so far as it is led to know
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Speaker 1: Him by the various perfections of creatures. Wherefore our understanding
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Speaker 1: is neither false nor vain in conceiving many things of one.
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Speaker 1: Because that simple divine being is such that certain things
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Speaker 1: can be likened to Him according to their manifold forms.
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Speaker 1: As we have proved above, and according to its various conceptions,
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Speaker 1: our intellect devises various names which it applies to God. Wherefore,
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Speaker 1: since they are not applied with the same meaning, it
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Speaker 1: is clear that they are not synonymous, although they signify
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Speaker 1: a thing absolutely one, for the name has not the
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Speaker 1: same meaning, since it denotes the concept of the intellect
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Speaker 1: previously to the thing understood. End of Chapter thirty five,
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Speaker 1: read by Michael Shane, Craig Lambert l SI