thomas aquinas ... an interesting reference for religious development

The historical relevance of Thomas Aquinas`theories do something I never thought would be so easy to point out. It shows how ignorant we are of the teachings of Islam, nonetheless, using its body of exploration, and discovery.
It is like a copyright infringement in fact. Concepts relating to how God is, and how God can relate to the human being, are now used in Christian thought.....due to thinkers like Thomas Aquinas.
However,this was a movement that wasn`t part of Christianity prior to his awareness. How did his awareness come about?
Arguably, from the intellectual dynamic with Jewish and Muslim thinkers of the time. Please read this excerpt to get a better idea:
The political philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), along with the broader philosophical teaching of which it is part, stands at the crossroads between the Christian gospel and the Aristotelian political doctrine that was, in Aquinas’ time, newly discovered in the Western world. In fact, Aquinas’ whole developed system is often understood to be simply a modification of Aristotelian philosophy in light of the Christian gospel and with special emphasis upon those questions most relevant to Christianity, such as the nature of the divine, the human soul, and morality. This generalization would explain why Aquinas seems to eschew, even neglect, the subject of politics. Unlike his medieval Jewish and Islamic counterparts, Aquinas does not have to reconcile Aristotelianism with a concrete political and legal code specified in the sacred writings of his religion. As far as he is concerned, God no longer requires people to live according to the judicial precepts of the Old Law (Summa Theologiae [hereafter ST], I-II, 104.3), and so the question of formulating a comprehensive Christian political teaching that is faithful to biblical principles loses it urgency if not its very possibility. Unlike Judaism and Islam, Christianity does not involve specific requirements for conducting civil society. In fact, most Christians before Aquinas’ time (such as St. Augustine) had interpreted Jesus’ assertion that we should “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew22:21) to mean that Christianity can flourish in any political regime so long as its authorities permit believers to “render unto God the things that are God’s.”

Now that you have read this, I beg you to look at one glaringly obvious , to a muslim that is, mistake made. And it is weird how common it is. To understand how Aquinas ëschewed¨putting politics with religion, we see that the reasoning for such doing is because he believed Christianity allowed us to no longer live according to the judicial principles of OLD LAW.
This point is extremely important, because if his reasoning is based on this, then , it is flawed today. (as it was then, bit but I mean, it is even woorse to make that mistake today, in light of the development constantly of theologya dn ohilosophy, as well as teh new face to face between Isalm andChrisitanity as brought uponus by events).
For today, we now know, that the law of Islam, while similar and in fact at times seemingly a repetition of Judaic law, is actaullya revelation after Christ. Therefore, the lessons for a return to not judaic, but now actually, rethought, more full of grace , inspired by spirtual ideas of the political state in a state of divinity ) (which made the arab scholars loook to the works of Plato and Aristotle). This is Islamic law, and it is full and different from Judaic law. It comes after Christ, and thus has much more relevance to Christians after the fact. ( This concept of Christians after the Fact, I will explain later, in a further blog). (But it is a point I believe we are reaching).
In order to understand Islam, we must approach it in its context in time, as we should do with Christianity and with Judaism. Although they are ëternal¨books and revelations, they are still words and works that took place and continue to take place in the hearts and minds of people. And we are subject to time. Se we create, just as Thomas Aquinas did, or all the Arab scholars, who with the spritual passion translated the Greek philosphers - searching to fill in the new question their new revelation from Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him, brought. This they did previous to Thomas Aquinas, just look at the dates of their works.
Obviously, I mean the new revelation of God, brought by his Messenger. His life, or the Sunnah, and the Holy Quran are the most living examples of the revelation. Yet all the developments of the people thereafter, are equally important to the development of Islam in the world. Thus, the developments of the Arab scholars cannot be seen as separate from this moment on Earth, in history. In Islam, there is no conufson between God and man,and actually form a peserpectiv elevating from not necessariy any other than th Chrisitan one. When God says in the surah al-Iqlas..we read something very much like post-modernism. That is why in the time of the Rennaissance, we see a turn to humanism. Christians were very affected by the views of Islam, that sought to merge more humanity into the Earth, but on a divine level. Take for example that the Prophet of Islam(p.b.u.h.), married, was a statesman, showed laws on how to conduct business, family affairs and so on. He perfected, or rather God did, through him, on this Earth, our religion. That is what we Muslims believe. Because Christianity and Judaism are earlier stages . (that ties in a bit to what I discussed earlier about a stage of Christianiy which would be After the Fact.)
Or any other movement therefore that negates a prior movement. Sometimes that is with irony or a certain twist. This negation not necessarily negates it totally but it doesn´t negate it as current event. (Perhaps it may have of occured in the past, but that might be haram to say, and it might be best to follow what is said now.) We recognize this form of speech in many places. (the speech of post -modernism, such as Magritte´s ceci nést pas une pipe). Especially among trends. And thus, we can see that this is human . In fact it is human nature to go through cycles. Also, it is important for memory to not always remember things. In religion ,it is the same, and in analyzing it more and more, things get weirder and weirder. However, I believe ,as a humanity, we should be as open to God as we are to our own humanity, which we see as infinite. In science, in psychology, in sociology, we see infinite layers to the human being. Thus , we must be so open when analyzing the intricacies of relgion. And perhaps that is to love God, to be open to Him, to not judge Him, to not retrict Him, and not to dwell always on whether He loves us, as Christians emphasize (perhaps in response to the Jewish revelation?? who knows.) But Islam is a maturity of revelation that allows you to see the magnificence of God in all aspects both divine and human, to the point that the divine is human and the human is divine. (Chrisitanity is a transtion from Judaism to Islam, where the human separates them but joins them in a sophomoric way, but it is the stage of development. )And then we can Love God, instead always thinking the other way around.

bullying....and authority

I recently read about the case of James Jones...a father in florida. He spoke to some students on a school bus about bullying his dauhgter. He did it in a strong way. Perhaps too strong. and many parents got mad. Yet it brings up the subject of authority, and why in the United States it is so hard for people to express a sense of authority. Roland Martin, however, wrote an excellent articel on cnn.com. i am so happy he expressed how it was in his dad´s time. aSitutiaon similar pocured i whichit was totoally coret for hte fathe to act in sucha way.
amwya we need to reflet on the vlaue of authority and what efec tit can vhave afet whiel ona ciity to not have oen conseus. can we go on??

wow

Sometimes it seems like necessary to say something, like I don`t know, personal, so that whatever else you say has substance. Well, It might have substance anyhow, however, by nto necessarily giving that personal release, that self-discovery , or self-disclosure.....yet if you do -the audience is somehow more hooked. It is like a gurantee that this will be revealing. I realized that with blogging. It reminded me of speeches one has to give or even just conversation. If one stays too high, it is like ¨come down to earth¨, and of one trails down to low, it is like, ¨ lift up your gaze!¨! You know check out the stars sometime and fly there!

That is just one of my thoughts on the fine line , the membrane type veil between the personal and the public. In philosphy, the issue is often one of discussion. It can apply to everything...like how we interact, how we view public spaces. It can also be what we view as right or wrong. It can vary also, such as manners. One can see manners as part of certain places or carry them with them wherever they go. Manners have a lot to do with the public -private issue. They are, in fact, the essence of what this is. They represent the fact, that humans do separate the town hall from their home, yet they consider it better to give some of that private decency to perfect strangers. It is civil. the fascinating question is ...how do certain societies separate them differently? And how does their belief system affect the playout of this in real life?
Also, does this belief system evolve? or revolutionize? In fact, is that what revolution touches...challenges...? Our preconceived notions of how to treat people in our homes or in our public space? or both....? hmmm, so maybe we don´t need to use the concept of evolution always becasue it might make us skip on very important topics of human development. Especially on topics that have a huge relevance today. In a different blog, I will address the issue of ¨evoltuon¨as a super generic concept that brain washes us from addressing major factors in our development as a humanity. (Did you know sociologist totally dismiss evolution because it helps them in no way whatsoever to analyze human behavior?) at that level? Maybe evolution is only good to talk about us in the cave days, but aren´t we tired of hering about the cave days? I mean wasn´t that like along time ago? Shouldn´t we also have some other reference for who we are? Don´t you feel funny sometimes when in the middle of some intellectual discussion someone says ...¨and then in the cave days we nested¨ or something weird ass like that shit¨? jajajaj
And that brings us to government and to the study of how we have decided to implement certain laws. Also , we will see how we decide to implement a certain form of government. While some cultures have a more advanced overall understanding of the public- private issue, perhaps there are certain loopholes that other societies, such as ours, which developed with a less sophisticated understanding of the private -public issue ....well, we have developed out of Not knowing, and then in some ways we cover other areas not thought of in the other paradigms. This is normal. This is how society works. Some people in their profession learn certain aspects of life, but others in perhaps professions that seem less grandiose, can see othert parts of life. The unity of concepts from different ways of life can often be enlightening and we can live with greater clarity. Like seeing a house on all sides instead of just the front.