Sanctifying Truth

18 Sanctifying Truth revelation that the evangelists and apostles be- queathed to their successors who are the bishops. In his 1995 Encyclical Letter, Fides et ratio , Pope Saint John Paul II observed that Thomas Aquinas welcomed truth on its own terms and from whatever source it came, and the pope en- couraged others to follow that example. 4 Aquinas’s deployment of Aristotelian philosophy provides a good example of his inclusiveness. Why does the Church hold Aquinas in such high esteem? There are many reasons. Let me single out one that re- veals his importance for both Christian theology and Christian living. I refer to Aquinas’s genius for taking the world seriously. The late German philos- opher Josef Pieper once remarked that, just as the Little Flower, known as Thérèse of the Child Jesus, received the title “of the Child Jesus,” so Aquinas should have been called Brother Thomas of the Creator— Thomas a Creatore . 5 Why? Aquinas’s pro- found respect for the created order distinguishes his work from much of the symbolic theology that preceded him. It also sets him apart from those who today refuse to recognize that created natures of various kinds fall under the purview of the theo- logian, who must treat the God who is the Creator of all things visible and invisible.