The Knowledge and Emotions of Adam in Paradise: Imagining the Original Justice with Aquinas.
By Piotr Roszak
The description of Paradise in Aquinas’s theology is based on the concept of rectitude (‘rectitudo’), which points to the state of man living in what is called ‘original justice’ in a realistic – and not merely symbolic – way. Due to its temporality and non-definitive nature, Paradise represents a time that assumed the necessity of final salvation. Therefore, Adam’s faith in Paradise was necessary as a means of reaching Heaven. His sin changed the way or circumstances by which the human being reaches it, but not the goal itself. In this context, Aquinas looks at the relationship between the natural and moral order and Adam’s perfection before the Fall, which is relative (perfection at a given stage of development) rather than absolute. The paper will present Aquinas’s description of Adam’s way of knowing God in Paradise (which was not the beatific vision) as well as the nature of his faith before the Fall and its relationship to emotions and virtues. It will also refer to Aquinas’s thoughts on why the ‘old creation’ was needed at all and, thus, why the ‘new’ one was not established immediately. Finally, a question will be asked about the aspects of the Thomistic description of Paradise that may still be attractive to contemporary theologians in reference to modern science.
