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How did Thomas Aquinas distinguish philosophy from theology?

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St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned Between the Doctors of the Old and New Testaments, with Personifications of the Virtues, Sciences, and Liberal Arts, fresco by Andrea da Firenze, c. 1365; in the Spanish Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence. — Thomism *St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned Between the Doctors of the Old and New Testaments, with Personifications of the Virtues, Sciences, and Liberal Arts*, fresco by Andrea da Firenze, c. 1365; in the Spanish Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

In his theological works, such as the Summa theologiae and Summa contra gentiles, Thomas Aquinas clearly distinguished between the domains and methods of philosophy and theology.1

He defined the distinction based on their respective subjects and reliance on authority:

Philosophy: The philosopher seeks the first causes of things, beginning with data furnished by the senses and relying solely on the natural light of reason.12
Theology: The subject of the theologian’s inquiry is God as revealed in sacred scripture. In theology, appeal to authority carries the most weight, whereas in philosophy, it carries the least.1

Aquinas viewed theology as a "science" in the Aristotelian sense—knowledge rationally derived from propositions accepted as certain because they are revealed by God. While he maintained that reason and faith cannot contradict each other because they originate from the same divine source, he insisted that they operate according to their own laws. He argued that faith presupposes and needs natural knowledge, as errors regarding creation can lead one astray from the truth of faith.213