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How did the Dominican order help preserve and promote Thomas Aquinas’s teachings after his death?
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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.
The Dominican order played a pivotal role in defending and institutionalizing the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas following his death, particularly after his philosophy faced initial ecclesiastical condemnations in the late 13th century.12
The order’s efforts to preserve and promote his work included:
- Institutional Adoption: By 1278, the Dominican order officially adopted Aquinas’s system, known as Thomism, as its official doctrine. During the 14th century, his writings gradually became the standard theological texts for the order.231
- Scholarly Defense and Commentary: Dominican scholars actively defended Aquinas against critics, including nominalists who challenged his views on universals. Notable figures such as Jean Capréolus authored extensive defenses of his theology, while others like Cajetan and Francesco Sylvesteri of Ferrara produced influential commentaries on his major works, such as the Summa theologiae and Summa contra gentiles.14
- Educational Influence: In the 16th century, Dominican centers of learning, such as the University of Salamanca, employed new lecturing styles based directly on Aquinas’s writings, ensuring his methodology remained central to theological education.4