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Thomas Aquinas College


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PhuturePriest

Anyway. The college.

It's a great place. I only hear good stuff about it, plus the campus looks strikingly beautiful. I say go for it.

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cartermia
52 minutes ago, PhuturePriest said:

Anyway. The college.

It's a great place. I only hear good stuff about it, plus the campus looks strikingly beautiful. I say go for it.

Yeah, I have taken their virtual tour at least five times!!! It is stunning!!! 

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I'm a junior at TAC!

Coming here was one of the best choices I've ever made.

I'd love to answer any questions- ask here or send me a PM!

(Be patient with my response though, we're just about to start finals, and I'm BUSY!)

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Era Might

It's kind of like saying Homer is your least favorite poet or Michelangelo your least favorite artist. Such statements can only be made of great geniuses. They've earned the right to be casually dismissed. We all do it. That's why good lawyers are concise. Nobody confuses them for great geniuses, and nobody has a word to say against them. They're the least remarkable of all creatures, and for that reason the most efficient and effective. Walker Percy has a funny bit in "The Moviegoer" about salesmen as our only true metaphysicians, but the problem is, they only know one topic: whatever it is they're selling.

Edited by Era Might
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Nihil Obstat
15 minutes ago, Era Might said:

It's kind of like saying Homer is your least favorite poet or Michelangelo your least favorite artist. Such statements can only be made of great geniuses. They've earned the right to be casually dismissed. We all do it. That's why good lawyers are concise. Nobody confuses them for great geniuses, and nobody has a word to say against them. They're the least remarkable of all creatures, and for that reason the most efficient and effective. Walker Percy has a funny bit in "The Moviegoer" about salesmen as our only true metaphysicians, but the problem is, they only know one topic: whatever it is they're selling.

I believe you have somehow missed out on a sublime and classic genre of humour.

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Era Might
23 minutes ago, Nihil Obstat said:

I believe you have somehow missed out on a sublime and classic genre of humour.

Just for the sake of discussion, not that it has anything to do with this thread (though kind of it does, since Aristotle mused on poetics, and Thomas was his student), it seems lawyer jokes are more a type of cynical moralizing rather than humor. Maybe Kafka and his depiction of Law could be considered humor (David Foster Wallace has a good essay on our inability to understand the humor in Kafka), but in a sociological sense, lawyers (i.e., good lawyers) are like umpires, only worth anything when they're unseen and unheard, i.e., when they're effective and efficient at their one task: winning the case. Lawyer jokes are not really about lawyers qua lawyers, but lawyers as human beings. A mark of genius is personality, something a good lawyer shouldn't have. No doubt, there were lots of fine scholastics in Thomas' age, but they lacked the genius of being Thomas.

Edited by Era Might
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I think the degree to which this is being analyzed is humorous in and of itself.

I can see how St. Thomas' writing would not agree with some. I think that, to appreciate him, one has to appreciate the historical context in which he was writing. There were a lot of wrong ideas flying about, so to counter them all took time and (apparent) prolixity. But I don't think he was long-winded so much as he was painstakingly thorough. In fact, if you look at the amount he wrote on any specific point, he was really extremely concise. It's just that he distinguished points so finely that he covered a great many of them.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I think rap lyrics are the only real poetry left in America today. Just sayin'.

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I've read a lot of St. Thomas, and wordy is the one thing he is NOT. He basically gives you the bullet points of a syllogism for every single argument, with the rare example thrown in. He's a little TOO consise, sometimes. I've spent many an hour over the past few years scratching my head: "I KNOW you mentioned this somewhere else in the summa, and that Aristotle had. Paragraph about it buried in the metaphysics somewhere, but couldn't you spare a few words on a little explanation?"

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Nihil Obstat

Pascendi:

I. - The Study of Scholastic Philosophy

45. In the first place, with regard to studies, We will and ordain that scholastic philosophy be made the basis of the sacred sciences. It goes without saying that if anything is met with among the scholastic doctors which may be regarded as an excess of subtlety, or which is altogether destitute of probability, We have no desire whatever to propose it for the imitation of present generations (Leo XIII. Enc. Aeterni Patris). And let it be clearly understood above all things that the scholastic philosophy We prescribe is that which the Angelic Doctor has bequeathed to us, and We, therefore, declare that all the ordinances of Our Predecessor on this subject continue fully in force, and, as far as may be necessary, We do decree anew, and confirm, and ordain that they be by all strictly observed. In seminaries where they may have been neglected let the Bishops impose them and require their observance, and let this apply also to the Superiors of religious institutions. Further let Professors remember that they cannot set St. Thomas aside, especially in metaphysical questions, without grave detriment.

46. On this philosophical foundation the theological edifice is to be solidly raised. Promote the study of theology, Venerable Brethren, by all means in your power, so that your clerics on leaving the seminaries may admire and love it, and always find their delight in it. For in the vast and varied abundance of studies opening before the mind desirous of truth, everybody knows how the old maxim describes theology as so far in front of all others that every science and art should serve it and be to it as handmaidens (Leo XIII., Lett. ap. In Magna, Dec. 10, 1889). We will add that We deem worthy of praise those who with full respect for tradition, the Holy Fathers, and the ecclesiastical magisterium, undertake, with well-balanced judgment and guided by Catholic principles (which is not always the case), seek to illustrate positive theology by throwing the light of true history upon it. Certainly more attention must be paid to positive theology than in the past, but this must be done without detriment to scholastic theology, and those are to be disapproved as of Modernist tendencies who exalt positive theology in such a way as to seem to despise the scholastic.

47. With regard to profane studies suffice it to recall here what Our Predecessor has admirably said: Apply yourselves energetically to the study of natural sciences: the brilliant discoveries and the bold and useful applications of them made in our times which have won such applause by our contemporaries will be an object of perpetual praise for those that come after us (Leo XIII. Alloc., March 7, 1880). But this do without interfering with sacred studies, as Our Predecessor in these most grave words prescribed: If you carefully search for the cause of those errors you will find that it lies in the fact that in these days when the natural sciences absorb so much study, the more severe and lofty studies have been proportionately neglected - some of them have almost passed into oblivion, some of them are pursued in a half-hearted or superficial way, and, sad to say, now that they are fallen from their old estate, they have been dis figured by perverse doctrines and monstrous errors (loco cit.). We ordain, therefore, that the study of natural science in the seminaries be carried on under this law.

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tinytherese
On May 3, 2016 at 2:38:41 PM, CatherineM said:

He's a bit long winded. In law school my exams ran four hours. I finished in one. My classmates groaned when I got up to leave. I believe in concise and to the point. I often said that if your client can't understand you, you're not doing your job properly. No issue with content, just presentation. 

We have a saying in Oklahoma about guys who talk like that. They're talking just to hear their heads rattle. 

One of the reasons I struggled in getting my BA in theology was because of the writing styles I encountered in the readings. I'm definitely not cut out for theology and philosophy.

In regards to the school, unless you're lucky, you'll have to get further college instruction after you graduate because everyone only gets a BA in liberal arts. Normally, you'll need more than that if you want a job.

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