Alister McGrath and the “Five Ways” of Thomas Aquinas

The article examines the interpretation of Thomas Aquinas’ “FiveWays,” proposed by the Northern Irish theologian Alister E. McGrath. Ac-cording to this interpretation, the “Five Ways” were not intended to provethe existence of God, but rather to demonstrate that the existence of God,astaught by the Christian religion, make sense of phenomena observedintheworld. Moreover, McGrath believes that the traditional readingofthe“Five Ways” as proofs is a misrepresentation of Aquinas’ genuinethought, which has resulted from the influence of Enlightenment rationalismand objectivism. However, there is good reason to doubt the validity of thisinterpretation. As an analysis of Aquinas’ text shows, he draws not uponaspecifically Christian understanding of nature, as McGrath believes, butupon the principles of Aristotelian natural philosophy and metaphysics.Onthe other hand, it appears that McGrath’s interpretation is driven by hisintention to ascribe to Aquinas the principles of his own natural theology,shaped by contemporary Christian apologetics and postmodern philosophy.