“All life Depends on Life: Aquinas’ doctrine of Creation and Divine Life”
The origin of life is a profound mystery. Where did the first primitive DNA molecules appeared? What were the conditions in Earth -or elsewhere!- which allowed the first unicellular organisms to rise? Is life constrained to develop from carbon-based foundations, or is it possible under radically different conditions? If we go further back in time, anthropic questions rise: what kind of fundamental cosmological constants are allowed if a life-hospitable universe is to evolve? These are profound questions indeed. It is the task of science to unravel these mysteries and give us a deeper understanding of our origins as living creatures. However: is that all there is to it? If we wish to understand the origin of life, is it enough to answer all of the above questions and any other similar ones? In my paper I will deal with two further important questions: “What is God?” and “What is Creation?”. These considerations will, hopefully, allow me to show the metaphysical relationship there is between the notion of a Creative God and that of a Living God. In doing this I will clear the way to show the deep connection philosophy unveils between all that lives, from the most primitive bacteria to God. Any doctrine that pretends to find the ultimate origin of reality in one of its material parts, or in an impersonal original entity fails to recognize one of Aquinas´ fundamental insights: to be Creator is inextricably intertwined with being a Living Person. The universe comes from Life.