This distinction, made in order to safeguard dogma, quickly
revealed its double-face. The handmaiden philosophy rebelled against her
mistress theology, and asked her for her credentials. According to the
classic and dogmatic doctrine of Thomas, the natural verities alone
could be grasped by human understanding; the supernatural or revealed
truths (the dogmas) were beyond proof and scientific cognition. To
submit them to research was not only an impossible task, but Thomas
stigmatised every effort in this direction as heresy, fondly believing
that he had once and for all safeguarded the position of faith. But more
resolute and profound thinkers, although not in so many words attacking
the authority of the Scriptures, and leaving Thomas' border-line
unquestioned, found the unfathomable truths not in ecclesiastical
tradition but in their own souls, thus investing "faith" with a new
meaning, unassailable by criticism.
The idea of drawing a line between perceivable or rational truths and
imperceivable or divine truths, is fraught with the burning question as
to the limits of human knowledge, a question which to this day remains
unanswered.
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