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What Aquinas Did
Thomas Aquinas wrote “A Prayer Before Study” where he prayed,
“Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech. May you guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion. You Who are true God and true Man, Who live and reign, world without end. Amen.”
For as long as I’ve researched, written, and taught, I have prayed Psalm 119:18,
“Lord, open my eyes that I might see wonderful things out of your law.”
I recognize my dependent attitude about The Word of God depends on The Spirit of God to guide me in pursuit of Truth, what theologians call “illumination.” The Spirit’s work in me should influence my research, writing, and teaching.
I keep the prayers of Aquinas and the Psalmist in front of me when I study.
Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.
Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.
“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth. [First published at MarkEckel.com]
Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.
[For further reading https://markeckel.com/2024/05/13/understanding-the-bible-illumination/ ]
Published in General
I think this is may be one of the greatest teachings I’ve ever read on Ricochet.
Thanks, Mark.
Wow @markcamp ! Many thanks! I always hope my writing is Spirit-directed and biblically based. :)
Thank you so much, what a wonderful prayer before study.
All good things come to us from Our Lord, he has so many gifts and bounties, and He makes hard things easier.
Briliant! I will start praying this prayer before I start researching or studying because it points us to the One who is Wisdom Incarnate.