St. Thomas Aquinas did not have a chance to fully develop his thoughts about spirits and apparitions, but we were left a glimpse of his thoughts on the matter. The section is found in the Summa Theologica, Supplementum Tertiæ Partis: Question 69. Matters concerning the resurrection, and first of the place where souls are after…
Tag: Supernatural
Tertullian: Ghosts are Really Demons
In De anima, Tertullian acknowledges the extensive literature about ghosts, but rejects it as a “fraud.” He has specific pagan lore in mind: the idea that some could “call back from Hades the souls of those who are sleeping out their destined time, those who died through violence and those deprived of burial.” His explanation…
Ghosts in the Bible: New Testament
There are no ghosts in the New Testament. We do, however, find the language of spirits and references to death that can illuminate the subject. When we read passages such as Matthew 8:22 (”Let the dead bury the dead”) and 22:32 (”God is not the God of the dead but of the living”) we may…
Ghosts in the Bible: The Old Testament
Ghosts posed a problem for the early Church because they seemed to reflect a holdover of pagan belief and superstition. Yet reliable witnesses continued to report encounters with what to appeared to be spirits, and witnesses were not so easily dismissed as they are now. The first place to start is with the Bible, where…
Weird Catholic 