Let me start by recalling what knew about Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin separately. Aquinas was a medieval theologian, part of the Scholastic tradition, He wrote a lot about the relationship between faith and reason. Calvin was a Protestant Reformer, known for his teachings on predestination and the sovereignty of God.

maybe the Aquinas/Calvin Model isn't something they created together, but rather a synthesis of their ideas. So I should look at their individual views on faith and see where they overlap or complement each other.

Aquinas talked about faith as a virtue, a gift from God. He distinguished between faith and reason but saw them as compatible. Faith, for him, is assent to divine truths revealed by God, which are beyond human reason. But reason can support faith by, for example, proving the existence of God through arguments like the Five Ways. So faith isn't irrational; it's supra-rational. He also mentioned that faith involves both the intellect and the will—the intellect assents to truths because the will is moved by grace.

Calvin. His view on faith is probably in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin emphasized the sovereignty of God in salvation. Faith, for him, is a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence towards us, founded on the truth of the promise in Christ. It's a gift from God, not something we generate ourselves. He also talked about the testimonium Spiritus Sancti, the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit, which convinces believers of the truth of Scripture. So faith is not just intellectual assent but involves trust and reliance on God’s promises. Calvin might stress more on the assurance of faith and its inseparable connection to election and predestination.

Looking for commonalities: Both see faith as a divine gift, not human achievement. Both connect faith to grace. Both integrate the intellect and will—Aquinas more explicitly, but Calvin also mentions knowledge and trust. Both affirm that faith is necessary for salvation.

Differences: Aquinas is more about the harmony between faith and reason, while Calvin might downplay reason's role, emphasizing Scripture and the Spirit's testimony. Aquinas is within a Catholic framework with sacraments and church authority, whereas Calvin is Reformed, emphasizing predestination and the believer's direct reliance on Scripture.

So the Aquinas/Calvin Model on Faith would synthesize these elements. It would present faith as a divinely infused virtue, a gift of grace, involving both intellectual assent to revealed truths and trust in God, with the Holy Spirit enabling belief. It might also address the relationship between faith and reason, acknowledging that while reason can support faith (Aquinas), ultimate certainty comes from the Spirit (Calvin). The model could also touch on the necessity of faith for salvation and its role in the believer's life, combining Aquinas' theological virtues with Calvin's emphasis on predestination and assurance.

but is there a specific model named Aquinas/Calvin? Maybe in some theological discussions, but I need to make sure I'm not conflating two separate views. Perhaps in some contexts, especially Reformed epistemology, thinkers like Alvin Plantinga have referenced both Aquinas and Calvin in developing the idea of faith as properly basic. Plantinga's model suggests that belief in God can be justified without empirical evidence because it's grounded in the sensus divinitatis (Calvin) and the internal testimony of the Spirit, similar to Aquinas' infused virtues. So the model might be part of Reformed epistemology, using both Aquinas' and Calvin's ideas to argue that faith is a properly basic belief warranted by the divine work in the human person.

So summarizing, the Aquinas/Calvin Model (or Reformed Epistemology's use of both) posits that faith is a cognitive and affective state instilled by God through grace, involving assent to revealed truths and trust in God, which is justified not by empirical evidence but by the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit and the natural human capacity for the divine (sensus divinitatis). This makes faith rational without depending on external evidences, as it's properly basic.

Aquinas did talk about the lumen fidei (light of faith) as enabling belief, while Calvin's sensus divinitatis is an innate sense of the divine. Combining these, the model would say that God provides both the innate sense and the grace to assent to revelation, making faith a foundational belief. This challenges classical foundationalism which demands empirical or self-evident bases for beliefs. Instead, faith is warranted through divine action in the believer.

So key concepts: divine grace, faith as gift, intellect and will, sensus divinitatis, internal testimony of the Spirit, properly basic belief, compatibility with reason (Aquinas), primacy of Scripture and Spirit (Calvin), assurance of faith, and faith's necessity for salvation.

Possible structure: Define the model as combining Aquinas' theological virtues and Calvin's epistemology, outline each thinker's contributions, then their synthesis in the model's view of faith as a divinely warranted, properly basic belief involving both assent and trust, enabled by grace and the Spirit, with reason supporting but not necessitating faith.