Theory of prayer and medieval epistemology. The case of Thomas Aquinas

The object of the present analysis is a comparison between medieval theological reflection and the traditions of Neo-Platonist epistemology of Greek and Latin origin regarding the issue of self-consciousness. While aiming to clarify the meaning of a fragment from Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 83 [1], De oratione, I stop to reflect on the ways in which the concepts of conscientia or reditio completa have contributed to the medieval consecration of human individuality in prayer. The framework of the analysis is larger, as it starts from Greek and Latin Patristics and marks the fundamental moments in the parallelism between epistemology and the theory of the states of consciousness in devotional acts. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.