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A particularly subtle view of inspiration and authority was developed at the close of the thirteenth century by Henry of Ghent. In great works of art, noted Henry, it is possible to distinguish between the artist, who designs and directs the work, and the apprentice, whose task is to realize the plan of the artist. Even so, in the sciences, a distinction can be drawn between the founder or creator of a way of knowing and the subsequent practitioners of the science. In theology, God alone knows in and of himself the fundamental supernatural truths of the discipline. No creature can gain this knowledge without the assistance of divine inspiration. God is thus the primary author of theology—and, specifically, the primary author of Scripture, who has assisted the human writers by inspiration in their task of writing.