St.+Thomas+Aquinas


 * St. Thomas Aquinas**

St. Thomas Aquinas is widely regarded as the most influential theologian and philosopher of the middle ages.[1] His life, teachings and “staggering literary output” had a sustained and substantial influence, the reverberations of which are still felt today.[2] Aquinas’ synthesis of Aristotelian thought and Medieval Christianity was profoundly influential, and his union of philosophy and theology contributed to the “thorough christianisation” of Medieval life.[3] His success is demonstrated in the unprecedented standing his legacy gained in the Roman Catholic Church, which has only been approached by St. Augustine.[4]

**Vita Brevis**

Aquinas’ relatively short life began in Naples in 1225 and ended in a Cistercian abbey in Fossanova in 1274. He was born into a period of dispute and turmoil between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor, yet these politics “leave almost no palpable trace in Thomas’s writings”.[5] The rediscovery and translation of Aristotelian works in the thirteen century posed a potential challenge to the Medieval Church and needed to be adapted and reconciled to contemporary doctrine and thought,[7] a task Aquinas made his “great enterprise”.[8] The “grafting” together of these opposing bodies of thought, begun by his teacher, Albert the Great, rested on the premise that reason and religion are in harmony, not opposition.[9] This notion was in opposition to the “two truths” thesis of the Muslim Averoes.[10]


 * Reconciliation of Aristotle and Medieval Christianity **



Aristotle held that human nature is fulfilled in the political community (//polis//), a proposition that seemingly contradicted the Christian doctrine that man is fulfilled in God. Rather than discounting Aristotelian thought, however, Aquinas interpreted it in a way that made it compatible with Christian faith. Aquinas explains that the state can be considered independently of religious values;[11] although an element of the natural order, it is part of the divine direction of the world.[12] According to Aquinas, man is subject to a //triplex ordo//: divine law, reason and political authority,[13] the last being necessary because man is not a solitary creature, but a social and political one.[14] Thus, “if man is to attain his proper [natural end] and realize the highest form of life and virtue”,[15] it is essential he shares “in political life” and practices “the //virtutes politicae//”.[16] At the same time, Aquinas affirmed that we are spiritual creatures whose eternal fulfillment lies in communion with the divine. In this way, Aquinas reconciles pagan Aristotelian philosophy with Medieval Christian doctrine.

**Intellectual Influence**

Aquinas’ work has been immensely influential in epistemology, metaphysics and natural law theory. His thoughts on sensory perception and //tabula rasa// predated and anticipated British empiricists by hundreds of years. [17] Aquinas wrote commentaries on the Gospels and much of the Hebrew Bible, as well as significant but controversial treatises on philosophy and theology. These works were received by his contemporaries with some doubt and contention, and in 1277 many of his propositions were condemned by the Bishop of Paris. [18] Indeed, Aquinas’ work remained “under a cloud” until 1567, when he was canonised by Pope Pius V and given the title of Common Doctor of the Church. [19]

Since then, his works have profoundly shaped Catholic thinking, and by the turn of the fourteenth century his ideas “had entered the theoretical artilleries of both papalist and imperialist publications”. [20] His ideas were later tremendously influential on jurisprudence and international law, [21] and on various philosophical, religious and political movements, including conciliarism , Gersonian nominalism and Neo-Scholasticism. [22]

[1] Joseph Canning, “Aquinas,” in // Political Thinkers From Socrates to the Present //, ed. David Boucher and Paul Kelly, 134 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); Antony Black, “St Thomas Aquinas: the state and morality,” in // Political Thought From Plato to Nato //, ed. Brian Redhead, 61 (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1984) ; Oliver O’Donovan and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan, // From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought // (Grand Rapids: Williams B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), 320; John Finnis, // Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought: Aquinas // (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 14; Paul Henderson and John Fox, // Silent Legacy: The Unseen Ways Great Thinkers Have Shaped Our Culture // (Roskill South: Maxim Institute, 2008), 51. [2] Paul J. Weithman, “Thomas Aquinas,” in // Political Philosophy //, ed. S.M. Cahn, 237 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). [3] Alexander Passerin D’Entrèves, // The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought // (London: Oxford University Press, 1939), 19. [4] O’Donovan and O’Donovan, //From Irenaeus to Grotius//, 322. [5] Henderson and Fox, //Silent Legacy//, 53; Finnis //Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought//, 3; Weithman, “Thomas Aquinas,” 237. [6] William P. Baumgarth and Richard J. Regan, // Saint Thomas Aquinas: On Law, Morality and Politics // (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1988), xiii ; Weithman, “Thomas Aquinas,” 238; Canning, “Aquinas,” 134. [7] William P. Baumgarth and Richard J. Regan, // Saint Thomas Aquinas: On Law, Morality and Politics // (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1988), xiii ; Weithman, “Thomas Aquinas,” 238; Canning, “Aquinas,” 134. [8] D’Entrèves, //The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought//, 20. [9] Ibid., 20, 21. [10] Henderson and Fox, //Silent Legacy//, 53; Baumgarth and Regan, // Saint Thomas Aquinas //, xvi. [11] Baumgarth and Regan, // Saint Thomas Aquinas //, xv. [12] D’Entrèves, //The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought//, 26. [13] St Thomas Aquinas, // Summa Theologica //, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, // New Advent // http://www.newadvent.org/summa/, I-II, 72.4. [14] “//H omo naturaliter est animal politicum et sociale //.” //Summa Theologica//, I-II, 72.4. [15] D’Entrèves, //The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought//, 26. [16] //Summa Theologica//, I-II, 61.5. [17] Henderson and Fox, //Silent Legacy//, 57. [18] Ralph McInerny and John O’Callaghan, “Saint Thomas Aquinas,” // The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy //, ed. E.N. Zalta (2010), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/. [19] Ibid., np. [20] O’Donovan and O’Donovan, //From Irenaeus to Grotius//, 322. [21] See, for example, the highly influential modernisation and restatement of Aquinas’s legal thought in Finnis, J. 2011. // Natural Law & Natural Rights //. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [22] O’Donovan and O’Donovan, //From Irenaeus to Grotius//, 322.