Aquinas was born in Naples, Italy, of a prominent
family. He entered the Dominican religious order
against the wishes of his parents and studied at the
University of Paris under ALBERTUS MAGNUS; at the uni-
versity, he imbibed the newly translated writings of the
ancient Greek philosopher, ARISTOTLE. St. Thomas
Aquinas is best known for combining CHRISTIANdoc-
trine with CLASSICALphilosophy, drawing on the wis-
dom and insights of the Greek thinkers, but putting
their ideas within a Christian context.
The first way Aquinas integrates Aristotelian phi-
losophy into Christian thought is through his empha-
sis on human Reason, or intellectual ability. Like the
Greeks, Aquinas believes that humans can know and
understand reality through their reasoning intellects;
the fall of Adam does not totally corrupt the human
mind, only the will, so learning and education are
good and can serve God. This gives medieval Chris-
tianity its intellectual quality, its careful, often detailed
reasoning as developed in scholasticism. The Protes-
tant REFORMATIONwas partly a rejection of the “overin-
tellectualization” of Christianity and an attempt to
return to the simple biblical faith of the early church.
Interestingly, St. Thomas Aquinas (known by the nick-
name “The Dumb Ox” for his large, dull appearance)
was one of the most intellectual of Christians, but after
having a direct spiritual encounter with God late in
life, he never wrote again and said that his massive
writings reminded him of “straw.”
Like Aristotle, Aquinas considered humans as natu-
rally social and political by virtue of reason, speech,
and moral virtue. He saw the government as just part
of the universal empire of which God is the maker and
ultimate ruler. Aquinas adopts Aristotle’s “teleological”
approach to reality, which sees things in terms of their
purpose or goal—their ultimate complete develop-
ment. So, for example, an acorn has an end, or telos,of
becoming a full-grown tall oak tree. A human being
has a purpose or end, designed by God to be fully
developed in his or her divinely given talents and abili-
ties and to love and serve God. The church is to teach
the truth of God and to assist the faithful in fulfilling
their God-given telos,individually and collectively.
Consequently, like Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas
sees things in terms of their development or “com-
pleteness.” Something is “superior” to another only by
its being more complete or comprehensive. Hence, the
family is superior or more important than the individ-
ual because it is more self-sufficient. The society is
more comprehensive than the family and so is more
important; politics is superior to economics because it
encompasses property. God is most superior and excel-
lent because he created the universe and is all-encom-
passing.
This way, Aquinas discusses politics in terms of
greater and lesser laws: (1) divine or eternal law; (2)
natural law; and (3) human or positive law. Divine law
is the order that governs the universe, the only perfect
and unchanging law, ordained by God. In its totality, it
is beyond the comprehension of humans with their
limited minds. But the Almighty reveals portions of
this eternal law to humankind, such as in the Ten
Commandments and the Bible generally.
A part of the divine law governing nature is natural
law: This defines the limits of nature and their quali-
ties, including the planets, wildlife, physics, biology,
psychology, the seasons, and so on, what today we
would call science. But natural law is subordinated to
God and divine law—it can be superseded by the Lord
(through miracles) and is inferior to God and his law.
Humans participate in divine law partly by understand-
ing natural law through Reason.
Human or positive law consists of specific expres-
sions of natural law in particular places and times in
history (what we think of as governmental laws); it
changes most frequently. Natural law, however,
changes very slowly, and divine law changes not at all.
Human law is ordained for the common good of soci-
ety (not for a special interest or single group). Like
Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas admits that several types
of government can be good if they serve the interest of
the whole society and not just the rulers’ interest. The
rule of one (monarchy), the rule of a few (aristocracy),
or the rule of the many (democracy) can all be just.
Like Aristotle, he saw the “mixed regime” of kingship,
ARISTOCRACY, and polity most stable.
Because human law is part of, and subordinate to,
natural law and divine law, it must conform to those
higher laws to be valuable and just. A law or statute
that is contrary to natural or divine law will not work
but will bring social disorder and injustice. The church
advises the state so that political laws will line up with
natural and divine law to the good of society. The
Catholic Church’s stands on abortion, nuclear
weapons, and economic policy reflect this Thomist
belief. For example, the Catholic position against abor-
tion follows from abortion’s violation of divine law
(against murder) and natural law (against terminating
the natural development or telos of the fetus, or
unborn child). So the human laws allowing abortion16 Aquinas, St. Thomas