Introduction
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ writings in Christian theology and philosophy have influence Western thinking to the present day. Aquinas was the last great scholar of the medieval era (Zach 2010, 72-75). Modern philosophers remember him for his philosophy concerning reason and faith, which offers a rational foundation for a Christian worldview. Aquinas believed that revelation and reason are neither enemies nor in disagreement. Instead, both faith and reason are required to understand reality and spirituality (Stevenson 2003, 90-92). For Aquinas, sometimes people understand concepts by revelation rather than by reason, or conversely. Aquinas’ best works are On Kingship and Summa Theologica, which illustrates his major philosophical and theological concepts on morality, humanity, leadership, and God (Kenny 2005, 63-73). Thus, Aquinas’ Christian philosophy revealed the Medieval Christian natural law philosophy, Christian Kingship, and covenantal statesmanship.
Saint Thomas Aquinas and Natural Law
Aquinas’ philosophy includes different laws, which are external, human, divine, and natural laws (Summa Theologica, 1332-1338). For Aquinas, the purpose of law is doing good and avoiding evil. For example, theft is evil; therefore, people should always avoid stealing because it is good to procure valuables in this manner (Summa Theologica, 1334). The natural law is humankind’s involvement in the eternal law (Summa Theologica, 1332). The divine law includes the maximum standard in human life, which is eternal, objective, and universal, and where God’s wisdom and love governs people. God allows people to share in His law because God wants people to recognize the unchanging truth (Summa Theologica, 1339). The natural law centers on the human desire for God, and submission to Him, and on the belief in the equality of humanity (Summa Theologica, 1333). Aquinas accepted Aristotle’s natural law concepts and political philosophies, and he improved them with Christian philosophy (O’Oconner 1967, 04). Aquinas elevated natural law philosophy by blending the works of Aristotle, Cicero, and Saint Augustine. Aquinas reinforced and completed Cicero and Saint Augustine’s work on natural law by employing centuries of Christian philosophy and political thinking (Chupp 2020).
Saint Thomas Aquinas and Christian Kingship
Because Aquinas built his Christian natural law philosophy from Aristotelian government and natural law concepts, his work clarified Aristotle’s natural law conceptions, and he included Aristotle’s political concepts with his Christian ideas. For Aquinas, governments should exist to extend the goodness from God to the people. His explanation of Christian kingship illustrates his idea of safe authority because it upholds justice. The Christian kingship assists in satisfying the benevolence throughout society by focusing on the common good. The Medieval period revealed the common good ideas, where atheists or non-believers had no moral right to become leaders because the knowledge God gives to humanity is primarily for leading and achieving improved activities. Divine wisdom aids good leadership and reasoning, while helping people to execute the correct relations with others (O’Connor 1967, 59-60). This interaction enables group formations, which requires a government to maintain laws and orders because humanity has a fallen nature.
During situations where there is no leadership, the group cannot succeed (Aquinas On Kingship, 6), which Aquinas took from King Solomon’s teaching, where the King said, “where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14, ESV). For Aquinas, the Christian kingship is a demonstration of good leadership because it symbolizes God’s goodness. Therefore, the leaders are in Covenant with God to implement good leadership. Covenant is a morally cognizant arrangement founded upon intentional agreement. Participants recognize covenant through shared consent and promises, which include a supernatural or divine authority and people with autonomous status, which are significant with the objectives of the agreement. Covenant provides for combined responsibility to accomplish described conclusions with mutual respect and certain conditions, which safeguard the parties’ unique honor. All covenants include promise and consent (Fischer 2017). The Holy Scriptures explain the history of ancient Israel as the product of a covenant relationship between God and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Leaders achieve good leadership through the advancement of covenant, justice, fairness, and tranquility. Aquinas believes that these are the characteristics of a good administrator.
Saint Thomas Aquinas’s work, On Kingship, offers his political deliberation about just kingship, leadership, and statesmanship. Effective leaders require certain traits and gifts. They should be modest people who serve and worship God, while caring about the needs of others. They are good communicators who are very proficient in their job. They should be skilled in managing many public affairs (Fischer 2012). Effective leadership is a primary characteristic of statesmanship. Aquinas identifies and values the human requirement for a social environment under proper government. He contends that where people live collectively, every individual is concerned about his or her own self-interest, and the society would fail without proper leadership over the population. Aquinas understands that some roads could either turnout right or wrong. For Aquinas, the outcomes of his or her path will validate whether it was either the right or wrong direction. He believes that when leaders rule for the common good of their citizens, then the government is just, but if leaders administer for their selfish agenda, then they are ruling unjustly. Aquinas associates just leaders with shepherds, which reflects elements of Jesus’ teaching about the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11, ESV). Aquinas contends that because good shepherds search for good things for their sheep, then just leaders should pursue good things for his or her people. For Aquinas, the best government is a monarchy. His idea of king means a leader who is a shepherd seeking the common good of the multitude and not his own. Aquinas appears to argue for a Christian philosopher king, which remind people of Plato’s philosopher king. Aquinas builds on the idea of Plato’s philosopher king with Christian theology and biblical eschatology reflecting the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect philosopher King. In addition, Aquinas completes Augustine’s City of God with his examples of an ideal ruler in his work On Kingship. Furthermore, during the medieval period in European, the Christian faith was the primary basis for determining whether anybody was good for leadership in the public arena. The strength of religion in state issues was because of the conviction that the people of faith were the best administers of justice.
Saint Thomas Aquinas and Justice
For Aquinas, justice is not accidently done because justice is a habit where people are capable of doing just actions in agreement with their decisions. Although Aquinas argues that justice is intentional, he connects other traits and conditions to his concept of justice. Aquinas argues that justice must be voluntary and constant to continue the determination of the action. For Aquinas, human virtue renders human action toward good, which he applies to justice. Aquinas identifies justice with virtue, which is a form of morality. Aquinas believes that justice is primary among the moral virtues (Summa Theologica, 159-162). Aquinas builds on Aristotle’s teaching of Justice to form his Christian philosophy of justice.
The Holy Scriptures asserts that justice, fairness, and reasonable dealings ought to be associated with each part of government, such as the U.S. executive, legislative, and judicial branches. This biblical perspective on justice includes protecting the weak and poor from the strong and wealthy. The prophet Isaiah warned about the approaching misfortune coming for people who use their riches for achieving political power and influence (Isaiah 10:1-2, ESV). However, the Holy Scriptures view of Justice goes beyond external human factors because the real problem with humanity is spiritual because of the spiritual fall of humankind (Genesis 3:1-22, ESV). The biblical view of covenant and justice requires the personnel working in many law enforcement agencies to be responsible for the safety of the people and to engage them respectfully. Law enforcement procedures like community based policing supports justice because it is biblically base (Fischer 2020).
Conclusion
Aquinas builds on the philosophical arguments of Aristotle, Cicero, and Augustine with his Christian philosophy of politics and natural law. He completes Augustine’s City of God with his work On Kingship. Aquinas employed the Wisdom of Solomon and the work of Saint Paul to build his arguments for leadership, justice, and statesmanship. Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers in the medieval era. He produced an all-inclusive mixture of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that transformed and shaped the Western Christian philosophical tradition for generations. The writings of St. Thomas Aquinas joining reason with faith became the foundation for official Roman Catholic doctrine. In addition, his progressive political philosophies concerning natural law, unjust rulers, justice, and rebellion inspired celebrated thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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