Телеграм канал «Ecce Verbum»

Why does a Catholic not have to be a Thomist?

While St. Thomas Aquinas is officially recognized as the Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) of the Catholic Church and his theology is highly esteemed, a practicing Catholic is not required to be a Thomist.

The Church permits intellectual liberty across various philosophical and theological traditions, provided they do not reject core Catholic dogmas.

A Catholic might choose a non-Thomist framework for several major reasons:
1. Adherence to Alternative Catholic Schools of Thought
Thomism is only one of several approved theological schools within the Latin (Western) Church. A Catholic might prefer:
• Scotism (The Franciscan School): Following Blessed John Duns Scotus, this school emphasizes the primacy of love and the will over the intellect (reversing Thomas's intellectualism). Scotists also historically championed the Immaculate Conception long before Thomists accepted it.
• Suarezianism (The Jesuit School): Based on Francisco Suárez, this system modifies Thomistic metaphysics to offer different explanations of existence, essence, and metaphysics.
• Molinism: Founded by Luis de Molina, this framework provides an alternative explanation for how human free will coexists with divine grace and predestination, differing significantly from the strict Thomistic views on physical premotion.

2. Alignment with Eastern Catholicism
There are 23 Eastern Catholic Churches (such as the Byzantine, Maronite, and Melkite Churches) that are in full communion with Rome but do not share the Western Scholastic heritage.

• Eastern Catholics typically look to the Greek Church Fathers (like St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, or St. John Damascene).
• Their theology is heavily influenced by Palamism (the essence-energies distinction) and a focus on Theosis (divinization), which relies on a mystical and apophated approach rather than the highly structured, rationalistic, and categories-based methodology of Thomism.

3. Preference for the "Ressourcement" and Modern Approaches
During the Second Vatican Council, the Church shifted away from treating Neo-Thomism as an officially imposed, rigid "system" of thought, opting instead to view Aquinas as a guide among many.

• Many modern Catholics prefer Phenomenology or the Ressourcement (Nouvelle Théologie) school popularized by 20th-century thinkers like Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger).
• Ratzinger, for instance, was deeply rooted in the Augustinian tradition, which leans more toward a personalistic, scriptural, and historically minded theology than the systematic Aristotelian framework used by Aquinas.

4. Critiques of Aristotelian Metaphysics
Because Thomism relies heavily on the philosophy of Aristotle, some Catholics find its scientific and cosmological assumptions outdated. They may argue that its highly structured, logical deductions can sometimes struggle to address contemporary existential, psychological, or post-modern human experiences.
Theological Dimension – Thomist View vs. Common Non-Thomist Catholic Alternatives
(a) Primary Faculty – Intellect rules the Will vs. Will/Love rules the Intellect (Scotism)

(b) Predestination & Grace – Divine physical premotion moves the human will vs. Middle Knowledge / Molinism preserves human choice

(c) Theological Method
Systematic, Scholastic, Aristotelian vs. Mystical, Patristic, Scriptural, or Phenomenological

🔗more about the proper place and misconceptions of Thomism in theology and philosophy

#stthomas@ecceverbum

Modern period

With the development of Christian anthropology (the person as the image of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ) and the improvement of social conditions, a clear evolution takes place. Capital punishment is permissible only in extreme cases when there is no other way to defend society.

The emphasis falls on the possibility of redemption and the inviolability of life. In the secular law of countries with a Christian tradition, a parallel process occurs: restriction and then often abolition of the death penalty, along with the development of prison systems oriented (at least declaratively) toward rehabilitation.

The change did not mean rejecting justice or the common good, but it increasingly incorporated the moral understanding of the infinite value of every soul and the real possibility of rehabilitation and salvation until the very end of life. This factor was one of the main drivers of the humanization of both moral theology and legal systems within the sphere of Christian civilization.

The development of a theology of the existence and salvation of the soul influenced the understanding of punishment and social justice
based on E. Christian Brugger– Capital Punishment and Roman Catholic Moral Tradition and Servais Pinckaers– The Sources of Christian Ethics

Old Testament and Early Judaism

In the oldest layers of the Old Testament, the main emphasis was on
the purity and holiness of the entire community of Israel, the removal of “evil from the midst of the people,” the averting of bloodguilt, deterrence.The concept of an individual, immortal soul and its eternal salvation was weakly developed (a fuller belief in the resurrection appears more clearly only in later books, such as Daniel, 2 Maccabees, and Wisdom).

Therefore, law and punishment had a primarily retributive and protective character toward the community. The individual conversion of the condemned person was not yet a central purpose of punishment.

New Testament and the Apostolic Period

With the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, a clear shift occurs:
God seeks each lost sheep individually (Lk 15).
The value of one soul surpasses the whole world (Mt 16:26).
The call to conversion and mercy becomes central.
At the same time, St. Paul recognizes the right of secular authority to bear the “sword” (Rom 13:4).
Christians, as a minority, did not yet administer state justice. Their contribution consisted in introducing a strong emphasis on the possibility of conversion until the very end of life and on mercy.

Church Fathers

The First Systematic Tension Between Justice and the Salvation of the Soul. The theology of the soul (immortality, particular judgment ) reaches more maturity. This brings about the first clear changes. St. Augustine allowed the death penalty and just war as means of protecting order, but at the same time strongly emphasized that the purpose of punishment should also include the amendment of the offender and his salvation. Authority should act like a father correcting a son, not like an executioner.
The practice of delaying executions appears so that the condemned may confess and prepare for death. The Church began to exert pressure on secular authorities to allow the possibility of penance. A distinction is introduced between punishment as vengeance and punishment as medicine (the medicinal character of punishment).
Roman law (gradually being Christianized) remained severe, but the first restrictions and an emphasis on the pastoral preparation of the condemned appeared.

Middle Ages and Scholasticism

The death penalty remains permissible when it is necessary for the common good (protection of society).
At the same time, the theology of the soul imposes new elements:
the condemned must be given time and means for conversion (confession, Holy Communion, anointing),
punishment must not be pure vengeance, if a milder means exists that effectively protects society, it should be chosen.
In canon law and secular law (under the influence of the Church), the following appear:
the institution of church asylum,
the obligation to admit a priest to the condemned, attempts to limit overly hasty death sentences. Executions nevertheless remain frequent, because the realities of the time (lack of secure prisons) mean that the protection of the common good often requires the death penalty.

Early Modern Period (16–18 c)

The development of the theology of spirituality places even stronger emphasis on the value of every soul and the possibility of conversion until the final moments.
The influence on law is gradual:
more frequent appeals for clemency from the clergy, the development of the institution of life imprisonment in some countries, criticism of the cruelty of certain forms of execution.

🔗continued

#socialethics@ecceverbum

Why was the death penalty considered acceptable ?

In traditional moral theology there was a clear principle:
The death penalty is permissible only when necessary to protect the common good.
If there is another effective way to protect society, it becomes inadmissible.

For most of human history (ancient times, the Middle Ages, and the modern era, up until the 19th/20th centuries), it was recognized that in many cases there was no other effective method . Therefore, it was permitted.

What exactly were these “realities”?

No possibility of safe, permanent isolation of criminals

Prisons in ancient and medieval times were not penal institutions in the modern sense. They were primarily used for temporary detention prior to trial or execution.
There were no maximum security facilities from which escape would be practically impossible.
Escapes were frequent, and recapturing a dangerous killer was difficult and expensive.
Lifelong safe imprisonment was technically and organizationally almost impossible.

The weakness of the state apparatus

Lack of professional police, prison services, monitoring systems, databases, forensic techniques.
Central authority was often weak (especially in the Middle Ages). Society had to fend for itself.
The only sure way to permanently eliminate the threat posed by a particularly dangerous criminal was to kill him.

Economic and practical considerations

Keeping someone in prison for decades was very expensive for the community (food, guards, buildings).
In poor agrarian or tribal societies this was often unrealistic.
Deterrent effectiveness and restoring order
In societies with high levels of public violence, execution served as a strong deterrent and a public restoration of justice.
The lack of such punishment could lead to private family vendettas and a spiral of violence

Only with the emergence of modern, secure penitentiary systems in the 19th and 20th centuries (maximum security prisons, life sentences without parole, effective guards) did the assessment of necessity change.

*For example in the Talmud (especially the Sanhedrin tractate) :

Procedures have become extremely rigorous .
Very precise witness statements were required, warnings to the criminal against the act, etc.
There is a famous saying: "The Sanhedrin, which condemned someone to death once in seventy years, was called the destructive (bloody) Sanhedrin."
In practice, after 70 AD, Rabbinic Judaism almost completely stopped using the death penalty (it also had no political power).
Catholic Church treats these rabbinic laws as a human interpretive tradition , not as divine law binding on Christians.
In this way, the Church maintains continuity with the Holy Scriptures, whilst recognising that the specific application of the death penalty is a matter for assessment in the light of historical circumstances and the requirements of the common good.

#socialethics@ecceverbum

We are saved by Grace judged by works.
Scriptural Edification

(A) “Faith Alone” is not Scriptural

John 15:6 “ Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”
James 2:17 (“So also Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead”).
James 2:24 (“See how a person is justified by works and not faith alone”). Matt 7:21-27 (Only those who do the Will of the Father will be saved). Matthew 19:16-17 “ 16 Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”[l] 17 He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.[m] If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Romans 1:5 (“Apostleship to bring about the obedience to Faith”).
Romans 2:13 “For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified.”
Romans 16:26 (“the mystery . . . to bring about the obedience of faith”).
1 Corinthians 13:2 (If we have faith without love we have nothing).
1 Corinthians 13:13 (“Faith, hope, love abode . . . but the greatest of these is love”).
Galatians 5:6 (Only “Faith working through love” amounts to anything). James 2:18-19 “Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.” James 2:20 (“Do you want to be shown . . . Faith apart from works is barren”).
1 John 3:10  “In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:24 “Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us.”

(B) We will be judged according to our works

Romans 2:6 “render to every man according to his works.”
Jeremiah 17:10 “Giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds.”
Matthew 16:27 “He will repay every man for what he has done.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 “receive good or evil according to what he has done.”
1 Peter 1:17 “Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,”
Apocalypse of Saint John 20:12 “I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.[j]The dead were judged according to their deeds,” Apocalypse of Saint John 22:11-15 “Let the wicked still act wickedly, and the filthy still be filthy. The righteous must still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to have the right to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the unchaste, the murderers, the idol-worshipers, and all who love and practice deceit.”
Matthew 12:36 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak.” Matthew 7:21 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,[j] but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

#faith@ecceverbum #justification@ecceverbum
#salvation@ecceverbum

Christian Higher Education in Europe: A Historical Analysis (2011)
D. W. Bebbington

Summary: A historical analysis of Christian influence in European higher education, examining seven distinct eras from scholasticism to civil law.

#education@ecceverbum

An Introduction to the History of the Assyrian Church – 100-640 A.D. (2004)
Williiam Ainger Wigram

#churchhistory@ecceverbum