Aquinas and Modernity

The Lost Promise of Natural Law

By (author) Shadia B. Drury

Publication date:

16 May 2008

Length of book:

238 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742522572

In this startling book, Drury overturns the long-standing reputation of Thomas Aquinas as the most rational exponent of the Christian faith. She reveals that Aquinas as one of the most zealous Dominicans (Domini Canes) or Hounds of the Lord. The book contains incisive criticisms of Aquinas's reconciliation of faith and reason, his defense of papal supremacy, his justification of the Inquisition, his insistence on the persecution of Jews, and his veneration of celibacy. Far from being an antiquarian exercise, Drury shows why the study of Aquinas is relevant to the politics of the twenty-first century, where the primacy of faith over reason has experienced a revival. The current pope, Benedict XVI, relies heavily on Aquinas when prescribing cures for the ills of modernity. For Drury, religion is as incompatible with political moderation and sobriety in our time as it was in the thirteenth century. This is why she defends a secular version of Aquinas's theory of natural law_a theory that he betrayed in favor of what she calls 'the politics of salvation.'

Part 1 I. The Horrors of Theocracy
Chapter 2 1.The Historical Setting
Chapter 3 2.The Fanaticism of Faith
Chapter 4 3.The Lost Promise of Natural Law
Part 5 II. The Subjugation of Reason
Chapter 6 1.The Intellectual Setting
Chapter 7 2.William of Saint-Amour
Chapter 8 3.Siger of Brabant
Chapter 9 4.The Usurpation of the Double Truth
Chapter 10 5.Aristotle and the Bible
Chapter 11 6.Faith and Reason
Chapter 12 7.The Authority of Scoundrels
Chapter 13 8.Weapon Against Modernity
Chapter 14 9.The Anti-Modernist Oath
Chapter 15 10.The Appeal of Fideism
Chapter 16 11.Is Faith Impervious to Reason?
Part 17 III. The Politics of Salvation
Chapter 18 1.Papal Supremacy and the Two Swords
Chapter 19 2.The Pragmatism of Natural Law
Chapter 20 3.The Bigotry of Faith
Chapter 21 4.Heathens, Heretics, and Jews
Chapter 22 5.Just War and Holy War
Chapter 23 6.Death to Heretics
Chapter 24 7.Aquinas and the Inquisition
Part 25 IV. Sin, Sex, and Celibacy
Chapter 26 1.Eunuchs for Heaven
Chapter 27 2.The "Aristotelian" Argument
Chapter 28 3.Sharing the Agony
Chapter 29 4.The Sex Life of Adam and Eve
Chapter 30 5.To Marry or To Burn?
Chapter 31 6.Carnal Pleasure and the Contemplation of God
Chapter 32 7.Those Pesky Polygamous Patriarchs
Chapter 33 8.The Crimes of Celibacy
Chapter 34 9.The Vices of Celibacy: Abelard, Heloise, and Augustine
Part 35 V. Aquinas and Modernity: A Dialogue
Chapter 36 1.Christianity and the Inquisition
Chapter 37 2.The Silence of Conscience
Chapter 38 3.The Separation of Church and State
Chapter 39 4.Western Civilization and the Islamic Threat
Chapter 40 5.Freedom and Licentiousness
Chapter 41 6.The New Averroist Menace
Chapter 42 7.The Disenchantment of Postmodernity
Part 43 VI. Recovering the Lost Promise of Natural Law
Chapter 44 1.Natural Law and Human Nature
Chapter 45 2.A Minimalist Reading
Chapter 46 3.Abhorrence of Nature
Chapter 47 4.Conscience
Chapter 48 5.Conventionalism
Chapter 49 6.Legal Positivism
Chapter 50 7.Natural Law and Divine Revelation
Part 51 Conclusion

In this impassioned criticism, Drury condemns the prevailing view of Aquinas as a champion of reason and morality. With verve and wit Drury relentlessly documents how Aquinas opted for faith over reason, expediency over elementary decency, and cruelty over humanity in order to justify the Crusades, the Inquisition, the torture and murder of devout dissenters, and the condemnation of all who did not wholeheartedly obey the often-changing orthodoxy of the Catholic Church. Contemporary defenders of the faith and Aquinas should meet the challenge of this book—if they can.