God, Man, Economy, and State
The following are the highlights of the first four chapters of Cardinal Thomas Cajetan's treatise "On Money Changing," found in this edition. Ch. 1. While there are forms of money changing that are unjust, there are other forms that are morally permissible (204). Money changing that involves a “moderate” amount of profit—that is, it's based …
In the final chapter of his political treatise On Monarchy (in which "monarchy" actually means one-world empire), the famous Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) address the issue of the authority of the emperor in relationship to that of the pope. Having previously shown that the secular authority of the empire does not derive from the …
Continue reading "Dante on the Relationship of Pope and Emperor"
According to Augustine, private property was not a natural right, but a right accorded by human law and political authority. In his commentary on the Gospel of John (6.25-6), he writes: "By what right does every man possess what he possesses? Is it not by human right? For by divine right, The earth is the …
Augustine’s City of God, 1.21, 30-1 The topic of God using the deprivations of war to afflict both the righteous and the wicked leads Augustine to a discussion of rape in war, from rape to the subject of suicide, and from suicide to the question of whether the killing of a human being is ever morally …
"Arian Christianity was always more prone than the Catholic Church to submit to the state's authority because it lacked the counterweight of faith in Christ's divinity and thus a sense of transcendence, which could lead it to consider the state as only a thing of secondary importance compared with Christ's supreme power flowing from his …
Augustine’s City of God, 1.1-8 The opening chapter (1.1) of The City of God begins a section in which Augustine addresses the hypocrisy and ingratitude of those many pagan Romans who sought out and received sanctuary in Christian churches during the horribly violent sack of Rome, and yet who now criticize the Christian faith as the …
Augustine's City of God, preface The thesis of Augustine's The City of God, as its author explains in the opening of his preface, is a defense of the City of God, which consists in all the faithful followers of God throughout history, from its critics who prefer their own gods over the true God. This …
Continue reading "The City of Persuasion vs. the City of Coercion"
“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he …
Continue reading "Christ on the Possibility of Social Order without Christ (Matt. 12:24-6)"
Aquinas’s “Letter on the Treatment of the Jews,” part 7 The final topic in Aquinas’s letter returns us to the question of the Jews, and in a way especially portentous in view of later European history: Aquinas agrees with the Countess’s belief, and with a “statue of the general Council,” that Jews should be forced …
Continue reading "On Jews Wearing Yellow Identification Badges"
Aquinas’s “Letter on the Treatment of the Jews,” part 6 Surprisingly, one question the Countess asks Aquinas for advice on is whether it is legitimate for a ruler to levy taxes upon her Christian subjects, as well as whether it is legitimate to force them to loan the ruler money when needed. The modern reader …
The Natural Law Libertarian 