Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Canon Law

Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Canon Law bridges, for the first time, two worlds of scholarship that have never been explored in book-length form and investigates an under-researched area in Thomistic studies, namely the question of how Thomas Aquinas engaged the ecclesiastical law and jurisprudence of his day.

Neither historians of medieval canon law nor experts on Thomas's thought have previously paid much attention to the canon law tradition as a source for Thomas's work and an influence on his thought. But, as this volume shows, his consideration of mendicant life, law, justice, oaths, penance, clerical orders, the Eucharist, baptism, property, commerce, marriage and more reveal engagement with key canon law texts and concepts and with the jurisprudence of major canonists. The book uncovers how Aquinas encountered canonical regulations and jurisprudence as a Dominican, an educator in both theology and pastoral care, and a participant in the secular-mendicant controversy. In his life, education, community, and his way of thought, Thomas Aquinas could not avoid and necessarily encountered and dealt with the canonical tradition. He did so in a distinctive way, working as he did with his theological and philosophical source material to craft his own great synthesis. What this volume shows, if nothing else, is that the canon law tradition should be taken into consideration when assessing Thomas's synthetic thought.

Following the editors' introduction, thirteen scholarly contributions and an epilogue explore Aquinas's interaction with medieval canon law through four major themes: Dominican Matters; Foundations Matters of Faith, Truth, and Law; Moral Matters; and Sacramental Matters. Approximately half the contributors are specialists from the field of medieval canon law, and half are grounded in Thomistic tradition. The result is a unique and scholarly contribution to two major research areas that may open avenues for similar studies of other key figures in the scholastic tradition.