Question

Module 02 Discussion - Today's American Government

READ THE QUESTIONS BEOW TO HELP ANSWER THIS QUESTIONS, READ ABOUT THE POLITICAL PHILOSPHERS ST. AUGUSTINE AND ST. AQUINAS TO ALSO HELP YOU AND INCLUDE REFERENCES ABOUT WHERE YOU GOT THE INFO.

It is not uncommon for philosophers to consider the role of religion in the daily lives of the citizenry or the relationship between religion and government. St. Augustine and St. Aquinas are more theologians than political philosophers, but their works have influenced many political leaders nonetheless - including those who helped in determining the role of church and state in the US.

Aquinas was greatly influenced by Aristotle. He suggested that faith and reason are complementary rather than contradictory, and that political authority comes from God. Aquinas, like others before and after, also believed there were opportunities for "just war", even though that seems contrary to religious teachings.

Though Augustine was not baptized into the Church until his later years, his views on religion and government are influential as to how this relationship should exist. He also believed the Bible should not be literally interpreted if it diverges from science, though argued politics and religion cannot be separated because the state is rooted in sin.

ANWSER THE QUESTION BELOW: Separation of Church and State is a tenet of American Government.

Discuss how Augustine and Aquinas might view the current relationship between the government and religion?

Answer 1

St Augustine.

He was conceived in North Africa, and progressed toward becoming Bishop of Hippo (now Bone in Algeria) for a long time. As a young, he was an agnostic, and later was included with the Manicheans, viewed at the time as a blasphemy, and who trusted that there are two dynamic, genuine powers on the planet: Good and Evil. Augustine utilized neo-dispassionate thoughts (these were produced by Porphry, Plotinus and others) to counter a shortcoming in Manicheanism, viz: if God (the Good) can be influenced by Evil then it isn't flawless and can't be God, who must be insignificant and idealize. Any insidious on the planet must, at that point, be the aftereffect of human decision and activity.

He turned into a Christian age 33 (in 386) after a "transformation". Voices instructed him to take up the Bible and read it, and he opened it at Romans XIII (an epistle of St Paul): "Let us thusly push off crafted by haziness, and let us put on the reinforcement of light. Give us a chance to walk truly, as in the day, not in revolting and intoxication, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and begrudging. Be that as it may, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not arrangement for the tissue, to satisfy the desires thereof… "

This suggested religious austerity, and he considered it to be the answer for things he had been stressing over. He took to Biblical interpretation and an investigation of the letters of St Paul. His real works were his Confessions (an astonishing self-portraying record of his inward clashes and improvement) and – for our motivations: Civitas Dei – the City of God.

It took him 13 years to compose, (the initial three sections were distributed in 413, the rest – 22 sections – in 425) and it began as an endeavour to answer to the individuals who were contending that when Rome tumbled to the Goths in 410 AD it was on account of Christianity had undermined Roman thoughts of valour (and sold out the Roman divine beings). (In spite of the fact that numerous Goths were in actuality Aryan Christians… ). Augustine's reaction was, first that Rome had endured numerous debacles previously, when it adored agnostic divine beings – so had they been capable? At that point he contended that Rome had been 'moral' when in strife with outer powers, for example, amid the war with Carthage; yet when it 'laid on its shrubs' then debasement set in. Rome's "desire for mastery" was what carried wrongs with it.

St Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274).

.1 During the second 50% of the twelfth century there was a 'smaller than usual renaissance': colleges were established (Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, and in Spain). There were 'showing requests' of priests – Dominicans, Franciscans. Through Arab taking in, crafted by Aristotle and other antiquated Greek scholars wound up known.

2 right away, the thoughts of Aristotle were rejected in view of their agnosticism – yet Aquinas' awesome accomplishment was to unite Aristotelian and Christian thoughts.

.3 In Aquinas, there was, for instance, a combination of Graeco-Roman thoughts of: the matchless quality of law; the significance of group – together with the Christian thought of there being an ethical standard behind the law; and of an otherworldly group.

4 During this period scholars depended especially on rationale and man's discernment – later this was derisively known as 'scholasticism'. Aquinas represents this approach. There was less accentuation on Faith in his reasoning, contrasted with Augustine - however Aquinas trusted Faith was as yet basic to empower man to get a handle on the essential thought of the presence of God.

5 During feudalism there was a (mainstream) conviction and practice that a pioneer's energy was gotten from the group (rulers were carried on shields in parade – symbolizing that without the help of his devotees he would fall). This is known as 'trusteeship' (Bowle). For Aquinas, the entire group profits by the manage of law, and in this manner the entire group has some obligation regarding the law. He additionally observed the advantages of mainstream specialist.

Layout of Aquinas' thoughts:

1 Man was made to live in a group – we are normally social animals. We share with every single living thing the requirement for organic/physical prosperity (survival, multiplication, child rearing) and good prosperity. The people group is the way to accomplish prosperity. This is a teleological contention, like that utilized by Aristotle.

2 The world is open to reason – and reason can direct us to finding the great. God has made a sound request, and given us the way to comprehend it through our reason and mind.

3 Man's definitive flawlessness is 'blessedness' which is characterized as the delight that originates from the scholarly trepidation of reality . At the point when the judgment accomplishes 'the very pith of the principal cause… it will have flawlessness through association with God as its protest.'

4 This 'worry of the main source' is the consequence of an action that requires the entire of our individual: brains must be supplemented by Faith and Grace, and 'for the flawlessness of consideration, soundness of body is required, to which every one of expressions of the human experience of living are coordinated'.

Bowle puts it thusly: 'the full power of identity, centered in mind and supported by adoration, enlivened by confidence and restrained by authoritative opinion, makes progress toward the fear of the preeminent reality.' The word 'creed' advises us that for Aquinas the Church had an essential instructive part to play (normally!).

5 As with Aristotle, there is here the potential for independence (the individual endeavoring to comprehend a definitive truth), however it is kept under control by the accentuation on group (as over: a characteristic requirement for us). Aquinas brings up that without some better power than administer to the benefit of everyone, people would seek after their own finishes, or act unreasonably, or find that their advantages strife with others'.