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Essay Instructions: Thomas Aquinas has been understood to have reconciled faith and reason. Typically, he is understood as having provided justification for faith by means of proof, particularly, that the Five Ways prove the existence of God. Is the act of faith (i.e., one’s believing that God exists) compatible with reason? Be sure to pay close attention to Aquinas’s philosophy.

***Please use only use the following book as a source: St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)

***Paper must defend a thesis. It cannot consist in the mere report of your personal opinions, or in mere summary of the opinions of the author being discussed. You have to defend the claims you make, by offering a sustained critique or defense of the author's views. This is not a research paper no sources other than the previously mentioned book can be used.

Essay Instructions: The paper has to either be on topic #1 or topic # 2 and narrowed down to a specific instead of generalized on everything...
1.Reflecting again on the following argument from Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail: “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law,” explain what the relationship between the natural and human law is for Aquinas (Questions 95-96). Begin by explaining the difference between the natural law and the human law and then explain how the natural law can serve as the basis for a critique of the human law. Finally, explain whether you think that Aquinas’ framework for law as utilized by King in the Letter from a Birmingham Jail provides a solid (meaning workable, useful, or persuasive) ground for minorities to challenge laws passed by a democratic majority.











2.2. In Questions 96 and 97, Aquinas assesses the status of the human law and defines it proper purpose. Compare some of the elements of Aquinas’ treatment of the human law to some of the critiques that King levels against the segregation laws of Birmingham. Do you think that King’s critique of the law is complementary to Aquinas’ assessment of the proper function and purpose of law?

There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: By the middle ages scripture is being seen as having four senses captured in the common tag:

Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria
Moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.

I would like some research that presents the relationship among the four medieval senses of Scripture as seen in the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Showing an awareness of the relationship between the various ways of reading in the patristic period and the four senses,the legacy of the four senses and their real contribution to the contemporary reading of Scripture. Do they prepare the way for the Reformation or whether it is their loss that is a key factor in the Reformers' way of reading Scripture?

The three sources that would be useful to have (but not absoltely neccesary) are:

1) Willemein Otten "The poer of the Bible in the middle Ages" Pages 48-52 in The International Bible Commentary. Ed WR Farmer Collegeville: Liturgical Press 1998

2) Stephen E Fowl "The Importance of a Multivoiced Literal sense of scripture: Teh example of Thomas Aquinas" in AKM Adam, alii (eds) Reading Scripture with the Church rand Rapids: Baker Academic 2006), 35-50

3) The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 3rd ed Oxford: University Press 1997.

Essay Instructions: Consider the impact of the following on the life of Saint Thomas Aquinas:
1.) What was the social environment in which Saint Thomas Aquinas lived?
2.) What was the economic environment in which Saint Thomas Aquinas lived?
3.)What was the political environment in which Saint Thomas Aquinas lived?
4.) Were there any social, religious, or political movements/upheavals at the time Saint Thomas Auinas lived? If so, describe them.