Aquinas on Religion and Human Nature

Abstract

In presenting religion as a human virtue connected to the cardinal virtue of justice, the Medieval luminary, Thomas Aquinas, underscores that what properly defines religion is to be found in that connatural and inalienable relation which every human being has with the divine: “ordo ad Deum” (STh. II-IIae, 81, art. 1, co.). Significant for his innovated understanding of religion is its inextricable connection with human nature: being a moral virtue, religion is inherent in human nature; it regards all human beings in as much as they are human, and concerns their relationship with the divine, with that which everybody calls God (though different peoples may have different names for this reality). It is in fact curious that, for different reasons, Aquinas’ thought on religion seems not to have been sufficiently valued and appreciated in contemporary Philosophy of Religion. This paper wishes to revisit Aquinas’ doctrine on the meaning of religion, and to systematically unravel the fecund legacy he has bequeathed to posterity in his teaching. Arguing that Aquinas has offered an indubitably original and profound doctrine on the essence of religion which inexorably connects it with human nature, it sheds light on the relevance of his doctrine for contemporary philosophical reflections on religion.