A lei nova na teologia moral de Santo Tomás de Aquino

Abstract

The theology of the law in the New Testament is essential and convenient to understand, for our Lord Jesus Christ says that he did not come to abolish the old Law, but to give it full fulfilment. Thus, there is a great novelty in the law of Christ, also known as the new law, the law of charity, which has fundamental implications for christian morality in relation to the understanding of law and its practice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church brings the understanding of moral law, in the biblical sense, as a fatherly teaching of God, which brings norms for man's action and leads him to the promised happiness. This definition finds support and is made explicit in the theological elaboration on the law of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Therefore, in order to better clarify what the novelty of the new law means in the moral theology of the same author, it becomes very pertinent. Mainly for the current contemporary era after Vatican II, which proposed a return to the primordial sources of Revelation: the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. In this sense, Saint Thomas presents himself as an eminent author in this theological field, who relied heavily on these primordial sources of Revelation to elaborate his moral theology, as well as his treatise on the law. Thus, the present work is a reflection that aims to answer, according to the moral doctrine of saint Thomas Aquinas, what the new law presents in front of the other laws for Theology, how this law governs Moral Theology and performs its role of law by ordering human acts through charity. In a word, the work has the objective of trying to give an answer of how the new law so effectively leads the christian action.