“Whig Thomism” and the Making of the Catholic Neoconservative Movement

Abstract

The writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, although widely noted for their clarity, are also rich and capacious enough to merit differing interpretations among scholars of good will and good faith. However, despite the noble intentions and praiseworthy work of the late Michael Novak and other Catholic neoconservatives, their marketing of St. Thomas Aquinas as the “first Whig” appears to sever elements of the Angelic Doctor's philosophy from its essential principles. Although jealously guarding the nobility of conscience and the interior life, St. Thomas envisioned a political community that was decidedly hierarchical and in which the faith was to be shepherded by the state, which itself was charged with suppressing heresy and dissident thinking. These political ideas, moreover, are rooted in the very heart of St. Thomas Aquinas's deepest philosophical and theological principles.

Early stirrings of modern liberty in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas

“…Russell quotes from political scientist Robert Kraynak's criticism of Lord Acton's argument that Aquinas is a forerunner of the English constitution (Russell, 2021, 303, citing Kraynak, 2001. Kraynak writes that unlike English rationales, Aquinas "defends power sharing and political participation, not as a right of the people to parliamentary consent nor as a means for protecting personal rights and liberties, but as the prudent application of natural law whose ends are best realized in a stable constitutional order dedicated to peace, virtue, and Christian piety" (Kraynak, 2001, 98).…”

“…21 Aquinas also praises monarchy in other writings, but he describes it in a way compatible with his ideal. In De Regno, Aquinas offers what Russell calls the "organic" defense of monarchy (Russell, 2021, 306, quoting Canning, 1996. Aquinas says that what is unitary is better at uniting other things, so "the rule of one man is more useful than the rule of many" (DR para.…”

“…He thinks "the very principles of Thomism suggest an illiberal monarchic and hierarchical structure to society" where "'inferiors' are ruled by 'betters'" (304, 306, citing Canning, 1996, 130). He says that Aquinas "advocates a government in which the people are not given public liberty" and denies that the scholastic "prepare [d] the way for the mixed monarchy of the English constitution" (Russell, 2021, 303, quoting Kraynak, 2001.…”