A Natural Law Account of Patriotism: Aquinas on the Fourth Commandment

• In Event: Lawyers, Guns, & Money: Consent, Patriotism, & Money in Medieval Political Thought

Abstract

This paper will explore the political implications of the fourth commandment in Thomas Aquinas’s works. It will be argued that Aquinas finds in the fourth commandment profound insights for how Christians can be rightly ordered in their love for God, family, and country. The fourth commandment, if read rightly, endorses the natural goodness of particularized loyalties, including a specific love for one’s fatherland and fellow citizens.

Author

• Andrew Kyle Bobo, University of Dallas