Aquinas On Heretics And “Jews”
AQUINAS ON HERETICS AND “JEWS”

Summary/Abstract: I argue that Aquinas’ position on heretics and Jews appears intolerant because the contemporary reader assumes that the heretic has a genuine intellectual disagreement with Catholicism and is just following his conscience. But that assumption is incorrect. The individuals about whom Aquinas is speaking are only those guilty of the sin of unbelief. But in order to sin one must knowingly and willingly do evil. Hence, these individuals are those who know that Catholicism is true but freely decide to oppose Catholic truth and to take others with them. Finally, I argue that this precision enables one to reply to the many objections mention by John. Y. B. Hood in his Aquinas and the Jews.

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