ABSTRACT
In terms of just war theory, St. Thomas Aquinas's work might be described as a "resynthesis." Thomas takes up the problem of war in question 40 of his Sum-ma theologica, secunda secundae. The discussion is in four "articles," which deal with the lawfulness of war; if clerics are permitted to fight; if ambushes and deceits are permitted; and if it is lawful to fight on holy days. It pointed to a notion of objective, material rights to which a "state" was entitled and in defense or for recovery of which war might be justified. The Decretum ended a period in which the teachings of Augustine on war had been pruned and reduced to a few essential ideas and statements, which hardened into a foundation of thought universally accepted as basic. The dominant theological intellect of St. Thomas Aquinas presents itself as the culminating formulation of the medieval Christian notion of just war.
