LAW AS THE MEETING POINT OF THE CHURCH AND THE STATE

  • OKOYE, Agnes DDL, PhD.
  • UMEATUEGBU, Martin Nchedo
Keywords: Aquinas, church, law, secular state.

Abstract

This work is titled: “Law as the Meeting Point of the Church and the State”. It examines how law which is found to be applied in both the church and the state becomes their point of convergence. The method of the research is comparative, employing the legal jurisprudence of Thomas Aquinas. The findings made in the study show that there are areas where some laws, especially civil laws, are not in tandem with the divine law, which is the ideal and the source of all laws. Hence, they constitute challenges and problems to citizens who are affiliated to a particular religion, for instance, Christianity. This has the tendency of convincing citizens that secular authorities are superior to divine authority and that, therefore, the laws made by the former are more genuine, while those of the latter are but mere phantasms and illusions of the mind. Consequent upon the findings, the paper recommends the need and importance of constant dialogue between the authorities of the church and of governments of nations, as well as the need for every law to consult the divine law to draw inspirations for guidance.

Published
2023-02-22
Section
Articles