Compare Aquinas And Hildegard Of Bingen

Thomas Aquinas and Hildegard of Bingen

Within any body, such as the Catholic Church, there will never be complete concurrence of opinion on any issue, ideology, or even fact. This holds true for even basic tenets of the Catholic tradition, tradition here referring to an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental agreements are defined and redefined. Examples of this tradition, and its defining and redefining, would be the evolvement of Scriptural interpretations or the Catholic Church’s positions on matters ranging from climate change to civil rights. This defining and redefining because of tradition is central to the progress and amelioration of the Catholic Church and the faith as a whole because it provides a multitude

of different viewpoints, including some that might not have been well regarded or even considered in the past. The tradition of the Catholic Church also allows for a discussion on what justice means to those who subscribe to the Catholic Church and follow Jesus Christ’s example.
Two very prominent figures in the Catholic Tradition, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Hildegard of Bingen, contribute to this tradition of arguments through their respective views on justice. However, it is important to note that argument as utilized in the context of tradition does not necessarily mean two or more people bickering back and forth. Rather, argument in regards to Catholic tradition means a discussion and exchange of ideas that stems from a place of intelligence and mutual respect. In this sense, Saints Hildegard of Bingen and Thomas Aquinas utilize the argument of tradition because they both redefine the Catholic notion of justice.
In order to discuss how Saint Hildegard of Bingen and Saint Thomas Aquinas’s ideas on justice redefined Catholic justice, the idea of justice must first be defined itself.

Currently, Catholic justice is interpreted as thinking and acting towards the good, the true, and the beautiful in a manner that is both objective and subjective. Justice is the former because it is independent of thought and it is the latter because justice depends on human action. Catholic dimensions of justice also have their roots in Ancient Greek philosophy. Plato’s definition in The Republic encapsulates an idea of justice that is widely accepted, that “justice is virtue and wisdom and injustice vice and ignorance” (pg. 16). Plato basically states that to be just is to have virtue or excellence of the soul and to be wise. It is this definition of justice that is sustained through argument into the times of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Hildegard of Bingen

respectively.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, the foremost Catholic theologian, dedicates a portion of his questions in Summa Theologiae to the his interpretations on justice, interpretations that appear to deviate both from the modern understanding of justice as well as the idea of justice put forth by Plato in The Republic. In his second question- whether justice is always towards one another- Saint Thomas Aquinas asserts an equality of ends over an equality of means (Summa Theologiae pgs. 2-3). This conveys the point that not everyone is given equal means to achieving their ends, so therefore if everyone does eventually reach their ends- that would be just. Saint Thomas Aquinas argues that justice is relative to each person through this justice of equal ends, rather than justice as a hard and fast rule, similar to other definitions of justice. He also goes on to claim, in his third question- whether the act of justice is to render to each one his own- that the act of justice relates to the matter of justice, the external operation by which justice is made proportionate to some other persons (Summa Theologiae pgs. 3-4). This definition of justice asserts that justice, different than equality, is also relative. Saint Thomas Aquinas is claiming that justice varies from person to person because of the different circumstances that occur. Saint Thomas Aquinas’ definitions of justice mainly focus on the relativity of justice as compared to broad, over-arching statements of justice that are seen in Plato or in the modern definition of justice.
Additionally, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, one of the very few female doctors of the Church, proffers yet another understanding of justice, an understanding that redefines the ideas of Plato and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Saint Hildegard of Bingen was quite focused on preservation and the natural world, a virtue surprisingly relevant to today’s social justice. Saint Hildegard of Bingen’s ideas on humans place in the natural world display a strain of justice that other theologians could often overlook. Saint Hildegard’s main two notions of justice are those of cultivation and asceticism. The former can be explained as “The role of humanity is that of a gardener in God’s creation… Humans serve the rest of creation best by growing closer to God in love” (Bauerschmidt pgs. 110-111). Saint Hildegard’s justice of cultivation is that if humans do achieve this cultivation, then they have fulfilled their purpose, meaning that treating the natural world with respect and care is the just way to live. This cultivation is an argument against other ideas of justice because it focuses squarely on the way humans interact with their surroundings in the natural world, not just in their dealings with each other and laws. Additionally, Saint Hildegard vouches for a justice through asceticism, or “freeing ourselves from all those things that we consider necessities in order that we can know where to draw the line” (Bauerschmidt pg. 113). Saint Hildegard’s justice through asceticism is a justice of

conservation, of scaling back human wants and desires so that the natural world can be able to flourish as God intended. Yet again, Saint Hildegard’s focus on the natural world, and humans’ place in it, differs her from many other ideas of justice.
Saints Thomas Aquinas and Hildegard of Bingen fulfill the Catholic idea of tradition- an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental agreements are defined and redefined- because of their interpretations on the innate ideas of justice. Saint Thomas Aquinas argues for relative, almost situational justice, that focuses on the individual and their place in society. His notion of justice redefines the ideals set forth that justice must be rigid and universally applicable. Saint Hildegard of Bingen takes a different approach, highlighting the relationship between the natural world and human justice in a way that is not discussed as much. Both of these two theologians redefine justice on their own terms, arguing against definitions such as Plato’s and the modern understanding of what Catholic justice is.