12/10/15 Bell RingerWho or what am I?1. I belong to a religious order but live & work

with the general public.2. I am a place called Palestine3. I killed millions of people in Europe4. I am the long series of wars between

Christians and Muslims5. I am religious ideas that oppose accepted

church teachings

Objective & StandardI can evaluate Thomas Aquina’s philosophy.

I can explain how developments in medieval English law and constitutional documents such as the Magna Carta led to the rise of modern democracy

• 7.36 Conduct a short research project explaining the significance of developments in medieval English legal and constitutional practices and their importance in the rise of modern democratic thought and representative institutions including trial by jury, the common law, Magna Carta, parliament, habeas corpus, and an independent judiciary in England.

• 7.39 Explain the importance of the Catholic church as a political, intellectual, and aesthetic institution, including founding of universities, political and spiritual roles of the clergy, creation of monastic and mendicant religious orders, preservation of the Latin language and religious texts, Thomas Aquinas’s synthesis of classical philosophy with Christian theology and the concept of “natural law.”

Schools Days…• Many of the earliest universities were built by

the church. Go Monks!!• Most teachers were part of the clergy, but

taught various subjects…with that came new ideas

• There were 2 conflicting processes of thought: REASON (philosophy) & FAITH (theology)

• Some scholars begin to question if the 2 can work together…

Thomas Aquinas• As a teacher at the University of Paris, Aquinas argued that

rational thought could be used to support Christian beliefs.• 5 point argument:

1) observing movement in the world as proof of God, the "Immovable Motor" 2) observing cause and effect and identifying God as the cause of everything; 3) concluding that the impermanent nature of beings proves the existence of a necessary being, God, who originates only from within himself; 4) noticing varying levels of human perfection and determining that a supreme, perfect being must therefore exist; 5) knowing that natural beings could not have intelligence without it being granted to them it by God.

Natural Law

• The most universal was natural law – this is the law that governed how the world operated and taught people to live the way God wanted.

• Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature — both social and personal — and deduce binding rules of moral behavior from it

• Thomas Aquinas actually identified 3 different types of laws: natural, positive, and eternal.

Write 3 Down!• Take 3 minutes and write 3 facts about what

we just discussed.

Go!

Riddle Me This…• If a king, president, or principal does

something wrong or illegal do they get a free pass because they are in high leadership positions?

Backstory…• John, brother to Richard I “the Lion Heart” is

now king of England!• He’s a terrible leader and the people are very

unhappy – Angered the Pope causing him to ban all church

services in England. – Levied what the people felt were excessive taxes.

Barons have Enough!• 1215 - the barons, nobles just beneath the king,

decide they will no longer live under John’s harsh rule.

• They take up arms to fight against him, meet him at a place called Runneymede and force him to approve a document called the Magna Carta or “Great Charter”

Why do we care about a document signed by an English

king 800 years ago?

The Magna Carta limited the power of the king. It said that even a king had to abide by the law.

The Church was to be free from royal interference, especially in the election of bishops. Remember that King John had angered the Pope by trying to select a bishop himself and the Pope had then refused to allow any religious services to be held.

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

What did the Magna Carta Say?

In 1689, England once again needed to address limits to the power of the monarchy.

This document came to be known as the English Bill of

Rights.

English Bill of Rights

There were several important elements to the document.

1. The monarch cannot make laws or act as judge.2. The monarch cannot issue taxes without parliament’s approval.3. Freedom of speech and debates in Parliament.4. No excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishments.

Influence Today...• These 2 documents,

the Magna Carta & the English Bill of Rights became the foundations to one of the most important of US documents, the Constitution!

Write 3 Down!• Take 3 minutes and write 3 facts about what

we just discussed.

Go!

These 2 documents, the Magna Carta & the English Bill of Rights became the foundations to one of the most important of US documents, the

Constitution!