It is more simple if you start with the Old Testament and then work backwards from there. That is what Aquinas does as far as I recall. He starts out that the laws of the Old Testament are binding in the areas of Natural Law. Only the rituals are not in his view. That leaves the sexual relations in Leviticus 18+20 in their place. This is somewhat similar to R. Shimon Ben Yochai that we go by the reason for a verse, not the letter of the Law. And to the Rambam and all the Medieval Authorities we know the reasons for the verses and they are all natural law except for the Red Heifer.
So if you would take the Rambam literally along with R. Shimon Ben Yochai, you do not end up all that different than Aquinas.--Though it is hard to imagine how this is possible, but it still is simple logic.
The reason this is more or less like Aquinas is the Rambam says that most of the laws of sacrifices and rituals are certainly Divine, but rituals were given because the the tribe of people that he names that were in the Middle East at the time that did the opposite. And the sacrifices were given because of the weakness of human nature that people will sacrifice anyway so we might as well do it for God.
The reason that sex issues are unclear today is that Protestants start in the opposite direction from Aquinas. They assume nothing is binding unless they can find it in the New Testament. And that simple fact is from where all the confusion begins--since even if you find something forbidden in the NT, it is easily cancelled, by some other verse.
I have tried to tell Protestants for a long time that ignoring Thomas Aquinas is not a good idea-but I can not think of any instance when I got through to anyone.
My own appreciation of Medieval thought probably goes back to Beverly Hills High School when I used to learn Dante. But especially in the Litvak Yeshiva World the Middle Ages is considered far superior to anything and everything that came later.
My own feeling about Philosophy however is more based on Kant and Hegel and Neo Platonic thought. But I was and am still highly influenced by The Gra and the Litvak approach to straight Torah which I really hope to get back into some day,
I ought to mention that Hegel has no epistemology. He just by passes the Mind -Body problem. So I do also depend on Leonard Nelson and Immediate non-intuitive knowledge for my world view]
So if you would take the Rambam literally along with R. Shimon Ben Yochai, you do not end up all that different than Aquinas.--Though it is hard to imagine how this is possible, but it still is simple logic.
The reason this is more or less like Aquinas is the Rambam says that most of the laws of sacrifices and rituals are certainly Divine, but rituals were given because the the tribe of people that he names that were in the Middle East at the time that did the opposite. And the sacrifices were given because of the weakness of human nature that people will sacrifice anyway so we might as well do it for God.
The reason that sex issues are unclear today is that Protestants start in the opposite direction from Aquinas. They assume nothing is binding unless they can find it in the New Testament. And that simple fact is from where all the confusion begins--since even if you find something forbidden in the NT, it is easily cancelled, by some other verse.
I have tried to tell Protestants for a long time that ignoring Thomas Aquinas is not a good idea-but I can not think of any instance when I got through to anyone.
My own appreciation of Medieval thought probably goes back to Beverly Hills High School when I used to learn Dante. But especially in the Litvak Yeshiva World the Middle Ages is considered far superior to anything and everything that came later.
My own feeling about Philosophy however is more based on Kant and Hegel and Neo Platonic thought. But I was and am still highly influenced by The Gra and the Litvak approach to straight Torah which I really hope to get back into some day,
I ought to mention that Hegel has no epistemology. He just by passes the Mind -Body problem. So I do also depend on Leonard Nelson and Immediate non-intuitive knowledge for my world view]
