Thomas Cajetan (1469–1534) | 14 | Law and the Christian Tradition in I (original) (raw)

This contribution offers an introduction into the main episodes of the life of Tommaso de Vio Gaetano (1469–1534), better known as Thomas Cajetan, a Dominican theologian who had a major impact on the political, ecclesiological, and economic debates of his time. As the master general of the Order of Preachers between 1508 and 1518, he was involved in steering his order and the Church through one of the most transformative epochs in the history of Western Christianity, marked by the rise of the Lutheran reform movement. Both in his writings and through his involvement in administrative affairs, he defended the supremacy of the Roman pontiff against the conciliarists and the Lutherans. At the same time, Cajetan contributed to the intellectual revival of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae, not in the least to promote a fresh engagement with the moral challenges following from new commercial and financial practices. He acted as a bridge figure between the medieval scholastic tradition and the School of Salamanca, having a major impact on famous teólogos-juristas such as Francisco de Vitoria, Robert Bellarmine, and Leonardus Lessius.