The ten commandaments and natural law. 
Theological Natural Law Theory of St. Thomas Aquinas. 
Course duration: 50 hours (over 23 classes).
Format: online (classes are recorded and posted weekly in the course members-only area, according to the schedule below).
Start date: July 24, 2026. End date: December 18, 2026.

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The Ten Commandments are among the passages of the Holy Scriptures best known to the general public — more so than any other in the Old Testament and, probably, even more so than much of the New Testament. However, this knowledge is usually limited to the content of the Commandments themselves, without any deeper exploration of the rich moral and theological discussions that revolve around the Decalogue.   

With a view to filling this gap, the Research and Extension Centre of the Faculty of São Bento in São Paulo is launching this course, ‘The Decalogue and Natural Law: The Theological Natural Law Theory of Saint Thomas Aquinas’, taught by Prof. Thiago Magalhães. The aim of the course is, initially, to present the various interpretations of the Decalogue within the Jewish, Catholic and Protestant traditions, and to compare them. Subsequently, students will be invited to delve into the intricacies of the Thomist interpretation of the Decalogue, so that they may understand how St Thomas Aquinas succeeded in resolving extremely difficult theological problems through the synthesis he fostered between the Holy Scriptures and Aristotle.