Fr. Stephen Brock aims to determine how Thomas thinks punitive retribution constitutes an act of the virtue of justice and fits within his account of justice as a whole.  He approaches the matter through a series of questions: To what kind of justice does retribution belong?  How exactly does retribution constitute that kind?  Who is given their own or their right through retribution?  Is retribution obligatory?  Professor Brock closes with remarks on the justice of divine retribution.

Bio: Since 1990 Professor Brock has taught medieval philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He has served as a visiting professor at the Catholic University of America in 1999, and at the University of Chicago starting in 2017. His research has been mainly on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, in the areas of ethics, action theory, and metaphysics, with occasional ventures into theology.