How did St. Thomas Aquinas adapt Aristotle's idea of the unmoved mover?

St. Thomas Aquinas adapted Aristotle’s concept of the unmoved mover by integrating it into a Christian theological framework, transforming the philosophical construct into the God of Judaism and Christianity.12

While Aquinas adopted Aristotle’s observation that everything in motion must be moved by another—necessitating a first or prime mover to avoid an infinite regress—he deepened and modified the concept to align with Christian doctrine. Rather than viewing the prime mover merely as a philosophical necessity, Aquinas identified this source as an infinite, transcendent reality that exists outside the natural or temporal order.123

Aquinas utilized this adaptation as the first of his Five Ways, a series of arguments intended to demonstrate that the finite, changing world points toward an unconditioned, necessary being. By doing so, he harmonized Aristotelian philosophy with theology, ensuring that his system remained consistent with the belief that God is the ultimate, sustaining cause of all existence.142