Explores how Aquinas's understanding of virtue developed as his consideration of sin, grace, and God's action in human life deepened.

Aquinas on Virtue is an original interpretation of one of the most compelling accounts of virtue in the Western tradition, that of the great theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas. This book offers a systematic analysis of Aquinas on the nature, genesis, and role of virtue in human life.

This study locates Aquinas’s theory of infused and acquired virtue in his foundational understanding of nature and grace. Aquinas holds that all the virtues are bestowed on humans by God along with the gift of sanctifying grace. Since he also holds, with Aristotle, that we can create virtuous dispositions in ourselves through our own repeated good acts, a question arises: How are we to understand the relationship between the virtues God infuses at the moment of grace and virtues that are gradually acquired over time? In this important book, Angela McKay Knobel provides a detailed examination of Aquinas’s theory of infused moral virtue, with special attention to the question of how the infused and acquired moral virtues are related. Part 1 examines Aquinas’s own explicit remarks about the infused and acquired virtues and considers whether and to what extent a coherent “theory” of the relationship between the infused and acquired virtues can be found in Aquinas. Knobel argues that while Aquinas says almost nothing about how the infused and acquired virtues are related, he clearly does believe that the “structure” of the infused virtues mirrors that of the acquired in important ways. Part 2 uses that structure to evaluate existing interpretations of Aquinas and argues that no existing account adequately captures Aquinas’s most fundamental commitments. Knobel ultimately argues that the correct account lies somewhere between the two most commonly advocated theories. Written primarily for students and scholars of moral philosophy and theology, the book will also appeal to readers interested in understanding Aquinas’s theory of virtue.

According to Thomas Aquinas, the Eucharist is meant to build up the unity of the church. This desired ecclesial unity is, however, not often given adequate treatment. In Speaking with Aquinas, David Farina Turnbloom seeks to describe the relationship between the celebration of the Eucharist and the unity of the church. By examining Aquinas's treatment of grace and virtues, this book allows the reader to understand Aquinas's eucharistic theology within the context of the spiritual life of the church. In the end, Turnbloom retrieves a Thomistic theology of the Eucharist that arises from Aquinas's concern for the virtuous life of the church, rather than a eucharistic theology that too narrowly focuses on theories of transubstantiation.

Thomas Aquinas devoted a substantial proportion of his greatest works to the virtues. Yet, despite the availability of these texts (and centuries of commentary), Aquinas’s virtue ethics remains mysterious, leaving readers with many unanswered questions. In this book, Pinsent argues that the key to understanding Aquinas’s approach is to be found in an association between: a) attributes he appends to the virtues, and b) interpersonal capacities investigated by the science of social cognition, especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorder. The book uses this research to argue that Aquinas’s approach to the virtues is radically non-Aristotelian and founded on the concept of second-person relatedness. To demonstrate the explanatory power of this principle, Pinsent shows how the second-person perspective gives interpretation to Aquinas’s descriptions of the virtues and offers a key to long-standing problems, such as the reconciliation of magnanimity and humility. The principle of second-person relatedness also interprets acts that Aquinas describes as the fruition of the virtues. Pinsent concludes by considering how this approach may shape future developments in virtue ethics.

What does it mean to love? What are the traits of character that support love’s activity? How does the economy of grace—the mission of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit—elevate and transform human love, virtue, and the desire for happiness? In On Love and Virtue: Theological Essays, the eminent Dominican theologian Michael Sherwin considers how the Catholic tradition has addressed these questions. Fr. Sherwin places this tradition in dialogue with contemporary questions. Taking St. Thomas Aquinas as his primary guide, Fr. Sherwin reads St. Thomas in light of his biblical and patristic sources (especially St. Augustine) and engages contemporary developments in philosophy in order to deepen our understanding of how grace both heals and elevates human nature. Along the way, Fr. Sherwin considers the vocation of the theologian and the biblical and patristic understanding of the Christian call to moral apprenticeship and friendship with God.

Throughout his writings, Thomas Aquinas exhibited a remarkable stability of thought. However, in some areas such as his theology of grace, his thought underwent titanic developments. In this book, Justin M. Anderson traces both those developments in grace and their causes. After introducing the various meanings of virtue Aquinas utilized, including 'virtue in its fullest sense' and various forms of 'qualified virtue', he explores the historical context that conditioned that account. Through a close analysis of his writings, Anderson unearths Aquinas's own discoveries and analyses that would propel his understanding of human experience, divine action, and supernatural grace in new directions. In the end, we discover an account of virtue that is inextricably linked to his developed understanding of sin, grace and divine action in human life. As such, Anderson challenges the received understanding of Aquinas's account of virtue, as well as his relationship to contemporary virtue ethics.