Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Translator's note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- Disputed Questions on the Virtues
- On the Virtues in General: thirteen articles
- On Charity: thirteen articles
- On Brotherly Correction: two articles
- On Hope: four articles
- On the Cardinal Virtues: four articles
- Terminology
- Glossary
- Table of parallel questions
- Index of scriptural citations
- Index of non-scriptural citations
- Index of names and subjects
- CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
On Charity: thirteen articles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Translator's note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- Disputed Questions on the Virtues
- On the Virtues in General: thirteen articles
- On Charity: thirteen articles
- On Brotherly Correction: two articles
- On Hope: four articles
- On the Cardinal Virtues: four articles
- Terminology
- Glossary
- Table of parallel questions
- Index of scriptural citations
- Index of non-scriptural citations
- Index of names and subjects
- CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Summary
The first question is whether charity is something created in the soul, or is the Holy Spirit itself.
The second is whether charity is a virtue.
The third is whether charity is the form of the virtues.
The fourth is whether charity is a single virtue.
The fifth is whether charity is a specific virtue.
The sixth is whether charity can coexist with mortal sin.
The seventh is whether the object that is to be loved through charity is a rational nature.
The eighth is whether loving our enemies belongs to the fullness of a counsel.
The ninth is whether there is some ordering within charity.
The tenth is whether it is possible in this life to possess complete charity.
The eleventh is whether we are all obliged to possess complete charity.
The twelfth is whether charity once possessed can be lost.
The thirteenth is whether charity is lost through a single act of mortal sin.
Article 1: Whether charity is something created in the soul or is the Holy Spirit itself
Objections
It seems that charity is not something created in the soul, because:
(1) As Augustine says [Serm 15.5], just as the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul. But the soul is the life of the body without any intermediary. Therefore God is also the life of the soul without any intermediary. Now the life of the soul results from its being in charity, because, to quote 1 John 3:14, ‘Someone who does not love, remains in death.’ Therefore someone is not in charity by means of an intermediary between God and human beings, but by means of God himself. Therefore charity is not something created in the soul, but God himself.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Thomas Aquinas: Disputed Questions on the Virtues , pp. 105 - 194Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005