Book contents
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of Aquinas’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Virtue and the Developments in Grace
- 1 A Brief Overview of the Thomistic Understanding of Virtue
- 2 Analogous Language and Meanings
- 3 Historical Context of the Foundations of Virtue
- Part II The Conditions of Virtue Simpliciter
- Part III The Conditions of Virtue Secundum Quid
- Part IV Confirmations and Conclusions
- Conclusion
- Selected Works Cited
- Index
1 - A Brief Overview of the Thomistic Understanding of Virtue
from Part I - Virtue and the Developments in Grace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of Aquinas’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Virtue and the Developments in Grace
- 1 A Brief Overview of the Thomistic Understanding of Virtue
- 2 Analogous Language and Meanings
- 3 Historical Context of the Foundations of Virtue
- Part II The Conditions of Virtue Simpliciter
- Part III The Conditions of Virtue Secundum Quid
- Part IV Confirmations and Conclusions
- Conclusion
- Selected Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Contemporary authors have expressed their appreciation for Thomas Aquinas’s holistic approach to our ethical lives. In an age when virtues are often emphasized without an explicit and well-worked-out moral psychology, scholars find solace in panoptic treatments like that of Aquinas. This medieval mendicant has girded his conception of virtue with a profound anthropological depth. That account begins with why humans need the virtues. The human person is capable, by his own free will, to become so many different things. He is free to shape, hone, and altogether determine his various human powers in a multitude of ways. Just as a doctor can use his knowledge to either save life or take it, so too each person can mold his or her own natural powers for either good or evil deeds. Over time, these natural powers can become inclined toward such deeds and aims. By this inclination, the power becomes a determining force among the other powers of the human person.
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- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas , pp. 9 - 32Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020