Introduction

For information on Godfrey's life and writings, see the introduction to Translation 6. For the place of the present selection in late thirteenth-century discussions of the rationality of self-sacrifice, see the introduction to Translation 7.

Reply to James of Viterbo on Love of God and Self

[1. An Argument that Theology Is a Practical Science in a Different Sense from Moral Philosophy]

{180} It might be argued further that it must at least be held that theology is practical in a different way from moral science, because love of the end, or of God, which ought to be a principle with respect to all possible actions pertaining to practical science, has a different character when it is considered by the theologian and by the moral philosopher. This is because the love with which human beings love God as considered by the moral philosopher (namely, as a love of the sort that arises from natural principles) is such that, with it, human beings love themselves more than God, in accordance with Ethics IX (4, 1166a1–2, b1–2; IX.8 1168b4–5): Friendliness toward another [derives] from friendliness toward oneself. The love with which God is loved as considered by the theologian, however (namely, as a love caused by a supernatural principle, i.e., by charity), is such that, with it, human beings love God more than themselves.