Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-20T06:31:26.614Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - St. Thomas on Christ’s Satisfaction

When Justice Meets Charity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2023

Ligita Ryliškytė
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

Reconciliatio autem nihil aliud est quam amicitiae reparatio.

St. Thomas Aquinas1
The detour through Aquinas’ understanding of the human condition (Chapter 5) has brought to light the intrinsic intelligibility that undergirds his focus on Christ’s satisfaction as the heart of the explanatory account of the cross event. To recapitulate: If the human problem consists in the culpable loss of grace through sin, understood as a disordered act and a personal offense against God, then the solution needs to regard both the reconciliation and the reintegration of due order, thus matching the duplex problem of culpa and reatus poenae. The satisfaction of Christ is a fitting solution to this twofold problem because it reconciles human beings with God and restores the due order in a manner corresponding to the ordinary functioning of human nature. There remains a vexing question – the answer to which Aquinas does not make easy – namely, what is the relationship between the two ends of Christ’s satisfaction – the reintegration of the just order and the restoration of the human being’s personal relationship with God. In other words, where do justice and charity meet? (A pressing question that the homo secularis also faces!)

Type
Chapter
Information
Why the Cross?
Divine Friendship and the Power of Justice
, pp. 209 - 250
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×