Charity as Divine and Human Friendship , livre ebook

St. Benedict Press LLC - STD Matthew Kauth

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

273 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

The purpose of this work is to explore and explain St. Thomas' curious description of charity as a "kind of friendship of man for God." This is achieved in two symphonic movements: 1) An investigation into the metaphysical substructure of friendship; 2) Analysis of St. Thomas' commentary on St. John's Gospel from which he takes his understanding of charity as friendship. In the first part, basic concepts are defined which are employed ubiquitously by the Angelic Doctor whenever he discusses love and friendship. Once a basic lexicon is built, the author distinguishes diverse kinds of love given the anthropology of St. Thomas. This in term is employed in the specific love of friendship noting also Thomas' dependence upon the Philosopher, Aristotle. Finally, charity itself is examined based primarily upon Thomas' treatment in the Secunda secundae of the Summa Theologiae. The second movement of the work engages the text of Thomas' commentary. Aquinas sees the Incarnation as the archetype of all transformation in Christ, namely, that Christ establishes with man a common life upon which friendship is based. This common life must move from the sensible to the spiritual, from human life to Divine. This course is tracked by the author with special emphasis on the means employed by Christ now with His would-be friends, namely, the gift of His Spirit and the Sacrament of Charity.

Sujets

Christian theology

Catholic Church

Philosophy of religion

Informations

Publié par	St. Benedict Press LLC
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618905840
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Vidimus et adprobavimus ad normam statutorum
Prof. Dr. Stephen Brock
Prof. Dr. Robert Wielockx
Imprimi potest
Prof. Dr. Ángel Rodríguez Luño
Decano della Facoltà di Teologia
Dr. Manuel Miedes
Segretario Generale
Roma, 25 January 2013
Prot. n° 13/2013
Imprimatur
Con approvazione ecclesiastica
His Excellency Peter J. Jugis, JCD
Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, 22nd February 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Introduction
I. The thesis
II. The methodology
III. Specific contribution to the status questionis
IV. Structure
SECTION ONE THE METAPHYSICAL SUBSTRUCTURE OF FRIENDSHIP
CHAPTER I
Essential Definitions
I. Introduction
II. Metaphysical concepts
1. Exemplarity
1.1 Charity as the “form” of the virtues: Three types of forms
1.2 Eidos
1.3 The artist’s idea
1.4 God’s nature as imitable
1.5 The analogy of intention
1.6 The ‘art’ of God
1.7 The “end” determined by the agent
2. Form
2.1 Substantial form and order
2.2 Forma dat esse et speciem
2.3 Something Divine in things and its measure or mode
2.4 Analogy of numbers
2.5 Weight and order
2.6 Accidental form
3. Participation
3.1 Aquinas on Plato and Aristotle
3.2 Partem capere
3.3 Particular to universal
3.4 Subject and accident/matter and form
3.5 Effect in cause
3.6 Goodness and participation: Virtus
3.7 Participation in eternal law
3.8 Participation in grace
4. Similitude
4.1 Communication in form
4.2 Similitude as a cause of love
5. Communicatio
5.1 Communicatio and similitude
5.2 Natural communicatio and the love of God.
5.3 Distinction between communicatio and participation
5.4 Foundation of friendship
5.5 Supernatural communicatio
III. Conclusion
CHAPTER II
Love According to Aquinas
I. Introduction
II. Love’s distinctions
1. Inclination
2. Appetite
2.1 Natural appetite
2.2 Sensitive appetite
2.3 The passions
2.4 Love as the principle passion
3. Rational appetite
3.1 Simple act of the rational appetite
3.2 Four names for love in a rational animal
3.3 Amor amicitiae et amor concupiscentiae
III. Conclusion
CHAPTER III
Characteristics of Friendship
I. Introduction
II. Characteristics of friendship
1. Characteristics of friendship in Aristotle
1.1 Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics and education in virtue
1.2 The characteristics themselves
2. Characteristics of friendship in Aquinas
2.1 Thomas’s distillation: Prerequisites and essential notes
2.2 Further clarifications on the five characteristics
III. Conclusion
CHAPTER IV
Charity as Divine Friendship
I. Introduction
II. The essence of charity
1. Is charity friendship with God?
2. Communicatio and its effect
2.1 Created and passive communicatio
2.2 Grace and complacentia
3. Charity as form
3.1 Charity as form inclining to love God above all things
3.2 Charity as the form of the virtues
III. The life of charity
1. The order of charity
2. Growth and diminishment in friendship
2.1 The growth of charity in the wayfarer
2.2 The diminishment of charity
3. Benevolence, concord and beneficence in charity
IV. Conclusion
SECTION TWO INCARNATE FRIENDSHIP AND DIVINE FRIENDSHIP
CHAPTER V
Human Friendship—Born In The Likeness of Men
I. Introduction
II. The Gospel of John
1. St. Thomas on sacred Scripture
1.1 The Gospel of John and the beloved disciple
2. From the sensual to the spiritual
2.1 Motives of the Incarnation
2.2 The sensual man
2.3 Human friendship with Christ
3. The union of wills
3.1 Exemplar and the exemplum
3.2 Exemplum and obedience
3.3 Obedience and friendship
3.4 Friends and servants
3.5 Cause of Divine friendship
III. Conclusion
CHAPTER VI
Divine Friendship—Reborn in the Likeness of the Son
I. Introduction
II. The causes of divine friendship
1. The passion and perfection
1.1 The passage from human to Divine friendship
1.2 The promised consolation of the Spirit
1.3 Drawn to a new communicatio
1.4 Divine benevolence and beneficence in the Passion
2. The Gift of His Spirit
2.1 From enemies to friends
2.2 The formation of “another self” in the Spirit
2.3 The formation of friendship by the Holy Spirit
3. The Gift of Himself
3.1 The sacrament of charity in general
3.2 Exemplum and the Eucharist
3.3 The incomprehensible gift: John VI
3.4 Incarnation, sacraments, and instrumental causality
3.5 The sacrament of charity: a closer examination
III. Conclusion
Conclusion
I. Summary
1. Thesis and methodology summary
2. Results
II. Development
Appendix
I. Imitators of Christ
1. John the Baptist
2. Mary Magdalene
3. Peter
Bibliography
I. Primary sources
II. Magisterial documents
III. Secondary sources
ABBREVIATIONS
The Summa theologiae is cited without title, beginning with the pars (e.g. I, II). Other words of Aquinas are cited with the following abbreviations in the order in which they appear in the thesis:
Ex Post. Analyt.: Expositio libri Posteriorum Analyticorum
Compend.: Compendium theologiae
Super Ioan.: Super Evangelium S. Ioannis lectura
De Ver.: Quaestiones disputatae de veritate
De Car.: Quaestiones disputatae de caritate
Sent.: Scriptum super Sententiis
Super Matt.: Super Evangelium S. Matthaei lectura
Meta.: Sententia libri Metaphysicae
ScG: Summa contra Gentiles
De Malo: Quaestiones disputatae de malo
De Pot.: Quaestiones disputatae de potentia
De princ.: nat. De principiis naturae
In Physic.: In libros Physicorum
De spirit. creat.: Quaestio disputata de spiritualibus creaturis
De virt.: Quaestiones disputatae de virtutibus
De sub. crea.: De substantiis separatis
De hebdom. Expositio libri Boetii De hebdomadibus
De div.: nom. In librum B. Dionysii De divinis nominibus
Sent.: Ethic. Sententia libri Ethicorum
Sent. Polit.: Sententia libri Politicorum
De Anima: Quaestio disputata de anima
Super Heb.: Super Epistolam ad Hebraeos
Super Rom.: Super Epistolam ad Romanos lectura
Super Is.: Expositio super Isaiam ad litteram
Super Eph.: Super Epistolam ad Ephesios lectura
Super Phil.: Super Epistolam ad Philipenses lectura
Super Gal.: Super Epistolam ad Galatas lectura
Super I Cor.: Super I Epistolam ad Corinthios lectura
Super II Cor.: Super II Epistolam ad Corinthios lectura
Catena in Mt.: Catena aurea in quatuor Evangelia
Catena in Lc.: Catena aurea in quatuor Evangelia
Abbreviations for the works of Aristotle
NE: Nichomachean Ethics
Metaph.: Metaphysics
I have taken the liberty of placing the majority of the texts of Thomas in the footnotes for the convenience of the reader.
INTRODUCTION
I. The Thesis
Moral theology is a part of sacra doctrina which scientifically studies the causes of man’s eternal beatitude. Whereas ethics more precisely examines human action, moral theology has God as its formal object and universal cause and man as ordered to the attainment of God as end. Nevertheless, human action also falls under the province of moral theology for man is himself a caused cause, who, in virtue of his rational nature has dominion over himself making his acts his acts and thus ethically adjudicable. Among the various causes through which God brings man to the attainment of this end (e.g., law, grace, gifts etc.), the causes of the theological virtues are examined as actions that are genuinely man’s but whose principal cause is God. St. Thomas Aquinas describes a virtue as the perfection of a power which disposes the agent toward right action. When an action is proportionate to man’s capacity, such a virtue can be developed. When it is beyond man’s nature, it must be given him. Charity is the theological virtue that perfects the will in its acts; thus it is a virtue which makes man himself good. For this reason, Thomas simply states that the perfection of the Christian life consists radically in charity. 1
But what is charity? Thomas defines charity simply as friendship. 2 To make the will of a man good is not the same as stating that a man is made a friend. With whom is man made a friend by this virtue? He is a friend of God. 3 Given this assertion, many questions arise which are in need of answers. By what authority does Thomas identify charity as friendship with God? How can man be a friend of God given the infinite inequality between the friends? More fundamentally, what does it mean to be a friend? What is its definition and what are the perfected acts caused by the virtue of friendship? All of these questions and more will be discussed in this thesis, a thesis that has as its formal object an attempt to understand and explain Thomas’ simple statement: charity is a kind of friendship of man for God.
In order to properly examine Thomas’ assertion, other disciplines must come to the ready if true understanding is to be obtained. First, the moment one asks what something is , he has entered into the domain of metaphysics which studies being as being. Yet the relative abandonment of formal and final causality (metaphysical notions) in moral reasoning has led to the pejorative use of the term “abstract.” 4 To say that something is abstract is now tantamount to saying that it is incomprehensible or without value. Ironically, used as a verb it refers to the very process by which man, properly as rational, grasps that which he knows in its being, free from its material concatenation. In moral reasoning, this abstraction is that which makes freedom possible, for it is the means by which we attain the ratio of a given thing and can thus understand it under its aspect of good. Hence, abstraction is that which properly allows for comprehension and value as objective goodness and as something subjectively chosen.
Nevertheless, moral theology is essentially a practical science, and one must make a return, as it were, to matter in acts. Charity demands such a return since it is essentially ecstatic, that is, it concerns itself wit