A TRANSITION BY LOVE (EXPLORING THE SUMMA THEOLOGIAE OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS)

INTRODUCTION

The Summa Theologiae is a vast and complex work that many take to be the most comprehensive account ever given of the Christian Faith. Aquinas was writing at a time when the works of Aristotle, which many Christians took to be antithetical to the Christian Faith, had recently been recovered. One of Aquinas’ tasks was to show how Aristotle could, on the contrary, be an aid for the presentation of the Christian Faith. Because of his extraordinary philosophical skills, Aquinas has often been understood to be more the philosopher than the theologian. This way of reading Aquinas often stresses his understanding of “natural theology” as well as his account of natural law. Those that read Aquinas in this fashion give the impression that Aquinas thought one should try to proceed as far as possible with unaided “natural reason”, which can then be supplemented by truths known through revelation. But Aquinas did not think of himself as a philosopher whose task was to reflect on the writings of nature. He thought of himself as a theologian, whose primary function was rightly to interpret the scripture.

Aristotle was certainly important for Aquinas, but Augustine was equally, if not more, his primary conversation partner. Indeed, at least an aspect of Aquinas’ extraordinary achievement is to have represented essential themes in Augustine. Thus the virtues, rather than the law, are the principle subject of Aquinas’ understanding of the Christian life. However, he departs from Augustine in his account of the virtues. Following Aristotle, Aquinas stresses the importance of habitual formation – whereas Augustine, following Plato, sees all the virtues as forms of love. For Aquinas, it is not so much that the virtues are forms of love, but rather that Charity – which is nothing less than the work of the Holy Spirit to make us friends with God – is the form of courage, temperance, justice, and prudence. Indeed, the “natural virtues”, which to be sure are of

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avoids the continuing struggle Christians must undertake in this life. Indeed, his favorite way of describing the Christian life was that of being “wayfarers”3 The Summa was his attempt to help the Church continue to develop the skills to discern the work of the Spirit. That is why the very structure of the Summa is determined by the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Thus, theologians like Augustine and Aquinas never forgot that their task was to help Christians remember that their lives are shaped by story-determined practices that make all that they do and do not do intelligible.

. Another important innovation of the Summa is the analogy drawn between the Gifts and the Moral Virtues. As the latter make the appetites amenable to the movement of reason, so the former make all the faculties amenable to the movement of the Holy Spirit. By means of this analogy, Thomas explains the abiding character of the Gifts, the basis of their organization and their link with one another in charity. In summary, St. Thomas’ theory developed in three phases. In the first the Gifts are represented as a superhuman mode of action in human life, proportionate to man’s supernatural destiny. The second phase is characterised by a new way of explaining the superhuman mode of the Gifts, namely, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The third phase freed the interpretation of various particular Gifts, (especially Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding) from the uncongenial biases that had been imposed on them by the pressures of Augustinian rhetoric and scholastic systematization.

Many theological explanations are found in the Summa on Gifts and Virtues. This exposition will study the intrinsic link between the two, established by the love of God, and why the intervention of God is needed for the perfection of the struggles of man towards his friendship. Particular emphasis will be laid on the virtues as infused virtues and gifts as the highest level formed by the love of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.