In this comprehensive anthology, twenty-seven outstanding scholars from North America and Europe address every major aspect of Thomas Aquinas's understanding of morality and comment on his remarkable legacy. While there has been a revival of interest in recent years in the ethics of St. Thomas, no single work has yet fully examined the basic moral arguments and content of Aquinas' major moral work, the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae. This work fills that lacuna.

The first chapters of The Ethics of Aquinas introduce readers to the sources, methods, and major themes of Aquinas's ethics. The second part of the book provides an extended discussion of ideas in the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae, in which contributors present cogent interpretations of the structure, major arguments, and themes of each of the treatises. The third and final part examines aspects of Thomistic ethics in the twentieth century and beyond.

These essays reflect a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of intellectual perspectives. Contributors span numerous fields of study, including intellectual history, medieval studies, moral philosophy, religious ethics, and moral theology. This remarkable variety underscores how interpretations of Thomas's ethics continue to develop and evolve—and stimulate fervent discussion within the academy and the church.

This volume is aimed at scholars, students, clergy, and all those who continue to find Aquinas a rich source of moral insight.

Stephen J. Pope is a professor in the Boston College Department of Theology. His books include The Evolution of Altruism and the Ordering of Love (Georgetown University Press, 1994).

Preface

Abbreviations

The Setting of the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas-RevisitedLeonard E. Boyle, OP

The Sources of the Ethics of St. Thomas AquinasServais-Theodore Pinckaers, OPTranslated by Mary Thomas Noble, OP

Overview of the Ethics of Thomas AquinasStephen J. Pope

PART I: The First Part of the Second Part of the Summa TheologiaeHappiness Georg WielandTranslated by Grant Kaplan

The Will and Its Acts David M. Gallagher

Good and Evil in Human Acts Daniel Westberg

The Passions of the Soul Kevin White

Habits and VirtuesBonnie Kent

The Intellectual VirtuesGregory M. Reichberg

Vice and SinEileen Sweeney

Natural Law and Human LawClifford G. Kossel, SJ

The Old Law and the New LawPamela M. Hall

GraceTheo KobuschTranslated by Grant Kaplan and Frederick G. Lawrence

Part II: The Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae

The Theological Virtue of Faith: An Invitation to an Ecclesial Life of TruthStephen F. Brown

The Theological Virtue of Hope Romanus Cessario, OP

The Theological Virtue of CharityEberhard SchokenhoffTranslated by Grant Kaplan and Frederick G. Lawrence

The Virtue of PrudenceJames F. Keenan, SJ

The Virtue of JusticeJean Porter

Sins Against JusticeMartin RhonheimerTranslated by Frederick G. Lawrence

The Virtue of CourageR.E. Houser

The Virtue of TemperanceDiana Fritz Cates

Charisms, Forms and States of lifeSerge-Thomas Bonino, OPTranslated by Mary thomas Noble, OP

Part III: The Twentieth-Century Legacl

Interpreting Thomas Aquinas: Aspects of the Dominican School of Moral Theology in the Twentieth CenturyThomas F. O'Meara, OP

Interpreting Thomas Aquinas:Aspects of the Redemptrist and Jesuit Schools in the Twentieth CenturyRaphael Gallagher, CSSR

Thomistic Moral Philosophy in the Twentieth CenturyClifford G. Kossel, SJ

Interpretations of Aquinas's Ethics Since Vatican IIThomas S. Hibbs

The Evaluation of Goods and the Estimation of Consequences: Aquinas on the Determination of the Morally GoodLudger Honnefelder

Lonergan and Aquinas: The Postmodern Problematic of Theology and EthicsFrederick G. Lawrence

Contributors

Index