Ethics as a Key to Aquinas’s Theology: The Significance of Specification by Object

Abstract

ETIIlCS AS A KEY TO AQUINAS'S THEOLOGY THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPECIFICATION BY OBJECT v.ARIOUS OBSTACLES BLOCK an easy access to " the most coherent work on moral theology in the ntire history of Christianity ",1 i.e., the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas. Most prominent among these obstacles are, on the one hand, the multitude of questions and articles relating to medieval topics and controversies, and, on the other, Thomas's method of" interpretation." Often the p:resentday reader, unfamiliar with that historical environment, can hardly make more sense out of a translation than out of the Latin text. He can easily be led to believe that certain formulas or a certain configuration of elements represent Thomas' opinion whereas in fact they merely reflect the state of the question in the 13th century, i.e., the stage preceding his interpretation. One of the most famous examples of this state of affairs is to be found in Thomas' analysis of good and evil. Every single manual or treatise, mainly in the Catholic tradition , contains a reference to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 18, aa. 2-4 in order to support the contention that good and evil are determined by object, circumstances, and intent. While this may be suggested by the titles of the articles, it is quite another question exactly how Thomas proceeds to " interpret" this configuration of elements that he happens to find in the theologies of the 13th century. Only an extensive historical commentary of the Prima Secundae, particularly of qq. 6-21, will make it possible to understand the real meaning of Thomas's fundamental ethics 1 The qualification was formulated by James M. Gustafson in a paper at the annual meeting of the American Society of Christian Ethics in Washington, D. C., in January 1976. The paper will be part of a forthcoming book. 535 536 WILLIAM VANDERMARCK and of the theological questions involved in it. The present article is the introduction to such a commentary. It is a tentative first chapter concerning the introductory questions of the Secunda Parsi I-II, qq. 1-5, "On Ultimate End and Beatitude." It is also the first installment towards a long overdue debt to those who have expressed both appreciation and curiosity about many statements in my book on Christian ethics.2 1. Perspective of the treatise. When Thomas decided to open the second part of his Summa Theologiae with a treatise on ultimate end and beatitude, he introduced a new element into the study of Christian ethics. Although such a move had a precedent in the first book of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and although a certain systematic treatment of beatitude had been developed by some of Thomas's predecessors, no comparable approach existed in the work of medieval theologians.8 The impact of this innovation has been rather limited. Until well into the 16th century Peter Lombard's Sentences remained dominant in the study of theology. The renewal of the Counterreformation, strongly influenced by Jesuit authors, led to the development of a " moral theology " greatly indebted to Thomas, in which, however , " speculative" and " theoretical" questions were eliminated . The first victim of this process was the treatise on ultimate end and beatitude. It failed to appear in the pacesetting manuals of the early 17th century, and the subsequent tradition faithfully followed the same path.4 Thomas's intro- •Toward A Christian Ethic: A Rene.wal in Moral Theology. New York: Newman Press, 1967. •The best recent study of Thomas's introductory treatise in its historical context is by Roger Guindon, Beatitude et Theologie morale chez saint Thomas d'Aquin. Origines-lnterpretations. Ottawa: Editions de l'Universite d'Ottawa, 1956. See also the classic study of Thomas's ethic, which continues to be valuable especially because of its historical data, by Michael Wittmann, Die Ethik des hl. Thomas von Aquin in ihrem systematischen Aufbau dargestellt und in ihren geschichtlichen, besonders in den antiken Quellen erforscht. Munich: Max Hueber Verlag, 1933. • A comprehensive study of this development, mainly concerning the 16th and 17th centuries, has been published by Johann Theiner, Die Entwicklung der Mmas' Theological Summa, Ia Ilae, qq. 1-54. Transl. by Patrick Cummins. St. Louis, London: Herder...