Transforming Friendship: Thomas Aquinas on Charity as Friendship with God

Abstract

This article argues that Thomas Aquinas’s definition of charity in the Summa Theologiae as ‘a kind of friendship’ represents a distinctive and theologically significant development of both the Aristotelian and the Christian monastic traditions on which he builds. By approaching his discussion of charity in the secunda secundae through the gateway of friendship, Thomas is able to characterize the spiritual vision of this portion of the Summa through a twofold movement of grace and participation. The shape of this twofold movement has an implicitly incarnational character, and thus points to the divine Subject of the Summa’s third and culminating volume. But the participatory aspect of this spiritual theology also reveals the indispensable role of the human person, and thus allows Thomas to offer a nuanced explanation of the ways that friendship with God relates to friendships with other human beings.