Grace Of Baptism Research Articles

Baptism, Social Ethics, and Sanctification According to Maximus the Confessor's Commentary On The Lord's Prayer

ABSTRACT: The Byzantine celebration of Christ's baptism dramatizes the interpersonal and interior dynamics of conversion and salvation. Unlike the transformation of the cosmos underscored by liturgical texts, human transformation in baptism is hardly a fait accompli, due to interpersonal injury, a necessary consequence when one is entangled in the web of fallen human relationships. Maximus the Confessor offers an exploration of the dynamics between the grace of baptism and ongoing sanctification in his Exposition on the Lord's Prayer . In his Exposition , Maximus focuses his meditation on relationship: with the addressee, with God, and with each other. For Maximus, divinization entails asceticism on earth, which is perfected in eternity. The Christian must "suffer" forgiveness below to experience it above.

Категория совести в нравственном богословии XVIII – первой половины XIX в.

The article presents a general overview of the interpretation of the category of conscience in the Synodal period. As a theological term, the word “conscience” entered the Old Russian language together with Christianity, that is why virtually all its meanings were associated with the New Testament and the texts of the Holy Fathers. Speaking of conscience, the scribes of the pre-Synodal pore understood it in a traditional way for Eastern Christianity. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a systematic description of conscience as a moral category emerged under the influence of a methodology that had taken shape in the West, primarily in the context of what was commonly referred to as casuistry. A peculiarity of this approach was the emphasis on a vague or scrupulous conscience and its errors. Later in the second half of the 18th century, the Catholic influence was replaced by a Protestant one, which affected the way of thinking about conscience in the first half of the next century as well. The doctrine of conscience became more balanced, because the emphasis was no longer only on error, but on its transformation by the grace of baptism. Finally, in the first half of the nineteenth century, the first experiments in the independent courses in moral theology appeared, the authors of which considered conscience in the context of sacred theology.

The Pedagogical and Religious Dimensions of the Rites of the Sacrament of Children’s Baptism

The topic of the article “The Pedagogical and Religious Dimensions of the Rites of the Sacrament of Baptism for Children” deals with the sacraments in the Catholic Church, particularly baptism as the first of the seven sacraments. As signs, sacraments are also meant to instruct, and indeed they do, for the meaning and grace of baptism are made clear in the rites of its celebration Union with Christ leads to confession of faith in the One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The profession of faith, closely related to baptism, is eminently Trinitarian. The Church baptises: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28,19), the Triune God to whom the Christian entrusts his life.The basis for analyzing the rites of baptism will be the Order of Baptism for Children during mass, which contains very important instructions that can be grouped into three points: (1) instructions about God the Father, (2) instructions about the essence of baptism and its importance for the parish and the baptized, (3) instructions about the duties of the baptized and their parents and godparents. In the sacraments God occupies the central place, and the sacrament of baptism, by instructing about God the Father, the first issue, brings closer three fundamental truths about God: (a) God’s initiative in the salvation for man, (b) God’s omnipotence (universal, loving and mysterious), and (c) God’s goodness. The second issue deals with: (a) the essence of baptism based on the terms given in the Rite of Receiving the Children (baptism, faith, the grace of Christ, admission to the Church, and eternal life); (b) the meaning of infant baptism for the parish community; and (c) the meaning of baptism for the child. Likewise, the third issue is also divided into two parts, with an instruction (a) on the duties of the baptized and (b) the duties of baptized children, parents and godparents.

Muster der Sünde

Summary Konstanze Kemnitzer takes up Armin Nassehi’s sociological theory „Muster“ on digitization and, based on this theory, presents new facets of a contemporary, practicaltheological understanding of „sin“. Against this background she develops for the Christian existence and church action the potential of the „imagination of the gospel“ and the daily, imaginative immersion in the baptismal grace, also in view of the pattern of de-churchification.

Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg

Reviewed by: Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg Kevin D. Magas David Fagerberg Liturgical Mysticism Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2019 xxi + 171 pages. Hardback. $29.95. Lambert Beauduin, one of the chief pioneers of the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement, believed that "[the] liturgy is theology, not scientifically expounded, but applied to the art of glorifying God and sanctifying souls."1 This deepened, "thickened" understanding of the theological dimensions of the liturgical act pioneered by the Liturgical Movement and crystallized in the conciliar Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy has been developed and enriched by the liturgical theologian David Fagerberg over the course of his career. Fagerberg's entire theological project has been dedicated to articulating the contours of liturgical theology understood as theologia prima, the "primary theology" of the Trinitarian life of God communicated, epiphanized, and opened up for our participation in the liturgical life of the Church. His most recent work, Liturgical Mysticism, brings cohesiveness and consistency to a liturgical vision Fagerberg began to develop over thirty years ago; as such, it can only be understood in light of his project as a whole. His first work, Theologia Prima (revised edition, 2003), sought to deepen our understanding of liturgical theology by thickening the meaning of both "liturgy" and "theology" and exploring how the lex orandi of the Church is the foundation for her lex credendi. He came to understand that the relationship between liturgy and theology required an appeal to the ascetical dimension of Christian life which "capacitates" one to participate in liturgy, understood by Fagerberg as the "perichoresis of the Trinity kenotically extended to [End Page 141] invite our synergistic ascent into deification" (xvi). He explores this theme at length in his work Liturgical Asceticism (2013) and applies this liturgical-ascetical vision to our daily life in the world in his Consecrating the World (2016). Liturgical mysticism, then, is interested in how this liturgical participation in divine life is applied to the soul. What happens in us when our personal liturgy synchronizes with the Son's self-offering to the Father in the power of the Spirit? Here Fagerberg is interested in the connections between the visible, sacramental rites of the liturgy and their invisible, mystical fruition in the life of the Christian. He offers, in his prologue, an eloquent thesis that ties together his previous work: "Liturgical Mysticism is the development of graces received in baptism; liturgical asceticism is the process which develops those graces; the product of those graces is a liturgical theologian who is enlightened. Liturgical mysticism wants to know what is done inside a person by the liturgy" (xviii–xix). Fagerberg's first chapter lays the methodological foundations for the idea of liturgical mysticism he is interested in pursuing. Readers familiar with Fagerberg's work will recognize the characteristic moves he makes near the beginnings of his works to define his terms and clear up misconceptions that arise when we treat certain theological terms in a "thin," reductionist way. Fagerberg's concept requires that liturgy be not merely the rubrics or external ceremonies but participation in divine life; mysticism must be understood not as the esoteric, enigmatic, or otherworldly, but the actualization of baptismal graces through transformative contact with the mysteries of Christ encountered in the liturgy. In short, the key to a proper hermeneutic for understanding Fagerberg is to understand how key terms are functioning in the "language game" he is playing (see Ludwig Wittgenstein). Chapters 2 and 3 attempt to purify our associations and images of the mystical life, moving the reader from a mysticism that is something rare, extraordinary, individualistic and for the "professional" (i.e., the monk in his cell) to an understanding that is corporate, ecclesial, and within the realm of the ordinary baptized Christian, precisely because it is the unfolding and flowering of sanctifying grace received in baptism as a seed (semen gloriae). Fagerberg elo-quently [End Page 142] describes this process as a "quickening," an animating, a "making alive" of baptismal grace. Notable here is Fagerberg's development of this theme using the works of Dominican spiritual theologians of the early twentieth century, such as Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Juan Arintero. While readers will encounter Fagerberg's characteristic...

Symbolika malżeńska w mistyce św. Teresy z Avila

The Bible describing the story of salvation uses a lot of symbols. Many of them are taken from married life. The same symbolic language is used by mystics. St Teresa of Avila stands out among all of them. She employs numerous images of marriage and comparisons to explain the sanctifying action of God in the human soul. They can especially be seen on the mystical level of spiritual life. The Carmelite Doctor of the Church compares the peak of spiritual development to engagement and marriage. In the sixth mansion of The Interior Castle by St Teresa, the human soul is the Bride of Christ, the Betrothed. It hopes to move quickly – in the seventh mansion – to get closer to Christ, which is compared to marriage. The biblical and mystical marriage symbolism shows the role of marriage in God’s salvation plan. The mystical experience based on God’s love is available not only to the religious and priests but also to every Christian who lives a married life. Each of them, thanks to the grace of Baptism and the Sacrament of Matrimony, obtains full access to the mystic life which is understood as a real inner experience of God’s presence. This life is also attainable for married couples.

The Kingdom of God and the Fate of Unbaptized Africans: A Theological Reflection

This article delves into a theological reflection of the delicate question of the Kingdom of God and the fate of unbaptised persons who die without receiving baptism. The Church, since earliest times, has baptised both infants and adults with the belief that baptism is necessary for salvation. However, since Vatican II, the Church has also taught that even though baptism is necessary for salvation, there are other means through which people could receive supernatural grace necessary for salvation if through no fault of theirs, baptism is not made available to them before they die. They include those who died before the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Christ and persons of non-Christian origin (e.g. Jews, Muslims, adherents of African Traditional Religion, Buddhists, etc). God intended salvation for all people and leaves no stone unturned to make it available to all who desire or have the capacity to accept it. The Church teaches that those who are genuinely ignorant of Christ’s Church and the Gospel message and had no opportunity to hear the Word of God, but desired to be baptised may through the mercy of God attain salvation. Thus, unbaptised Africans and all those who through no fault of theirs did not receive the grace of baptism while they lived may also be saved whether they were adherents of African Traditional Religion or no religion at all, in as much as they searched for God in sincerity of heart, tried their best to do God’s will and followed the dictates of their conscience (Hardon 1975). Keywords: Kingdom, unbaptised, Africans, salvation DOI : 10.7176/JPCR/42-05 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

Jesus Christ – Living Rule of Christian life. Ecumenical Dimension of sequela/imitatio Christi

The ideas of sequela Christi and imitatio Christi as a rule of Christian life are all rooted in the words and attitude of Jesus and the Apostles, and then expressed in the teaching of the Church, from the Fathers onwards. They have a great ecumenical importance as a regula vitae for all Christians. In the new millennium, we must show the world the «whole» Christ in His fullness of truth: in the power of the baptismal grace, with the joyful boldness of the Spirit, in ways renewed in methods and zeal. The ecumenical dimension of this following/ imitation Christ rises from his Trinitarian, Christological, pneumatological and baptismal foundation in the perspective of the evangelization.

« Se laisser emporter par l’Esprit » à la suite du bienheureux père Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus

In accordance with his charism : « Guiding souls to divine union », blessed Fr. Marie-Eugene of the Child-Jesus explains that it is necessary for all the baptized to become more and more docile to the Spirit both in contemplation and in action in order to reach the heights of holiness. This spiritual growth requires a constant nurturing of faith in the active presence of the Spirit. Fr. Marie-Eugene’s pratical experience of the theology of the theological virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit enables him to bring to light the active and receptive (mystical) aspects of baptismal grace. Within the dynamics of the mystical life, the progressive domination of the Spirit brings out the numerous « antinomies », the « nights » which always accompany spiritual growth. For the newly Beatified, the essential reality is « to be seized by God, transformed by the Spirit ».

2015 Arthur O. Lovejoy Lecture The Boys on the Beach: Children's Games and Baptismal Grace in Medieval Thought.

This paper tracks the fortunes of the debate on whether children playing at baptism can actually administer and receive a valid sacramental baptism from Rufinus of Aquileia (late 4th to early 5th century) through ca. 1300. Theologians and canonists who addressed this question arrived at no consensus. They often disagreed with their own masters, applied Rufinus to a range of issues he never took up, used him to support or criticize Augustine on this topic, and viewed as acceptable more than one position on it within orthodox Christianity.

Święty Kościół grzesznych chrześcijan

Frequent information in the media about offences of the Catholic clergy without mentioning similar misdeeds of laity makes one challenge the Church’s claim of holiness and demand expulsion of a sinner from her. This article shows a theological, i.e. the original understanding of the Church holiness, which consists in the presence of Christ in her and of his grace which sanctifies sinners. The requirement of highly ethical Christian behaviour is only the consequence of baptismal grace – and in its realism – means growth in grace and constant conversion. Fundamentality of this baptismal relationship with the Church lasts despite sins of the baptized but it implies their attitude of constant conversion. The notion “sinful Church” does not exclude her holiness as it expresses the truth that – like Christ – she is indeed burdened and carries the faults of her members. A derivative of the Church historical dimension is a constant and regular need to verify and renew her structures, taking into account pastoral fruitfulness.

Galatians 3:28 in Thomas Aquinas’ Lectures on the Pauline Letters: A Study in Thomistic Reception

Abstract This article examines Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation of Galatians 3:28 in his commentaries on the Pauline letters with an eye to Alisdair MacIntyre’s notion of “tradition-constituted enquiry.” An analysis of Aquinas’ multiple references to Gal 3:28 in his lectures on Paul reveal a consistent, theologically complex interpretation of this verse in terms of the regenerative grace of baptism in the rational soul, which is common to all human beings and prior to their differences. Aquinas’ reception of Paul demonstrates some convergences with MacIntyre’s account of “tradition-constituted enquiry,” suggesting further consideration of the latter as a helpful conceptual resource for reception history.

Kiedy skutki chrztu i wiara zostają skrępowane tradycjami religijnymi?

Religious experience is anchored in a specific environment of believers, which are composed of history, way of life, thought, action, interpersonal systems, needs, desires and expectations. These all factors generate the formation of religious traditions, which being a part of the social dimensions of the civilization, they bring faith, ceremonies, formulas of prayer, attitude to the world. However, These traditions can sometimes hinder the development of the right faith. It is possible to indicate the following factors blocking the appropriate development of faith: cultural understanding of the baptism, reductions in revealed truths, especially in the field of ecclesiology (the bad understanding of the Trinity and the relation with divine Persons, institutionalism within the meaning of the Church, rejecting the charismatic dimension of the Church), the conservative pastoral work, lack of experience of the presence of God, abuses in the individual and folk piety, individualism in the approach to faith and baptism. It is therefore necessary to grow in genuine faith. This is done is some form of post-baptism catechumenate. Above all it is necessary to proclaim the kerygma combined with the testimony of those leading spiritual lives. Personal experiencing the love of God, salvation in Jesus and the strength of healthy community of believers will be leading people to grow and a dynamism of faith will become active contained in the grace of baptism.

Sakramenty wtajemniczenia chrześcijańskiego jako egzystencjalny przełom w życiu człowieka

In the Christian life the baptism is a possible breakthrough because it introduces the human person in a radically new reality. Although the gifts of God are irrevocable, the human person is invited to cooperate with God’s grace in becoming holy. The life of Christians today it is not always a visible testimony of the grace of baptism and obligations arising from it. The human person, if based solely on his or hers own merits and pursuing only own ideas, many times betrays the grace of baptism. This is precisely the existential situation of the human person of today. In this article, we aim to analyze the existential situation of modernity and to present a vision of a radical transformation, which can be experienced, when the human person receives fully the spiritual gifts through the sacraments of Christian initiation.

Święta Aniela z Foligno (1248-1309), rozwój duchowy i pełnia życia sakramentem chrztu świętego

The study presents the spiritual path and mystical experience of St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309), referring to the sacrament of baptism, as the source for spiritual life of each Christian. The collaboration with the grace of baptism brought Angela to the heights of the mystical experience. Her spiritual journey can be reconstructed from the information present in the manuscript no. 342 from the municipal library in Assisi (copied between 1308 and 1309) and entitled Liber sororis Lelle de Fulgineo de Tertio Ordine Sancti Francisci , often abbreviated by scholars as Liber or Memoriale .

„Aby miały życie w obfitości”. Dlaczego chrzcimy dzieci?

The Article presents the issues regarding the sacrament of baptism as a gateway of faith, the source of Christian life and pledge of eternal salvation. Starting from considerations contained in the Document of the International Theological Commission “The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptised” (2007), author is trying to take a look on the practice of baptism of children and some elements of Catholic baptismal theology. The text is touching also the problem of limbo from the point of view of contemporary Magisterium of the Church.After presenting in synthetic form biblical fundaments of the baptismal theology, and the practice of the Church regarding the baptism of children, the text introduces to the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding the necessity of baptism of children. The paper presents then the elements of the contemporary teaching of the Magisterium regarding the sacrament of baptism with the particular attention to the statements of the Second Vatican Council, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Instruction on Infant Baptism Pastoralis actio), The Code of Canon Law, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the teaching of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The texts of the Magisterium and the development of studies of contemporary theologians allow to look in a new perspective on the practice of the Church regarding baptism of children.Biblical, historical, and theological perspective of presentation of the problem leads to the conclusion that the question to be asked in relation to the baptism of children is not “whether or not baptize the children?” but “why should we baptize the children?”. The answer to that question is located in the dogma regarding salvation and in the dogma regarding sacraments as the tools necessary for salvation entrusted by Christ to the Church. The baptism is undoubtedly the sacrament of salvation. It is an instrument, which the Church has received from Jesus in order to transmit it to all the people.The task of the Church is to pass this salvation to all the people. Fulfilling Christ’s mandate, the Church from the beginnings, proclaimed the Good News and baptized. Minimalistic understanding of that command of Jesus based on the logic of order and duty led the scholastic theology to develop of the theory of limbo. The obligation to fulfil some minimum for salvation have lead to seek a solution of dilemma concerning the destiny of those who will not be able to fulfil the order directly, that is to be baptized of water, or indirectly (in voto), which refers to the baptism of desire and the baptism of blood. The scholastic theology has proposed some substitute of salvation that is the theory of limbo puerorum. Limbo would be the substitute of eternal happiness for those children, who would not have any possibility to fulfil the minimum established by commandment.From the perspective of the contemporary Magisterium, this minimalistic interpretation is insufficient. In order to understand the meaning of the sacrament of baptism we should change perspective. We must move our attention from the legal duties and conditions that the person must fulfilled in order to be baptized, and redirect it on God himself, on the One who is the source of the grace of baptism and all the spiritual gifts, all goods, which God gives to the man in this sacrament. In this perspective, baptism appears as the most precious gift of God by which Jesus Himself gives to the man the grace of faith and pledge of salvation. Baptism appears as an encounter in which God communicates with man, and endows him His love and life. The Sacrament of Baptism, especially the baptism of children, reminds a wonderful truth, which is gratuitousness of salvation. Baptism of children also proves that faith is a gift that initiates our way to the fullness of life. In this perspective, it would be difficult today to defend the theory of limbo. The Church practices to baptize the children not because of fear of the possibility of reduction and even deprivation of eternal beatitude of those who cannot fulfil some formal requirements to receive this sacrament. The practice of the infant baptism expresses the faith of the Church in the power of God’s love and His will to save every human being.God has an infinite number of possibilities to provide salvation to man even outside of the sacrament of baptism. The Church has just only such a tool, and that is why the Church baptizes the children. The faith is the gift. The salvation is the most precious gift of God. The Church therefore desires share this wonderful gift with all the children, that they may have God, and have life, and have it in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).

Sacerdócio real: dom de Deus para constituir um povo sacerdotal

Começam, em 2012, as comemorações dos cinquenta anos do início do Concílio Vaticano II. É necessário salientar as grandes conquistas que esse Concílio trouxe para a Igreja e para a humanidade. Entre estas, destaca-se a eclesiologia Povo de Deus e, em decorrência, o conceito de sacerdócio real ou sacerdócio “comum de todos os fiéis” por graça do batismo, que por séculos desapareceu da reflexão eclesial. O sacerdócio real, ao seu modo, participa do único sacerdócio de Cristo e constitui o patamar para se falar de uma Igreja sacerdotal e toda ministerial. Então, o povo da Nova Aliança é um povo sacerdotal.

Spiritual Formation as an Art

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the spiritual formation of a Christian is the art of seeking holiness and union with God through the ministry of spiritual fatherhood (and motherhood), whereby the spiritual guide rekindles and keeps alive the baptismal grace of the disciple through the mysteries (sacraments) of the Church, God-inspired words and personal example. This article evinces some quintessential aspects of the ancient Christian practices of spiritual direction and formation and their current bearing on adult faith formation in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the focus being on spiritual formation carried out through a Spirit-led spiritual father – spiritual son/daughter relationship. An overview of the tradition is provided, from St Paul through to the monastic tradition, closing with the example of a contemporary model.

Sakramenty chrześcijańskiego wtajemniczenia i uzdrowienia w doświadczeniach mistycznych św. Gertrudy Wielkiej

Saint Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) was a Saxon Christian saint. She died in the monastery of Helfta. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery at Helfta, under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. She is sometimes confused with her abbess, which is why she is often incorrectly depicted in art holding a crosier. She later experienced a conversion to God and began to strive for perfection in her religious life, turning her scholarly talents to scripture and theology. Many of the writings of St. Gertrude have unfortunately perished. Those now extant are: The Legatus Divinae Pietatis, the Exercises of St. Gertrude and the Liber Specialis Gratiae of St. Mechtilde. The Exercises, which are seven in number, embrace the work of the reception of baptismal grace to the preparation for death. Her glowing language deeply impregnated with the liturgy and scriptures exalts the soul imperceptibly to the heights of contemplation. St. Gertrude the Great hada very special devotion for the Sacred Heart. St. Gertrude taught that Jesus has given us the gift of His Sacred Heart so that, when suffering, we can seek our refuge and our consolation there. The characteristic trait of St. Gertrude's piety is her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of that immense charity which urged the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take on Himself our sins, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the Eternal Father.

El don de sabiduria sequin santo Tomas: Divinizacion, filiacion y connaturalidad by Cruz Gonzalez Ayesta

482 BOOK REVIEWS El don de sabiduria sequin santo Tomas: Divinizacion, filiacion y connaturalidad . By CRUZ GONZALEZ AYJESTA. Pamplona, Eunsa, 1999. Pp. 216. $26.50. ISBN A8431316020. A doctoral thesis in theology done at the University of Navarre, this is an interesting work on the gift of wisdom according to St. Thomas. The author develops his subject in five chapters of unequal length. The first two, historical, are followed by a three-part essay that is analytical and speculative in thrust. The author first outlines in detail some controversies among twentiethcentury theologians on the subject of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which were touched off by the challenge to the universal call to mysticism. Even though the universality of the Christian vocation to holiness was generally accepted, there were important differences of opinion as to the meaning of the word mystical, depending on whether one referred simply to baptismal grace or to extraordinary ways of union with God. The necessity of the gifts for salvation, affirmed by St. Thomas, was the occasion of a debate at the beginning of the twentieth century between the Dominican Froget and Perriot, a collaborator on the review "l'Ami du Clerge," who wrote the work, "The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Souls of the Just." Froget held that the gifts are necessary in order to go beyond the organism of the virtues, but that they are not necessary for the production of each supernatural action. Perriot, on the contrary, thought that such action proceeds simultaneously from two different moving principles, in such wise that the gifts extend their influence to the entire Christian life. After describing this original controversy, the author distinguishes two theories that formed as it were two schools. The first, promoted by GarrigouLagrange and in great part by Gardeil, following Froget's line of thought, saw the essential difference between the virtues and the gifts to be their mode of action-human and superhuman respectively, the gifrs being superior to the virtues. This theory was based on St. Thornas's Commentary on the Sentences ofPeter Lombard and supposedly found a confirmation of its intuitions in the writings of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. J. de Guibert, for his part, was of the that St. Thomas's thought had evolved, and that in his maturity he saw the gifts as habitus, receptive rather than operative, disposing a person to docility to the Holy Spirit. In this perspective Guibert thought, in contrast to Garrigou-Lagrange, that not too much importance should be attached to the division into seven gifts. Later, Congar would adopt this position . As can be seen, the debate turned on the exegesis of St. Thomas's texts. Regarding question 68 of the Prima secundae, some saw in artide 2 a statement by St. Thomas that the gifts surpass the virtues, while others found in artide 8 the superiority of the theological virtues over the gifts. The author devotes twenty pages (37-58) to the question of an evolution in the thought of St. Thomas regarding the gifts: Garrigou-Lagrange saw only a verbal evolution, while Guibert attempted to show that St. Thomas broke with the immediately BOOK REVIEWS 483 preceding tradition in order to return to William of Auvergne's concept of the gifts as passive and receptive. Philipon held a middle position of moderate evolution. The historical tour ends on a note of astonishment at the fact that since the Second Vatican Council a certain disaffection has emerged in regard to this teaching on the gifts, while at the same time the Holy Spirit Himself has become the object of renewed interest. The paradox may be due to a misinterpretation of the theory. An emphasis on St. Thomas's teaching on the subject of the new law by authors such as Pinckaers, Garcia of Haro, and Mongillo, that throws light on the debated specificity of Christian ethics, may prove fruitful in getting us beyond the impasse. What is the source of the theory denounced above? The second chapter throws the blame squarely on John of St. Thomas. He is the one who maintained a real distinction between virtues and gifts on...