“Thomas Aquinas’s neighbors and colleagues were not — like ours — religiously diverse outsiders but members of religious orders, priests, and lay Christians. Jews were the most exotic non-Christians Thomas encountered. In all likelihood, he never so much as met a Muslim. He can just imagine an atheist. Perhaps this very absence of pressure, this lack of impinging, pervasive pluralism, freed him to think through the challenge of pagan virtue with the kind of patient, exhaustive care its complexity and importance demand. Yet, notwithstanding the relative uniformity of the world he inhabited, he held as dear friend and treasured conversation partner a long-dead but, to him, very present Greek pagan, a religious outsider in a very deep sense indeed. He defended the Philosopher, as he affectionately called him, against charges of irrationality brought even by fellow friars, cited him more frequently than any figure save Augustine, and offered more commentary on his work than on any one or any thing but the Bible. And, whatever else it is, his magnum opus represents an extended and embodied effort to welcome that outsider and his virtue in a way that simultaneously honors and imitates the Triune God. In Thomas Aquinas, we have to do with a welcome of pagan virtue that is as generous and deep as it is faithful and true. That, at least, is my claim.
“At its core, then, this book attempts to elucidate Thomas Aquinas’s complex conception of pagan virtue-to explain just what that vision is and how it relates to both the substance of his ethics and his very way of doing moral theology. . . .
“As Thomas’s synthesis is usually understood, he chooses, at each step, between Augustinian and Aristotelian traditions. At best, it’s a synthesis of averages, of alternating either/or’s reaching a rough balance. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to pagan virtue, where, on nearly every account, honoring Aristotle and reason, he welcomes it, or, keeping faith with Augustine and Christ, he rejects it. What he does not do — or even try to do — is honor insider and outsider, Bishop and Philosopher, alike.
“On the dominant paradigms — for Thomas’s stance on pagan virtue, his synthesis, and his contemporary significance — he and those who would follow must choose: Augustine or Aristotle, truth or welcome, particularity or public reason. These paradigms of competition, I argue, not only misunderstand Thomas but miss the ethos he would bequeath us. Thomas welcomes pagan virtue for charity’s sake, not against but because of his Christian convictions, construing pagan virtue itself as the outworking of God’s gift-and its recognition as one more instance of giving God the glory he is due. That commitment to charity shapes not just his conclusions but his way of doing moral theology, and more his very life.
“Charity’s scholarly mode is the multiplication of distinctions in order to preserve truth and honor its inevitably broken seekers-among whom, for Thomas at least, Aristotle ranks near the top. Just where choice between traditions appears inevitable, he finds a way to honor the Philosopher’s insights without compromising Christian fidelity. When theological commitments seem to condemn Aristotle, Thomas seeks, in and for charity, redemption. And where Christian or pagan falls short of truth or justice, and charity would be betrayed by his doing otherwise, he offers fraternal correction. Impelled by commitment to Christ, Thomas strives to be Aristotelian by being Augustinian and vice versa, his very engagement with Aristotle performing the capacious stance he commends, his theologizing enacting the welcome he prescribes.
“For all of us, Christian and non-Christian alike, Thomas offers a way to grapple with the challenge of difference without betraying our deepest convictions. And for Christians, at least, he models a particular way of doing ethics and being in the world that is at once generous and faithful, hopeful and committed, patterned after God’s way with us. Call this stance prophetic Thomism. It sees distinction-drawing, precision, and fidelity as linked arm-in-arm with resistance to domination, critique of empire, and pursuit of the common good. For prophetic Thomism, multiplying distinctions is no rival to the work of justice but a face thereof, enabling the recognition and condemnation of evil and the construction of justice-oriented alliances across lines of difference. Where there is ambiguity in Thomas’s work, it opts for a justice in keeping with the best of his thought, and where he falls into error, it corrects, following Thomas’s own way with what he found wanting.
“If Christian ethics frequently takes tradition and liberation, conceptual analysis and prophetic concern, orthodoxy and inclusion as either/or alternatives — even competing scholarly identities — prophetic Thomism seeks to unite and transform. In both the substance of Thomas’s welcome and his way of doing ethics, we glimpse prophetic Thomism at work.”
— from David Decosimo, Ethics as a Work of Charity: Thomas Aquinas and Pagan Virtue (Stanford University Press, 2014)
Insights from St. Thomas’s biblical exegesis — Jason Paone explains how St. Thomas’s commentaries reveal the saint’s personality, his rhetorical flair, and the Christocentric vision that underlie all his work. (24 minutes)
Mary Hirschfeld argues that modern economics makes some fundamental assumptions about personhood, material goods, and God that prevent the development of a truly human understanding of economic life. (20 minutes)
Jonathan McIntosh claims that scholarship has tended to ignore the depth of St. Thomas Aquinas’s influence on J. R. R. Tolkien’s work. (28 minutes)
Nature’s intelligibility — In this lecture, Christopher Blum argues that scientists need to regain a full appreciation of nature’s intelligibility, as they are apt to lose sight of reality due to the reductionism produced by their theories. (31 minutes)
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 162 — FEATURED GUESTS: Mark Noll, R. Jared Staudt, Paul Weston, William C. Hackett, Hans Boersma, and David Paul Baird
“A society of friends at work” — Political philosopher Andrew Willard Jones lays out a robust vision for a just society in which virtues are formed in an analogical manner through relational obedience and trust. (71 minutes)
Henry T. Edmondson, III talks about Flannery O’Connor’s understanding of political life, which was influenced by a range of thinkers including Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Eric Voegelin, and Russell Kirk. (19 minutes)
The artist’s commitment to truth — Fr. Damian Ference, author of Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist, explores the depths to which Flannery O’Connor was steeped in Thomistic philosophy. (18 minutes)
Flannery O’Connor and Thomistic philosophy — Fr. Damian Ference explores the depths to which Flannery O’Connor was steeped in Thomistic philosophy, as evidenced by her reading habits, letters, prayer journal, and, of course, essays and fiction. (48 minutes)
What does it mean to be a creature? — Canon-theologian Simon Oliver explains how and why the doctrine of Creation is cardinal and must frame all theology. (62 minutes)
The sovereignty of love — In this 2022 lecture, Oliver O’Donovan explains the historical background — and present consequences — of the assertion by Jesus of two great commands. (67 minutes)
Conscience and its counterfeits — A 2014 lecture by theologian Reinhard Hütter examines “Freedom of Conscience as Freedom in the Truth: Conscience according to Thomas Aquinas and John Henry Newman.” (64 minutes)
Christology and human relationality — Joseph Ratzinger on how the longing for eternity expressed in human love is an analogue of Trinitarian love
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 158 — FEATURED GUESTS:
David Setran, Vigen Guroian, Michael Dominic Taylor, Thomas Pfau, Jason Paone, and Matthew Levering
The basic act and order of things — David L. Schindler (1943–2022) insists that the reduction of love to a matter of private and personal sentiment, piety, or good will — is one of the fundamental disorders of modern culture. Christians should know better. (39 minutes)
The light shines in the darkness — Physicist David Park explores the physical, aesthetic, and spiritual aspects of light, considering the phenomenon of light in profound ways, from spiritual meanings embedded in our culture to the challenging questions put forth by great scientists and philosophers. (17 minutes)
Loving relationships in community — In conversation with moral philosopher Oliver O’Donovan, and with readings from his book, Entering into Rest, Ken Myers explores a central theme in O’Donovan’s work: that we are created to enjoy loving relationships in community. (27 minutes)
Redefining gender — In this article from Communio,Margaret Harper McCarthy demonstrates that the attempt to eliminate the givenness of sexual difference rests on a denial of the created person’s origin in and ordination toward relations of love. (68 minutes)
Marva Dawn on spiritual formation and being Church — This Feature presents an interview with Marva Dawn from Volume 38 of the Journal, during which she talks about concerns discussed in two of her books, related to the spiritual formation of children and a more holistic understanding of sex and intimacy. (23 minutes)
The Sixth Commandment and the obligation to protect public health — Ethicist Gilbert Meilaender explains why our experience with COVID-19 has made it difficult for many — citizens and officials — to honor a proper obligation to protect public health. (17 minutes)
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 147 — FEATURED GUESTS:
R. Jared Staudt, Jason Peters, D. C. Schindler, Craig Gay, Mary Hirschfeld, and Patrick Samway
Ethics as Theology, Volume 2 — Drawing from St. Augustine and figures such as Aelred of Rievaulx, Oliver O’Donovan describes how the Church, communication, community, and friendship all significantly contribute to how we understand the role of love in both ethical and political reflection. (52 minutes)
Loving your neighbor during a pandemic — Brad Littlejohn reflects on how best to ask and answer some of the questions raised by our current disease-ravaged circumstances, particularly questions related to Christian freedom and love of neighbor. (29 minutes)
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 144 — FEATURED GUESTS:
Jonathan Mcintosh, Kevin Vost, Malcolm Guite, R. David Cox, Grant Brodrecht, and Peter Bouteneff
St. Thomas and the wisdom of Creation — Christopher Thompson offers a renewed vision of “the human person [as] an embodied, spiritual creature dwelling in a cosmos of created natures, intelligently ordered by God and capable of being intelligibly grasped by human reason.” (16 minutes)
Fr. James V. Schall, R.I.P. — Fr. James V. Schall explains how, like contemplation, play engages us in something beyond ourselves and is a delight in itself. (9 minutes)
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 138 — FEATURED GUESTS:
John Milbank, Adrian Pabst, Glenn W. Olsen, Rupert Shortt, Oliver O’Donovan, David Bentley Hart
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 112 — FEATURED GUESTS: Christian Smith, David L. Schindler, Sara Anson Vaux, Melvyn Bragg, Timothy Larsen, and Ralph C. Wood
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 96 — FEATURED GUESTS: David A. Smith, Kiku Adatto, Elvin T. Lim, David Naugle, Richard Stivers, and John Betz
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 91 — FEATURED GUESTS: John Witte, Jr., Hugh Brogan, Daniel Ritchie, Daniel Walker Howe, George McKenna, and Patrick Deneen
