Book contents
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of Aquinas’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Virtue and the Developments in Grace
- Part II The Conditions of Virtue Simpliciter
- 4 The Conditions for the Beginning of Virtue Simpliciter
- 5 The Conditions for Perseverance in Virtue Simpliciter
- 6 The Conditions for the End of Virtue Simpliciter
- Part III The Conditions of Virtue Secundum Quid
- Part IV Confirmations and Conclusions
- Conclusion
- Selected Works Cited
- Index
6 - The Conditions for the End of Virtue Simpliciter
from Part II - The Conditions of Virtue Simpliciter
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of Aquinas’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Virtue and the Developments in Grace
- Part II The Conditions of Virtue Simpliciter
- 4 The Conditions for the Beginning of Virtue Simpliciter
- 5 The Conditions for Perseverance in Virtue Simpliciter
- 6 The Conditions for the End of Virtue Simpliciter
- Part III The Conditions of Virtue Secundum Quid
- Part IV Confirmations and Conclusions
- Conclusion
- Selected Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Seeking to understand the necessary conditions of grace for virtue simpliciter, we have demonstrated that such virtue both begins and continues only through the supernatural grace of God. Not only that, but as his thought matures Thomas Aquinas comes to recognize that the human agent can, in virtue simpliciter’s beginning and continuance, do little to guarantee her obtaining and perseverance in that grace. Principally, the life of grace that founds and helps continue that life of virtue simpliciter lies locked within God’s providential wisdom. The agent’s choices, even perfectly virtuous choices, are only secondary, in terms of efficacious causality. At best, the human agent is able to cooperate with what God has begun and continues of God’s own gratuitous initiative. Having considered the beginning and continuance of virtue simpliciter’s necessary conditions, we consider the conditions pertaining to its end.
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- Virtue and Grace in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas , pp. 156 - 170Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020