By knowledge & by love: charity and knowledge in the moral theology of St. Thomas Aquinas

5. Charity’s Relationship to Knowledge in Human Action

c h a p t e r 5 Charity’s Relationship to Knowledge in Human Action We have now reached the heart of our inquiry. We are now in a position to pose directly the question of charity’s relationship to knowledge in human action. Does charity depend on knowledge? Specifically, does charity’s act depend on the specifying action of the intellect? In the pages that follow, we shall discover that since charity is the graced elevation of the will’s natural love, charity does indeed retain core features of love’s relationship to knowledge. In St. Thomas’ view, charity’s act presupposes and depends on conceptual knowledge in the intellect. It presupposes faith’s knowledge of charity’s proper object, God. We shall also find, however, that because of the limited character of faith’s knowledge of God, charity’s relationship to knowledge differs from natural love’s relationship to it in important and surprising ways. We shall discover that charity’s primary act, the act of loving God above all things, is not measured by any cognitive power of the human mind. In charity, our love for God transcends the boundaries of faith’s limited knowledge of God. Nevertheless, as a principle of action—as the love that underlies our love of neighbor and our love of all other things—charity not only depends on knowledge, it is specified and measured by it. Charity as Friendship with God St. Thomas begins his analysis of charity by defining it as a type of friendship with God. “Charity is a certain friendship (amicitia) of the hu147 man person toward God.”1 Thomas’ definition of charity as an amicitia marks the culmination of over a hundred years of scholastic reflection on the nature of charity. An analysis of the history of this reflection and a full account of the contours of Thomas’ description of charity as divine friendship are beyond the scope of this project.2 We shall study charity’s character as friendship only to the extent that it sheds light on charity’s relationship to knowledge. The Scriptures describe the love existing between God and his people in various ways, among which is the theme of friendship. “I no longer call your servants, but friends” (Jn .).3 St. Thomas appears to choose friendship as his preferred description of charity because of the light Aristotle’s analysis of friendship can shed on our relationship with God when this analysis is applied to charity.4 Thomas draws on Aristo148 Charity’s Relationship to Knowledge in Human Action . ST II-II .. . For early scholastic discussions concerning charity, see Wielockx, “Discussion scolastique sur l’amour.” For studies of St. Thomas’ theology of charity that place his theory of charity as friendship with God in its historical context, see James McEvoy, “Zur Rezeption des Aristotelischen Freundschaftsbegriffs in der Scholastik,” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie  (): –, and “Philia and Amicitia: the Philosophy of Friendship from Plato to Aquinas,” Sewanee Mediaeval Colloquium Occasional Papers (Sewanee, Tenn.: University Press, ), –; G.-G. Meersseman, “Pourquoi le Lombard n’a-t-il pas concu la charité comme amitié?” Miscellanea lombardiana (Novara: Instituto geografico de agostini, ), –; A. Stévaux, “La Doctrine de la charité dans les commentaires des Sentences de saint Albert, de saint Bonaventure et de saint Thomas,” Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses  (): –; Richard Egenter, Gottesfreundschaft : Die Lehre von der Gottesfreundschaft in der Scholastik und Mystik des  und  Jahrhunderts (Augsburg: Benno Filser, ); Franz Zigon, “Der Begriff der Caritas beim Lombarden, und der hl. Thomas,” Divus thomas (studia friburgensia) (): –. For general accounts of St. Thomas’ theology of charity as friendship with God, see Anthony Keaty, “Thomas’s Authority for Identifying Charity as Friendship: Aristotle or John ?” Thomist  (): –; L. Gregory Jones, “The Theological Transformation of Aristotelian Friendship in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas,” New Scholasticism  (): –; Fergus Kerr, “Charity as Friendship,” in Language, Meaning and God, edited by Brian Davies (London: Geoffrey Chapman, ), –; Joseph Bobik, “Aquinas on Friendship with God,” New Scholasticism  (): –; Louis M. Hughes, “Charity as Friendship in the Theology of Saint Thomas,” Angelicum  (): –; Leo Bond, “A Comparison between Human and Divine Friendship,” Thomist  (): –; M.-Joseph Keller and M.-Benoît Lavaud, “La charité comme amitié d’après saint Thomas,” Revue thomiste  (): –. . See ST II-II . sc. . See Stévaux, “La Doctrine de la charité dans les commentaires des Sentences,” –; Keaty, “Thomas’s Authority for Identifying Charity as Friendship,” . tle’s...