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

Introduction

Introduction The saints are united to God by knowledge and by love. Thomas Aquinas1 When confronted with the question of love’s relationship to knowledge , we might be tempted to say, along with a voice from a Midsummer Night, that “reason and love keep little company together nowadays.”2 Indeed, in reaction to the rationalism of modern thought, many would join their voices to the sentiment that “reason and love are sworn enemies .”3 Yet, even if we grant that the warmth of love has little in common with the cold calculations of rationalism, love seems nevertheless to remain deeply intertwined with knowledge. “Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love.”4 This hard-won insight from an older Shakespeare speaks more truly the classical perspective on love. For Augustine, nothing is loved that is not first known.5 Deeper knowledge will either increase or diminish this love. Moreover, our judgments are deeply shaped by our loves.6 These two aspects of knowledge and love seem to dance in uneasy tension within the human heart. The temptation is to focus on one aspect to the detriment of the other. In the pages that follow, we shall explore one thinker’s conception of xvii . Summa theologiae (henceforth cited as ST) III .: “unio sanctorum ad deum [est] per cognitionem et amorem.” . William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, act , scene . . Pierre Corneille, La Veuve (The Widow), act , scene . . William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act , scene . . See Augustine, De trinitate . (PL , ). . See Augustine, De moribus ecclesiae catholicae . (PL , ). See also Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics . (a–b). these twin features of love’s relationship to knowledge. We shall explore Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of the divine love poured into the human heart by God’s Spirit (Rom .). In other words, we shall study St. Thomas’ theology of charity. Our primary goal will be to reveal the Thomistic understanding of charity’s relationship to knowledge in human action. Even though the divine love of charity is our focus, this focus requires a preliminary study of natural human love. Since in Aquinas’ view charity elevates the human will’s natural love, to understand charity’s relationship to knowledge one must first grasp the will’s relationship to intellect and human love’s relationship to human knowledge . Consequently, the core chapters of this work offer a close analysis of the relationship in Aquinas’ thought between intellect and will (chapter two), knowledge and love (chapter three), and most fully, between charity and the infused cognitive virtues (chapters four and five). Lastly, we shall investigate what the Thomistic conception of charity’s relationship to knowledge implies about how charity functions as a virtue (chapter six). Other scholars have studied St. Thomas’ understanding of charity’s relationship to knowledge.7 Why, therefore, does Aquinas’ theology of this relationship merit yet another extended study? Answering this quesxviii Introduction . A. Forest, “Connaissance et amour,” Revue thomiste  (): –; Russell Hittinger , “When It Is More Excellent to Love than to Know: the Other Side of Thomistic ‘Realism,’” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association  (): –; Albert Ilien, Wesen und Funktion der Liebe bei Thomas von Aquin (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, ); Raymond McGinnis, The Wisdom of Love: A Study in the Psycho-Metaphysics of Love according to the Principles of St. Thomas (Rome: Officium libri catholici, ); Elsbeth Michel, Nullus potest amare aliquid incognitum: ein Beitrag zur Frage des Intellektualismus bei Thomas Von Aquin (Fribourg, Switzerland: Editions universitaires de Fribourg, ); Charles J. O’Neil, “Is Prudence Love?” Monist  (): –; William L. Rossner, “An Inclination to an Intellectually Known Good: the Question of the Existence of Intellectual Love,” Modern Schoolman  (): –; “The Process of Human Intellectual Love, or Spirating a Pondus,” Thomist  (): –; Pierre Rousselot, The Intellectualism of Saint Thomas, translated by J. E. O’Mahony (New York: Sheed and Ward, ); HD Simonin, “La Primauté de l’amour dans la doctrine de saint Thomas d’Aquin,” Vie spirituelle  (), suppl.: –; C. A. J. Van Ouwerkerk, Caritas et Ratio: étude sur le double principe de la vie morale chrétienne d’après s. Thomas d’Aquin (Nijmegen: Drukkerij Gebr. Janssen, ); Daniel Westberg, Right Practical Reason, Aristotle, Action, and Prudence in Aquinas (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ), –. tion is the goal of these introductory remarks. The answer hinges on the recent work of a number of Catholic moral theologians. Specifically, these theologians, whom we can profitably call theologians of moral motivation, affirm that charity’s act is antecedent to and...