Passions in Christ: Spontaneity, Development, and Virtue

The Thomist 73 (2009): 53-87 PASSIONS IN CHRIST: SPONTANEITY, DEVELOPMENT, AND VIRTUE CRAIG STEVEN TITUS Institute for the Psychological Sciences Arlington, Virginia University ofFribourg Fribourg, Switzerland THE GOSPELS DESCRIBE Jesus Christ as passionate and emotional. He wept over the death of a close friend Gohn 11:35) and shed tears over the fate of Jerusalem (Matt 23:37; Luke 19:41). He rejoiced with his disciples (Luke 10:21) and expressed affection for particular people-men (Mark 10:21; John 13:23) and women (Mark 9:36), adults and children (Matt 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-14). He was roused to anger (30 references : Mark 10:14; 11:15-19), but also to express compassion (25 references: Luke 7:13).1 He suffered physical hunger, thirst, pain, and death. These passages (and many others) demonstrate that the four canonical Gospels describe Jesus Christ as passionate , even spontaneous in the expression of his emotions. Directly or indirectly, the passions in Christ have been debated throughout the centuries. Although this essay will neither address the particular emotional emphases of each Gospel nor the details of the great Christological controversies, it will address the quality of Christ's passions and their relevance for Christian ethics. Contemporary moral theologians, especially those that are 1 Throughout this essay, I have drawn draw upon the most extensive study on the passions in Christ to date, that of Paul Gondreau, The Passions ofChrist's Soul in the Theology ofSt. Thomas Aquinas, Beitriige zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, n.f. 61 (Munster: Aschendorff, 2002), which is remarkable for its historical method and comprehensive reflections on Aquinas's Christology. 53 54 CRAIG STEVEN TITUS interested in moral progress that seeks to imitate Christ, have reason to be attentive to the quality of his passions and emotions.2 In face of the extremes of rationalist and voluntarist condemnations of spontaneous emotions, on the one hand, and of emotivist celebrations ofthem, on the other, Servais Pinckaers-in his presentation of moral theology and his explication of St. Thomas Aquinas's thought-has identified types of spontaneity that are fitting for virtuous emotions and for a spiritual life in imitation of Christ.3 His position is neither uncontroversial nor 2 In addition to the numerous writings of Servais Pinckaers that guide this article, I would like to mention other major contemporary sources that rely on St. Thomas Aquinas for a deeper understanding of the emotions in moral agency: Romanus Cessario, The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics (2d ed.; Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008); Robert C. Roberts, "Thomas Aquinas on the Morality of Emotions," History ofPhilosophy Quarterly 9 (1992): 287-305; Diana Fritz Cates, Choosing to Feel: Virtue, Friendship, and Compassion for Friends (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997); Timothy McDermott, "Beginnings and Ends: Some Thoughts on Thomas Aquinas, Virtue and Emotions," Studies in Christian Ethics 12.1 (1999): 35-47; Peter King, "Aquinas on Passion," in E. Stump and S. MacDonald, eds., Aquinas's Moral Theory: Essays in Honor ofNorman Kretzmann (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999), 101-32; Romanus Cessario, Introduction to Moral Theology (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2001); Stephen Loughlin, "Similarities and Differences between Human and Animal Emotion in Aquinas's Thought," The Thomist 65 (2001): 45-65; W. Jerome Bracken, "Of What Benefit to Himself Was Christ's Suffering? Merit in Aquinas's Theology ofthe Passion," The Thomist 65 (2001): 385407 ; Gondreau, The Passions of Christ's Soul; Kevin White, "The Passions of the Soul," in Stephen]. Pope, ed., The Ethics ofAquinas (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002), 103-15; Carlo Leget, "Martha Nussbaum and Thomas Aquinas on the Emotions," Theological Studies 64 (2003): 558-81; Michael S. Sherwin, By Knowledge and By Love: Charity and Knowledge in the Moral Theology ofSt. Thomas Aquinas (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2005); Craig Steven Titus, Resilience and the Virtue of Fortitude: Aquinas in Dialogue with the Psychosocial Sciences (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006); Matthew Levering, "Natural Law and Natural Inclinations: Rhonheimer, Pinkcaers, McAleer," The Thomist 70 (2006): 155-201; Paul Gondreau, "The Passions and the Moral Life...