THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA “No Greater Love
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA “No Greater Love”: Friendship as a Soteriological Theme in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas and Bernard Lonergan. A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Mary Grace DeBroeck Washington, D.C. 2019 “No Greater Love”: Friendship as a Soteriological Theme in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas and Bernard Lonergan. Mary G. DeBroeck, Ph.D. Director: William Loewe, Ph.D. Friendship has been a recurrent theme in the history of Christian thought, used most readily to characterize the individual’s, as well as the Church’s, relationship with Christ. In the 13th century, St. Thomas’s contribution is notable for incorporating into his work on the life of grace Aristotle’s philosophy of friendship. More recently, Bernard Lonergan, S.J., 1904-1984, a student of the thought of St. Thomas, has brought Thomas’s understanding of friendship into his own work on the life of grace. In addition to the context of grace, the notion of friendship has also functioned in a soteriological context for both Lonergan and Thomas. This dissertation offers an in-depth study of the notion of friendship within the soteriology of both Thomas and Lonergan; and, through their comparison, it demonstrates how Lonergan develops Thomas’s thought on the soteriological significance of friendship in his formulation of the Law of the Cross. The first two chapters focus on the theological understanding of friendship found in the work of Thomas, first by presenting Thomas’s understanding of friendship, his use of Aristotle, and how he identifies charity as “a certain kind of friendship” in the life of grace. The second chapter explores Thomas’s early soteriological writings that incorporate the concept of friendship and his brief appeal to friendship in the Summa Theologiae in the context of satisfaction in which he states that if two are “one in charity” then one can atone for the other. The third chapter examines Lonergan’s assimilation of Thomas’s notion of friendship in the context of grace in which Lonergan builds on and transposes this concept for his own theological project. The fourth chapter explicates Lonergan’s expansion of Thomas’s theme of friendship in a soteriological context to better understand how and why satisfaction occurs through the union of wills that Thomas indicated. Lonergan draws out the implications of Thomas’ construal of charity as friendship by identifying Christ’s saving work as God’s offer of friendship to the unfriendly. This offer becomes an integral and central part of God’s redemptive transformation of evil into good through Christ’s self-sacrificing love for his friends enacted on the cross. This dissertation by Mary G. DeBroeck fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology approved by William P. Loewe, Ph.D., as Director, and by Rev. John P. Galvin, Dr. Theol., and Rev. Nicholas Lombardo, O.P., Ph.D. as Readers. ______________________________________ William P. Loewe, Ph.D., Director ______________________________________ Rev. John P. Galvin, Dr. Theol., Reader ______________________________________ Rev. Nicholas Lombardo, O.P., Ph.D., Reader ii For my parents, Jay and Lyn, who together strive to be closer friends of Christ. iii Christ is our wisest and greatest friend. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae I-II Q. 108 Although she is but one, [Wisdom] can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God. Wisdom 7:27 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. viii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1: CHARITY AS FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGIAE ........ 15 FRIENDSHIP ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE .................................................................................. 18 FRIENDSHIP AND ITS ACTS IN THOMAS’S SUMMA THEOLOGIAE .................................................. 23 Communicatio as the Cause of Friendship........................................................................... 27 The Acts of Friendship ....................................................................................................... 29 Benevolent “Amor Concupiscentiae” ............................................................................ 30 Benevolent “Amor Amicitiae” ....................................................................................... 33 Beneficence ................................................................................................................... 35 Concord......................................................................................................................... 36 Delight .......................................................................................................................... 39 CHARITY AS FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD IN THE SUMMA IIA-IIAE, Q.23 ........................................... 41 Communicatio of Charity .................................................................................................... 43 Communicatio and God’s Invitation to Friendship .............................................................. 46 Charity as Habit and Virtue ................................................................................................ 51 The Object of Charity ......................................................................................................... 54 The Acts of Friendship Transformed by Charity ................................................................. 58 “Amor Concupiscentiae” and “Amor Amicitiae” ........................................................... 59 Beneficence ................................................................................................................... 60 Peace: Concord in Charity ............................................................................................. 63 Spiritual Joy: Delight in Charity .................................................................................... 65 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPT OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SOTERIOLOGICAL THOUGHT OF THOMAS AQUINAS......................................................................................................... 68 EARLY WORKS WITH FRIENDSHIP AS A SOTERIOLOGICAL THEME ............................................. 71 Friendship in the Summa contra Gentiles ............................................................................ 71 The work of the Spirit .................................................................................................... 73 The work of Christ ........................................................................................................ 79 Christ as Friend in the Lectura super Ioannem .................................................................... 86 Concluding Observations on Friendship in a Soteriological Context ................................... 95 SOTERIOLOGY OF THE SUMMA THEOLOGIAE ............................................................................ 99 Thomas’s Tertia Pars: Christ as the way back to God ....................................................... 103 v Thomas’s Tertia Pars: Humanity’s Return to God through the Sacraments ....................... 111 The Eucharist as the sacrament of friendship ............................................................... 113 Penance as a sacrament of reconciliation between friends ............................................ 115 CONCLUSION: AN INTENTIONAL OMISSION OR ACCIDENTAL OVERSIGHT? ............................. 118 CHAPTER 3: FRIENDSHIP AND THE ORDER OF GRACE IN EARLY LONERGAN ........... 125 DE ENTE SUPERNATURALI ...................................................................................................... 127 Thesis 1: The Proportion of Nature ................................................................................... 128 Thesis 2: Theorem of the Supernatural .............................................................................. 135 Concluding Observations .................................................................................................. 138 LONERGAN’S “SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES ON SANCTIFYING GRACE” .......................................... 141 The Scriptural Roots of Sanctifying Grace ........................................................................ 142 Friendship in the Systematic Presentation of Sanctifying Grace ........................................ 145 Friendship with God as an imitation of divine love ...................................................... 146 Friendship with God as an effect of sanctifying grace .................................................. 151 Concluding Observations .................................................................................................. 153 LONERGAN’S “FINALITY, LOVE, MARRIAGE” ........................................................................ 155 Vertical Finality ................................................................................................................ 157 Vertical Finality in the Context of Human Loving and