Thomas Instituut Utrecht- Thomas Aquinas on the Good, Moral Life, and Happiness

The essays collected in this volume deal with themes that are central to Aquinas’s practical philosophy of human virtue and happiness. They focus on the anthropological-theological presuppositions of his moral thought, such as good and evil, human freedom as rooted in the transcendental openness of the soul, practical reason and virtue, and, as recurring theme, the duality of nature and grace in accounting for human morality in the light of the Christian faith. Taken together, the essays present a nuanced and compelling picture of human agency, endowed with reason and free will, supported by God’s grace, and directed to final happiness through a life of virtue. The book argues for the subtle balance in Aquinas between the aspect of the moral ‘autonomy’ of reason on the one hand and the intimate presence of grace on the other, with its promise of a renewal of the virtuous life beyond the humanly possible.