Stanford University Press Ethics as a Work of Charity: Thomas Aquinas and Pagan Virtue (Encountering Traditions)

Most of us wonder how to make sense of the apparent moral excellences or virtues of those who have different visions of the good life or different religious commitments than our own. Rather than flattening or ignoring the deep difference between various visions of the good life, as is so often done, this book turns to the medieval Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas to find a better way. Thomas, it argues, shows us how to welcome the outsider and her virtue as an expression rather than a betrayal of one's own distinctive vision. It shows how Thomas, driven by a Christian commitment to charity and especially informed by Augustine, synthesized Augustinian and Aristotelian elements to construct an ethics that does justice―in love―to insiders and outsiders alike. Decosimo offers the first analysis of Thomas on pagan virtue and a reinterpretation of Thomas's ethics while providing a model for our own efforts to articulate a truthful hospitality and do ethics in our pluralist, globalized world. Review "While Ethics as a Work of Charity contains many close readings and strives to settle any number of textual disputes, it is not at all a pedantic work. Its chief virtue lies in the thoughtful and imaginative use to which it puts these careful readings. Decosimo adopts a spirit that he finds in Aquinas himself, one that combines an insistence on attentiveness with an even greater insistence on charity. As a result, Decosimo puts his considerable philosophical skills to work in articulating a full and sophisticated account of habit, virtue, and human happiness drawn chiefly from Aquinas's mature writings." Author: Jeffrey Hause Source: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews " Ethics as a Work of Charity is an impressive book on the whole and in its various moving parts. It will be of interest to those interested in virtue ethics, theology of religious outsiders, political Augustinians, and those interested in the relationship between theology and philosophy, faith and reason, natural and supernatural, and nature and grace." Author: Sean Larsen Source: Modern Theology "Decosimo's writing is precise and inviting, from the well-structured chapters down to the clear and manageable sentences. He explains Thomistic concepts well and with appropriate, contemporary examples. The book would be appropriate for classroom use at the masters' level and above...It will be an important resource to those interested in Aquinas as well as to Christians pursuing interreligious dialogue." Author: Kate Ward Source: Political Theology "[T]he author argues that Aquinas welcomes pagan virtues. All of humanity share in sin's brokenness and a desire for good. A capacity for virtue is thus part of what it means to be human . . . This important work shows us how central the virtues are for Aquinas's moral theology." Author: Pravin Thevathasan "[Decosimo] presents a lucid and innovative argument about the disputed status of 'pagan virtue' in debates in Christian ethics. To some readers, the very notion of 'pagan virtue' will raise eyebrows. Yet while most Christians today continue to believe that Christian faith permeates and transforms all aspects of a believer's life, most also affirm that people of any religious faith - or none - are capable of living virtuous lives . . . Ethics as a Work of Charity makes a substantial contribution to a perennial debate in Thomistic moral theology." Author: William Mattison "This is an important new work on the status of the virtues in Aquinas's moral theology. With a stunning command of the text and of the contemporary critical scene, David Decosimo argues that for St. Thomas, the pagan virtues are genuine virtues, that pagans achieve real good, and that such 'hyper-Augustinians' as John Milbank have not said the last word on the relation between virtue theory and moral theology. Decosimo's argument is compelling and opens up new paths for future work in the field." Author: G. Scott Davis S