An Investigation into the Relationship between Aristotelian Eudaimonia and Christian Discipleship
An Investigation into the Relationship between Aristotelian Eudaimonia and Christian Discipleship

Author: Donald E. Williams

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-05-09

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1666768790

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The quest for happiness, human flourishing, and well-being is one of the most universal, primeval desires of humankind. It is a natural desire to care for one’s personal interest, to seek some measure of flourishing. In two of his great works, Thomas Aquinas argues that perfect happiness is not possible in this life. Humankind’s quest for happiness is found in the contemplation of the truth which begins in this life but will be consummated in the Beatific Vision when we shall see Christ face to face. In the second part of his imminent work The Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas seeks to integrate Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. The cornerstone of his theoretical system is eudaimonia, human flourishing, well-being, or happiness. Aquinas ultimately concludes that perfect happiness (beatitude) cannot be achieved in this life. However, imperfect happiness is possible. For Aquinas, humankind’s happiness (eudaimonia) is realized in the sublime contemplation of the truth. This quest for wisdom and understanding is specific to humankind, as opposed to other creatures. Aquinas asserts that the perfect discernment, the realization of truth will occur in the Beatific Vision when we see God face to face.

An Investigation into the Relationship between Aristotelian Eudaimonia and Christian Discipleship
An Investigation into the Relationship between Aristotelian Eudaimonia and Christian Discipleship

Author: Donald E. Williams

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-05-09

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1666768812

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The quest for happiness, human flourishing, and well-being is one of the most universal, primeval desires of humankind. It is a natural desire to care for one's personal interest, to seek some measure of flourishing. In two of his great works, Thomas Aquinas argues that perfect happiness is not possible in this life. Humankind's quest for happiness is found in the contemplation of the truth which begins in this life but will be consummated in the Beatific Vision when we shall see Christ face to face. In the second part of his imminent work The Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas seeks to integrate Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. The cornerstone of his theoretical system is eudaimonia, human flourishing, well-being, or happiness. Aquinas ultimately concludes that perfect happiness (beatitude) cannot be achieved in this life. However, imperfect happiness is possible. For Aquinas, humankind's happiness (eudaimonia) is realized in the sublime contemplation of the truth. This quest for wisdom and understanding is specific to humankind, as opposed to other creatures. Aquinas asserts that the perfect discernment, the realization of truth will occur in the Beatific Vision when we see God face to face.

The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness

Author: Martha C. Nussbaum

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-01-15

Total Pages: 587

ISBN-13: 1107393779

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This book is a study of ancient views about 'moral luck'. It examines the fundamental ethical problem that many of the valued constituents of a well-lived life are vulnerable to factors outside a person's control, and asks how this affects our appraisal of persons and their lives. The Greeks made a profound contribution to these questions, yet neither the problems nor the Greek views of them have received the attention they deserve. This book thus recovers a central dimension of Greek thought and addresses major issues in contemporary ethical theory. One of its most original aspects is its interrelated treatment of both literary and philosophical texts. The Fragility of Goodness has proven to be important reading for philosophers and classicists, and its non-technical style makes it accessible to any educated person interested in the difficult problems it tackles. This edition, first published in 2001, features a preface by Martha Nussbaum.

The Year of Our Lord 1943
The Year of Our Lord 1943

Author: Alan Jacobs

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-02

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0190864672

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By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. These Christian intellectuals-Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others-sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world. In this book, Alan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. Working mostly separately and in ignorance of one another's ideas, the five developed a strikingly consistent argument that the only means by which democratic societies could be prepared for their world-wide economic and political dominance was through a renewal of education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first book to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.

The Ways of Judgement
The Ways of Judgement

Author: Oliver O'Donovan

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2008-01-29

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 0802863469

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In this probing book Oliver O'Donovan extends the exploration into the correspondence between theology and politics that he began in The Desire of the Nations. While that earlier work took as its starting point the biblical proclamation of God's authority, The Ways of Judgment approaches political theology from the political side. Responsive to developments such as the uncertain role of the United Nations after the Cold War and the expansion of the European Union, O'Donovan also draws on the extensive tradition of Christian political thought and a range of contemporary theologians. Rather than supposing, as does some political theology, that the right political orientations are well understood and that theological beliefs should be renegotiated to fit them, O'Donovan considers contemporary social and political realities to be impenetrably obscure and elusive. Finding the gospel proclamation luminous by contrast, O'Donovan sheds light from the Christian faith upon the intricate challenge of seeking the good in late-modern Western society. Pursuing his analysis in three movements, O'Donovan first considers the paradigmatic political act, the act of judgment, and then takes up the question of forming political institutions through representation. Finally, he tackles the opposition between political institutions and the church, provocatively investigating how Christians can be the community instructed by Jesus to "judge not."

The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics, Second Edition
The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics, Second Edition

Author: Romanus Cessario, O.P.

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess

Published: 2008-11-15

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0268076804

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Since it was first published in 1991, The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics has received praise from a wide range of commentators, both Catholic and Protestant. This second edition includes discussion of works that have appeared since the early 1990s, especially the first papal document to address fundamental questions of moral theology, Veritatis Splendor. Those who already have adopted the book for classroom use will welcome this new edition, while those who have just been introduced to it will find an authoritative account of the status that virtue-centered theological ethics enjoys today. Following a new preface, the text of the six chapters from the original edition remains unchanged. However, Romanus Cessario has substantially updated his notes to account for recent literature on the subject, and a new chapter that accommodates his original study to current developments in moral theology. This second edition will inspire a new generation of students and teachers.

Happiness and the Christian Moral Life
Happiness and the Christian Moral Life

Author: Paul J. Wadell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-05-20

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1442255188

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Happiness and the Christian Moral Life introduces students to Christian ethics through the lens of happiness. The book suggests that the heart of ethics is not rules and obligations but our deep desire for happiness and fulfillment. We achieve that happiness when we become people who love the good and seek it in everything we do. The third edition of this reader-friendly text has been revised and updated throughout. It introduces Christian ethics with sensitivity towards readers who may not be Christian themselves. After an overview of basic concepts and key thinkers such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, subsequent chapters explore the importance of narrative in Christian ethics, the place of friendship and community in Christian moral life, the role of virtues in our quest for fulfillment, a Christian understanding of the person, a Christian theology of freedom, and false steps on the path to happiness. Final chapters discuss the role of conscience and prudence, love, and justice. The third edition has been re-structured to better meet teaching needs by moving the discussion of narrative earlier in the book. This edition features fresh, global examples; revised introductions to key thinkers; discussions of tough, contemporary topics such as hook-up culture; careful consideration of the words of Pope Francis on themes ranging from consumerism and freedom to love and the environment; and more.

Catholic Perspectives on Medical Morals
Catholic Perspectives on Medical Morals

Author: Edmund D. Pellegrino

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9400925387

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CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVES AND CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL MORALS A Catholic perspective on medical morals antedates the current world wide interest in medical and biomedical ethics by many centuries[5]. Discussions about the moral status of the fetus, abortion, contraception, and sterilization can be found in the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Teachings on various aspects of medical morals were scattered throughout the penitential books of the early medieval church and later in more formal treatises when moral theology became recog nized as a distinct discipline. Still later, medical morality was incorpor ated into the many pastoral works on medicine. Finally, in the contemporary period, works that strictly focus on medical ethics are produced by Catholic moral theologians who have special interests in matters medical. Moreover, this long tradition of teaching has been put into practice in the medical moral directives governing the operation of hospitals under Catholic sponsorship. Catholic hospitals were monitored by Ethics Committees long before such committees were recommended by the New Jersey Court in the Karen Ann Quinlan case or by the President's Commission in 1983 ([8, 9]). Underlying the Catholic moral tradition was the use of the casuistic method, which since the 17th and 18th centuries was employed by Catholic moralists to study and resolve concrete clinical ethical dilem mas. The history of casuistry is of renewed interest today when the case method has become so widely used in the current revival of interest in medical ethics[ll].

The Gospel of Hellas
The Gospel of Hellas

Author: Daisy Oopsy

Publisher: Steiner Books

Published: 2004-08

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780000001139

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"To be reminded in a utilitarian, materialistic age that the ideals of the Greek mind can quicken culture, even today, is refreshing to heart and soul." R. M. Querido The Christian civilization of the Western would is built on two colums: the heritages of the Old Testament and that of Hellas. This has been know since the days Clement of Alexandria, the found of the first Christian philosophy in the second century A.D., who was by descent a Greek and by faith a Christian. Clement appraised the dialectic of Plato and the metaphysics of Aristotle to be equally significant with the Genesis of Moses and the books of the prophets. In placing the message of the Greeks on the same level as the revelation of the Old Testament, he laid the cornerstone for building a true hhistory of the mission of Hellas. In fact, it is an integral part of the task of this book to show that besides the events in the lives of the Hebrews there was nothing that more immediately prepared humanity for the coming of Christ than what lived in the spirit of Hellas. Hence, the story of the heathen heritage becomes the Gospel of Hellas."