Aquinas and Empowerment: Classical Ethics for Ordinary Lives

442 Pages·1997·1.12 MB·English

by  G. Simon Harak

Aquinas and Empowerment : Classical
title: Ethics for Ordinary Lives Moral Traditions
& Moral Arguments
author: Harak, G. Simon
publisher: Georgetown University Press
isbn10 | asin: 087840614X
print isbn13: 9780878406142
ebook isbn13: 9780585276526
language: English
Ethics, Ethics, Modern--20th century, ,
Thomas,--Aquinas, Saint,--1225?-1274--
subject
Ethics, Thomas,--Aquinas, Saint,--1225?
-1274--Influence.
publication date: 1996
lcc: BJ1031.A73 1996eb
ddc: 170
Ethics, Ethics, Modern--20th century, ,
Thomas,--Aquinas, Saint,--1225?-1274--
subject:
Ethics, Thomas,--Aquinas, Saint,--1225?
-1274--Influence.
Page i
Aquinas and Empowerment
Page ii
MORAL TRADITIONS & MORAL ARGUMENTS
A SERIES EDITED BY JAMES F. KEENAN, S.J.
The Evolution of Altruism and the Ordering of Love
STEPHEN J. POPE
Love, Human and Divine: The Heart of Christian Ethics
EDWARD COLLINS VACEK, S.J.
Bridging the Sacred and the Secular: Selected Writings of John
Courtney Murray, S.J.
J. LEON HOOPER, S.J., editor
The Context of Casuistry
Edited by
JAMES F. KEENAN, S.J. and THOMAS A. SHANNON
Page iii
Aquinas and Empowerment
Classical Ethics for Ordinary Lives
Edited by
G. Simon Harak, S.J.
Page iv
Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C.
© 1996 by Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1996
THIS VOLUME IS PRINTED ON ACID-FREE OFFSET BOOK PAPER
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aquinas and empowerment : classical ethics for ordinary lives / G.
Simon Harak, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and and index.
1. Ethics. 2. Ethics, Modern20th century. 3. Thomas, Aquinas,
Saint, 1225?1274Ethics. 4. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?1274
Influence. I. Harak, G. Simon, 1948 .
BJ1031.A73 1996
170dc20
ISBN 0-87840-604-
2 (cloth : alk. paper) 95-42743
Page v
To all from whom we have learned.
And, of course, to the One Teacher.
Page vii
Contents
Introduction ix
Getting Egypt out of the People: Aquinas's Contributions 1
to Liberation
Judith W. Kay
Taking Women's Experience Seriously: Thomas Aquinas 47
and Audre Lorde on Anger
Diana Fritz Cates
Child Abuse and Embodiment from a Thomistic 89
Perspective
G. Simon Harak, S. J.
Growing Together in the Divine Love: The Role of 134
Charity in the Moral Theology of Thomas Aquinas
Paul J. Wadell, C.P.
Epieikeia and the Accomplishment of the Just 170
Romanus Cessario, O.P.
Index 207
Page ix
Introduction
This book draws together essays by scholars who are struggling to
address specific areas of need in our modern world and who have
found themselves relying on Thomas Aquinas to help them in their
efforts. Judith Kay first approached me with the idea for such a
volume two years ago. She observed that many "new scholars" were
using Thomas Aquinas as a primary resource for structuring their
ethical reflections. What if we offered those new scholars an
opportunity to grapple with specific issues in current ethical
discourse? And what if we asked them to make their reliance on
Thomas explicit? The result would be a unique perspective on these
current issues, together with a deeper appreciation, and perhaps even a
clarification, of the writings of Thomas.
I believe we have been faithful to Dr. Kay's academic vision in
Aquinas and Empowerment: Classical Ethics for Ordinary Lives. We
take the term "ordinary lives" from Charles Taylor, whose work
remarks on "the continuation in modern culture of a trend that is now
centuries old and places the centre of gravity not in some higher
sphere but in what I want to call 'ordinary life/ that is, the life of
production and the family, of work and love."
1 It is to that specific, ordinary dimension of modern life that we
address our Thomistic ethics.
The book begins with Dr. Kay's essay, "Getting Egypt out of the
People: Aquinas's Contributions to Liberation." In that essay, Kay
brings together several important notions in Taylor's philosophy.
Taylor observes that although our modern identities are supposed to
be "inwardly generated," the nature of our ordinary lives requires that
"I negotiate [my identity] through dialogue, partly overt, partly
internalized, with others."2 Taylor is also aware of "how identity can
be formed or malformed in our contact with significant others.''3 In
her essay, Kay examines that inward deformation of our identities