159. Theological Virtues: Their Nature and Distinction

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Question of Theological Virtues’ Existence #

• Whether there are virtues that order man to God as his supernatural end
• The relation between virtue, nature, and the supernatural order
• Whether precepts in divine law (Scripture) commanding faith, hope, and charity establish these as virtues

Two-fold Beatitude of Man #

• Natural beatitude: proportioned to human nature, achievable through natural principles and investigated by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics
• Supernatural beatitude: exceeding human nature, achievable only through divine power and grace, requiring man to partake of divine nature
• Man requires additional supernatural principles (theological virtues) to be ordered to this supernatural end

Distinction from Other Virtues #

• Intellectual and moral virtues: perfect the soul according to the proportion of human nature; their object is comprehensible by human reason
• Theological virtues: perfect reason and will in a supernatural way; their object is God insofar as He exceeds the knowledge of human reason
• Distinction based on formal object: the way in which a thing is known or loved matters more than the thing itself
• Example: knowing the shape of a box through sight differs formally from knowing it through touch, though the same object is known

Why Theological Virtues Are Called “Theological” #

• They have God for their object, ordering man rightly to God
• They are poured into man by God alone
• They are treated and revealed to us only through divine revelation
• Named from the science (theology) that studies them, not from the virtues themselves

Key Arguments #

Arguments Against Theological Virtues (Objections) #

1. From the nature of virtue: Virtue is a disposition of the perfect to the best according to nature. The divine exceeds human nature, so theological virtues cannot be human virtues.
2. From divine exemplars: Theological virtues are divine virtues (exemplars), which exist in God, not in us. They cannot therefore be virtues of men.
3. From natural ordering: Reason and will are naturally ordered to God as beginning and end. No additional virtues are required.
4. From the completeness of virtue categories: All virtues are either intellectual or moral. Theological virtues fit neither category, so they may not exist.

Arguments for Theological Virtues (Responses) #

1. Participation in divine nature: Just as ignited wood partakes of fire’s nature while remaining wood, man partakes of divine nature through grace while remaining human. Thus theological virtues can perfect man.
2. Insufficiency of natural principles: Natural principles are insufficient for supernatural beatitude. Scripture testifies: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
3. Divine precepts in Scripture: The divine law commands faith, hope, and charity (e.g., Ecclesiastes 2: “Who fears God, believe in him… hope in him… love him”). Commands about virtue presuppose the virtue exists.
4. Formal distinction of object: The formal object of theological virtues—God as exceeding human reason—differs formally from the objects of intellectual and moral virtues, which are comprehensible by reason. This formal difference constitutes a distinction in species.

Important Definitions #

Virtue (ἀρετή / virtus) #

• A disposition of the perfect to the best
• Perfects the nature of the thing that has it
• Distinguished in species according to the formal difference of their objects

Beatitude (beatitudo / μακαριότης) #

• Natural beatitude: happiness achievable through virtue according to human nature
• Supernatural beatitude: happiness exceeding nature, the vision of God (visio beatifica), achievable only through divine grace

Theological Virtues (virtutes theologicae) #

• Supernatural habits perfecting reason and will toward union with God
• Ordered to a beatitude exceeding human nature
• Poured into man by God alone and revealed through divine revelation

Participation (participatio) #

• The mode by which something shares in a higher nature without possessing it essentially
• Man partakes of divine nature through grace (2 Peter 1:4: “consortes divinae naturae”)

Formal Object (obiectum formale) #

• The way or manner in which a thing is known, loved, or pursued
• Determines the species (specific nature) of a habit or virtue
• Example: wisdom as an intellectual virtue considers divine things as investigated by human reason; theological virtues consider divine things as exceeding human reason

Examples & Illustrations #

The Wood and Fire Analogy #

• Wood that is ignited partakes of the nature of fire while remaining wood
• Similarly, man through grace partakes of divine nature while remaining human
• This explains how theological virtues can be human virtues despite exceeding human nature essentially

Knowledge of Shape Through Different Senses #

• The same box’s shape can be known through sight (the color/appearance) or through touch (hardness, texture)
• The formal object differs even though the material object is the same
• Similarly, God can be known through human reason (natural theology/philosophy) or as exceeding reason (theological virtues)

Philosophy vs. Theology #

• A student may learn about God in catechism and then in philosophy, thinking there is no difference
• Yet they are not knowing the same thing in the same way: philosophy investigates God through reason; theology receives God through revelation
• This illustrates the principle that the formal object (manner of knowing) determines the species of knowledge

Aristotle on Divine Wisdom #

• Aristotle calls wisdom in Book VI of the Nicomachean Ethics “theology”
• He acknowledges that wisdom is divine knowledge, which either God alone possesses or God possesses most of all
• This suggests Aristotle himself recognized a distinction between human wisdom and divine wisdom

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Are there theological virtues at all? #

Answer: Yes. Although theological virtues exceed human nature essentially, man participates in divine nature through grace. Thus, they perfect man according to the nature he partakes of (the divine nature), making them genuinely human virtues in a qualified sense. Scripture commands faith, hope, and charity, confirming these are virtues ordering man to God.

Q2: How do theological virtues differ from intellectual and moral virtues? #

Answer: The formal object differs: theological virtues have as their object God insofar as He exceeds human reason, while intellectual and moral virtues have objects comprehensible by human reason. Additionally, theological virtues perfect the soul supernaturally, whereas intellectual and moral virtues perfect it according to the proportion of human nature. This formal difference in object constitutes a distinction in species.

Q3: Why are there specifically three theological virtues? #

Answer: This question is not fully addressed in this lecture, though Berquist notes it is the subject of the subsequent question.

Notable Quotes #

“Just as through the natural beginnings, one is ordered to an end that is in accordance with one’s nature, but not nevertheless without divine aid; and these beginnings are called what? Theological virtues.”

“For the object of the theological virtues is God himself, who is the what? Last end of things, insofar as he exceeds the knowledge of our what? Reason. But the object of the moral virtues, intellectual virtues and the moral virtues, is something that is able to be comprehended by human what? Reason, right?”

“Man partakes of the, what? Divine nature. And thus, these virtues belong to man, according to the nature that he partakes of, right?”

“The wisdom, which is laid down by the philosopher to be intellectual virtue, considers divine things according as they are able to be investigated by human reason, huh? But the theological virtues about those things which exceed human reason, huh?”

Pedagogical Observations #

• Berquist emphasizes the importance of understanding formal distinction: things can be known in different ways, and this difference in mode constitutes a real distinction in the knowledge or virtue itself.
• He illustrates Thomas’s careful ordering of questions: whether something exists, what it is, how it differs, and the order of its parts.
• The principle that science is known from its subject, not vice versa, is applied to justify naming virtues “theological” from the science of theology that reveals them.
• Berquist stresses the continuity between Aristotle and Thomas: Aristotle’s ethics investigates natural beatitude; Christian theology adds the investigation of supernatural beatitude and the virtues by which it is achieved.