Secunda Secundae #
A study of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Secunda Secundae (Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae). These lectures examine the theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity—and the particular applications of moral theology, exploring specific virtues and their practice in Christian life.
Listen #
Lectures #
1. Structure of Moral Theology and the Seven Virtues #
This lecture introduces the structure of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of virtues in the Secunda Secundae, explaining why moral philosophy must descend from universal principles to particular virtues. Berquist establishes the framework of seven virtues (three theological and four cardinal), grounded in the four human powers involved in action: reason, will, irascible appetite, and concupiscible appetite. He provides detailed analysis of the eleven passions or emotions, distinguishing between concupiscible desires (simple pleasure/pain) and irascible emotions (arising from difficulty), using concrete examples to illustrate how these emotions function in human experience.
2. The Object of Faith: First Truth and Complex Knowledge #
This lecture examines the first two articles of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of faith, specifically whether the object of faith is the first truth and whether that object is complex or simple. Berquist explores how God, though absolutely simple, must be known by humans through complex statements and propositions. The lecture emphasizes the distinction between the thing believed (God as simple) and the believer’s mode of knowing (necessarily complex), using Aristotelian epistemology to explain how human understanding grasps divine truth.
3. Faith and Falsity: The Formal Object of Faith #
This lecture examines whether faith can have something false as its object, a question central to understanding the nature of faith as a theological virtue. Berquist works through Thomas Aquinas’s systematic response, emphasizing that the formal object of faith—the first truth as revealed by God—cannot be false, while addressing apparent counterexamples involving Abraham’s belief in Christ’s future birth and the Eucharist. The lecture also explores how divine foreknowledge relates to contingent future events and the relationship between faith and the other theological virtues (hope and charity).
4. Faith and Vision: Can the Object of Faith Be Seen? #
This lecture examines Article 4’s question of whether the object of faith can be something seen. Berquist addresses the apparent contradiction between Christ’s words to Thomas (“because you see me, you believe”) and the Pauline definition of faith as “the argument of things not seen.” Through careful analysis of what “seeing” means in different contexts, he develops the crucial distinction that faith involves seeing that things should be believed, while never seeing the truth of those things in themselves. The lecture emphasizes that faith is a virtue that inclines the intellect, analogous to how moral virtues incline one toward proper action.
5. Faith and Knowledge: Can Faith Be Known? #
This lecture examines Article 5 of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of faith, addressing whether things believed by faith can be known or reasoned about. Berquist explores the distinction between knowledge (scientia), faith, and opinion, establishing that while some matters of faith can be demonstrated by natural reason (like God’s existence), most articles of faith are properly matters of belief only. The lecture emphasizes the crucial distinction between what is known ‘simply’ versus ‘somewhat’ (simpliciter vs. secundum quid), showing how the same truth can be known by one person and believed by another.
6. Growth and Enumeration of Articles of Faith #
This lecture addresses two central questions about the articles of faith: first, whether they grow or increase over time (Article 7), and second, how they are properly enumerated (Article 8). Berquist examines Thomas Aquinas’s resolution that while the substance of faith remains constant, its explicit formulation develops progressively. The lecture explores the principle that all subsequent articles are implicitly contained in earlier foundational beliefs, and explains the distinction between the seven articles pertaining to God’s divinity and seven pertaining to Christ’s humanity.
7. The Articles of Faith and the Symbol of the Creed #
This lecture examines the structure, necessity, and authority behind the Articles of Faith as articulated in the Creed (Symbolum). Berquist discusses why the faith must be collected into a summary form distinct from Scripture, how many articles there are and why they are distinguished, and the theological authority—specifically the Supreme Pontiff—required to add to or modify the Creed. The lecture addresses objections regarding whether the Creed appropriately expresses the faith and defends both the multiplicity of creeds and the Church’s doctrinal development.
8. Distinction, Order, and the Trinity in Thomistic Metaphysics #
This lecture explores the fundamental metaphysical concepts of distinction and order, particularly as they apply to understanding the Trinity. Berquist traces how Thomas Aquinas uses the distinction between material and formal distinction to explain how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished by relations rather than by division of substance. The lecture examines the four types of opposites in Aristotle, the various senses of ‘before’ in being and time, and establishes the philosophical priority of distinction over order.
9. Augustine’s Definition of Faith and Three Aspects of Belief #
This lecture examines Augustine’s definition of faith as “credere est cum assentione cogitare” (to believe is to assent with thinking), exploring the three senses of cogitare and how they distinguish faith from knowledge, doubt, opinion, and suspicion. Berquist analyzes the three distinct aspects of the act of faith—credere Deo (believing God as formal object), credere Deum (believing things about God as material object), and credere in Deum (believing toward God as end)—demonstrating how Thomas Aquinas employs Augustine’s definition to establish faith as a unique act of the intellect moved by the will.
10. Faith, Reason, and the Necessity of Belief for Salvation #
This lecture addresses Article 3 of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of faith, examining whether belief is necessary for salvation. Berquist works through three objections claiming faith is unnecessary (since perfection comes from nature, faith lacks certainty, and natural knowledge of God suffices), then develops Thomas’s response that the rational creature requires supernatural perfection beyond natural knowledge. The lecture emphasizes the three aspects of the act of faith—believing God (about God, which is good to do)—and illustrates how faith functions analogously to the teacher-student relationship in human learning.
11. Faith and Natural Reason: Necessity and Explicitness #
This lecture examines whether faith in divinely revealed truths is necessary for salvation, particularly when such truths can theoretically be known through natural reason. Berquist explores Thomas Aquinas’s three reasons for faith’s necessity (quickness, commonality, and certitude), addresses the distinction between explicit and implicit faith, and explains why not all persons are held to the same degree of explicit belief. The lecture also discusses the ordering of divine revelation through higher to lower persons in the Church.
12. Explicit Faith in Christ and the Trinity: Necessity for Salvation #
This lecture examines whether explicit belief in the mystery of Christ and the Trinity is necessary for salvation across all times and peoples. Berquist works through Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of these questions, exploring how the necessity of explicit faith varies according to different historical epochs, the diversity of persons, and whether revelation has been made. The lecture addresses objections from Scripture and patristic sources, particularly regarding John the Baptist and the Gentiles, while establishing the principle that explicit faith requirements increase progressively from before sin through the time of grace.
13. Merit of Faith and the Necessity of Confession #
This lecture examines whether human reason diminishes the merit of faith (Article 10) and whether confession of faith is an act of faith itself and necessary for salvation. Berquist works through Thomas Aquinas’s careful distinctions between reason preceding faith versus reason consequent upon faith, and analyzes the threefold meaning of confession in Scripture. The lecture addresses practical pastoral concerns about when explicit confession of faith is required and when it may be withheld to avoid scandal.
14. The Definition of Faith: Substance and Conviction #
This lecture examines Thomas Aquinas’s defense of the Pauline definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1 as “the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Berquist systematically addresses five objections to this definition, clarifying how “substance” should be understood analogically rather than as a categorical term, why “things hoped for” is referenced rather than “things loved,” and how “conviction” (argumentum) operates through divine authority rather than evident demonstration. The lecture demonstrates how all essential elements of faith as a theological virtue are contained within Scripture’s concise formulation.