Perfecting Human Actions

Author : John Michael Rziha
Publisher : CUA Press
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780813216720

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Perfecting Human Actions by John Michael Rziha Pdf

During the last few centuries, a practical dichotomy between God and humans has developed within moral theory. As a result, moral theory tends to focus only on humans where human autonomy is foundational or only on God where divine commands capriciously rule. However, the moral theology of Thomas Aquinas overcomes this dichotomy. For Thomas, humans reach their perfection by participating in God's wisdom and love. Perfecting Human Actions explores the ways humans participate in eternal law--God's wisdom that guides and moves all things to their proper action. The book begins with a thoughtful examination of the philosophic recovery of the notion of participation in Thomistic metaphysics. It then explains Thomas's theological understanding of the notion of participation to show how humans are related to God. It is discovered that when performing human actions, humans participate in the eternal law in two ways: as moved and governed by it, and cognitively. In reference to participation as moved and governed, humans are directed by God to their proper end of eternal happiness. This mode of participation can be increased by perfecting the natural inclinations through virtue, grace, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In reference to cognitive participation, humans as rational creatures can know their proper end and how to attain it. Through this knowledge of moral truths, the intellect participates in the eternal law. Cognitive participation is perfected by the intellectual virtues (especially faith) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (especially wisdom). The book concludes by showing how the notion of human participation in the eternal law is a much better foundation for moral theory than the contemporary notion of autonomy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Rziha is associate professor of theology at Benedictine College. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: " A] competent and indeed masterful study. . . . Rziha's book is to be welcomed as not just an important, but indeed an overdue contribution to the contemporary recovery of Aquinas's moral theory. More importantly, this study is of surpassing importance in advancing the correct understanding of the relationship between human freedom and natural law. . . . Rziha's lucidly written and well-documented study displays all the characteristics of a competent and learned interpretation of the thought of the doctor communis according to the highest standards of current Aquinas scholarship."--Reinhard Hutter, Thomist "Rziha explores at length the two modes by which human participate in God's eternal law: as moved and governed by it and as having knowledge of it. . . . T]his book proves to be something of a comprehensive course in Thomistic thought. This project is supported by extensive and meticulous footnote reverences to texts of Aquinas." --Janine Marie Idziak, Speculum

Author : J. Benjamin Hurlbut,Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
Publisher : Springer
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-22
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783658110444

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Perfecting Human Futures by J. Benjamin Hurlbut,Hava Tirosh-Samuelson Pdf

Humans have always imagined better futures. From the desire to overcome death to the aspiration to dominion over the world, imaginations of the technological future reveal the commitments, values, and norms of those who construct them. Today, the human future is thrown into question by emerging technologies that promise radical control over human life and elicit corollary imaginations of human perfectibility. This interdisciplinary volume assembles scholars of science and technology studies, sociology, philosophy, theology, ethics, and history to examine imaginations of technological progress that promises to transcend the constraints of human body and being. Attending in particular to transhumanist and posthumanist visions, the volume breaks new ground by exploring their utopian and eschatological dimensions and situating them within a broader context of ideas, institutions, and practices of innovation. The volume invites specialists and general readers to explore the stakes of contemporary imaginations of technological innovation as a source of progress, a force of social and historical transformation, and as the defining essence of human life.

Author : Lawrence Jost,Julian Wuerth
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2011-02-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781139494359

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Perfecting Virtue by Lawrence Jost,Julian Wuerth Pdf

In western philosophy today, the three leading approaches to normative ethics are those of Kantian ethics, virtue ethics and utilitarianism. In recent years the debate between Kantian ethicists and virtue ethicists has assumed an especially prominent position. The twelve newly commissioned essays in this volume, by leading scholars in both traditions, explore key aspects of each approach as related to the debate, and identify new common ground but also real and lasting differences between these approaches. The volume provides a rich overview of the continuing debate between two powerful forms of enquiry, and will be valuable for a wide range of students and scholars working in these fields.

Author : Patrick J. Hartin
Publisher : Liturgical Press
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0814658954

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A Spirituality of Perfection by Patrick J. Hartin Pdf

Throughout this century the Letter of James has been viewed consistently as a disjointed set of instructions. Father Hartin deviates radically from this approach. He shows that the "call for perfection" provides a unifying meaning for the letter. Examining the concept of perfection against the background of the Greco-Roman world, the Old Testament, and the Septuagint, the author shows that perfection provides a key to define the spirituality of the Letter of James. It offers an understanding of God and of the way one is called "to be in the world." Hartin adopts a fresh approach toward understanding the categories of wisdom, eschatology, and apocalyptic as they illuminate the letter's advice.

Author : Patrick M. Clark
Publisher : CUA Press
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2015-11-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780813227979

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Perfection in Death by Patrick M. Clark Pdf

Perfection in Death compares and contrasts the relationship between conceptions of courage and death in the thought of Aquinas and his ancient philosophical sources. At the center of this investigation is Aquinas' identification of martyrdom as the paradigmatic act of courage as well as "the greatest proof of the perfection of charity." Such a portrayal of "perfection in death" bears some resemblance to the ancient tradition of "noble death", but departs from it in decisive ways. Clark argues that this departure can only be fully understood in light of an accompanying transformation of the metaphysical and anthropological framework underlying ancient theories of virtue. Perfection in Death aims to provide a new, theological account of this paradigm shift in light of contemporary Thomistic scholarship.

Author : Jarred A. Mercer
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2019-01-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780190903541

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Divine Perfection and Human Potentiality by Jarred A. Mercer Pdf

The place of Hilary of Poitiers in the debates and developments of early Christianity is tenuous in contemporary scholarship. His invaluable historical position is unquestioned, but the coherence and significance of his own thought is less certain. In this book, Jarred A. Mercer makes a case for understanding Hilary not only as an important historical figure, but as a noteworthy and independent thinker. Divine Perfection and Human Potentiality offers a new paradigm for understanding Hilary's work De Trinitate. The book contends that in all of Hilary's polemical and constructive argumentation, which is essentially trinitarian, he is inherently developing an anthropology. The work therefore reinterprets Hilary's overall theological project in terms of the continual, and for him necessary, anthropological corollary of trinitarian theology- to reframe it in terms of a "trinitarian anthropology." The coherence of Hilary's work depends upon this framework, and without it his thought continues to elude his readers. Mercer demonstrates this through following Hilary's main lines of trinitarian argument, out of which flow his anthropological vision. These trinitarian arguments unfold into a progressive picture of humanity from potentiality to perfection.

Author : Robert Webster
Publisher : James Clarke & Company
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2016-07-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780227905463

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Perfecting Perfection by Robert Webster Pdf

Henry D. Rack is one of the most profound historians of the Methodist movement in modern times. He has spent a lifetime researching and writing about the rise and significance of John Wesley and his Methodist followers in the eighteenth century and has also uncovered the historical significance of the Methodist Church in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collected in Perfecting Perfection are thirteen essays honouring the life and scholarship of Dr. Rack from a host of international scholars in the field. The topics range from Wesley's view of grace in the eighteenth century to the dynamic intersection of the Methodist and Tractarian movements in the nineteenth century. Ultimately, the collection of essays offered here in honour of Dr. Rack will be engaging and provocative to those considering Methodist Studies in the present and future generations.

Author : Paul Guyer
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198755647

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Virtues of Freedom by Paul Guyer Pdf

The essays collected in this volume by Paul Guyer, one of the world's foremost Kant scholars, explore Kant's attempt to develop a morality grounded on the intrinsic and unconditional value of the human freedom to set our own ends. When regulated by the principle that the freedom of all is equally valuable, the freedom to set our own ends -- what Kant calls humanity - becomes what he calls autonomy. These essays explore Kant's strategies for establishing the premise that freedom is the inner worth of the world or the essential end of humankind, as he says, and for deriving the specific duties that fundamental principle of morality generates in the empirical circumstances of human existence. The Virtues of Freedom further investigates Kant's attempts to prove that we are always free to live up to this moral ideal, that is, that we have free will no matter what, as well as his more successful explorations of the ways in which our natural tendencies to be moral -- dispositions to the feeling of respect and more specific feelings such as love and self-esteem -- can and must be cultivated and educated. Guyer finally examines the various models of human community that Kant develops from his premise that our associations must be based on the value of freedom for all. The contrasts but also similarities of Kant's moral philosophy to that of David Hume but many of his other predecessors and contemporaries, such as Stoics and Epicureans, Pufendorf and Wolff, Hutcheson, Kames, and Smith, are also explored.

Author : Yoram Hazony,Dru Johnson
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 239 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2018-11-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004387980

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The Question of God's Perfection by Yoram Hazony,Dru Johnson Pdf

The Question of God’s Perfection brings together leading scholars from the Jewish and Christian traditions to critically examine the theology of perfect being in light of the Hebrew Bible and classical rabbinic sources.

Author : D. Malachuk
Publisher : Springer
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2005-08-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781403982247

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Perfection, the State, and Victorian Liberalism by D. Malachuk Pdf

This book recovers and recommends the core conviction of Victorian liberal theory that human beings, with the help of the state, can achieve an objective moral perfection. The first half of the book considers the diverse modern biases that have blinded us to the merit of this core conviction and weaves together disparate new scholarship (primarily in political theory and Victorian Studies) to set the stage for a reconsideration of that conviction. The second half of the book is that reconsideration outlining the various policies the Victorian liberals (John Stuart Mill and Matthew Arnold, primarily, with a half dozen other nineteenth-century British and American authors) recommended the state employ in the perfection of human beings.

Author : Michael Augros
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 530 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2022-09-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783868382280

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Aquinas on God’s Simplicity and Perfection by Michael Augros Pdf

All perfections of things pre-exist in the divine essence, yet it is entirely simple, without components. These seemingly opposed attributes of God are reconciled in Questions 3–6 of the First Part of the Summa theologiae, here newly translated and explained in line-by-line detail. Among topics receiving special attention are Aquinas’s doctrine of participation, his conception of God as a subsisting act of being, and the distinction and order of transcendentals such as being, goodness, and beauty. Intended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and teachers, Aquinas on God’s Simplicity and Perfection throws light on the order of Aquinas’s questions, addresses difficulties commonly encountered by modern readers, and includes an exhaustive glossary of all technical terms occurring in the Summa’s first six Questions.

Author : Aristotle,Walter Mooney Hatch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 1879
Category : Ethics
ISBN : UOM:39015005339950

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The Moral Philosophy of Aristotle by Aristotle,Walter Mooney Hatch Pdf

Author : Antonio Royo Marin
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 705 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2012-05-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781620322772

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The Theology of Christian Perfection by Antonio Royo Marin Pdf

The best manual of spiritual theology which has appeared to date--the most ordered and complete--a true summa of spirituality. This is a work of extraordinary informative value and yet possessing a notable doctrinal solidaity. This encomium of M. M. Philipon, laudatory as it is, does less than justice to this modern classic, now at last appearing in English in a smooth, readable translation and adaptation by Fr. Aumann. For in reality this is three books in one volume. First of all, this is a textbook, a manual whose lucid and orderly presentation of the basic principles of the spiritual life, of the supernatural organism, and of its progressive development recommends it unreservedly for seminarians and other serious students of spiritual theology. As Garrigou-Lagrange points out, the author's order has permitted him to treat all the important questions relative to perfection and to show clearly the basic unity of the Christian life. Thorough and solid as it is, however--firmly based on the chief masters of the spiritual life, St. Thomas, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila--this truly theological synthesis is set forth in clear and accessible form, as its widespread popularity in Spain (four editions in six years) attests. But The Theology of Christian Perfection is perhaps even more valuable as a work of spiritual formation. It is an eminently practical manual of sound advice, counsel, and direction with respect to the increasingly fruitful use of the means, negative and positive, for advancing in perfection. As such, it will be immediately valuable for spiritual directors, an indispensable aid for self-formation, and a work of precious merit for all souls desirous of spiritual advancement.

Author : Debra Candreva
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0739106627

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The Enemies of Perfection by Debra Candreva Pdf

While some philosophers feel that Plato corrupted the practice of Western metaphysics, others feel his legacy has been abandoned to the detriment of Western thought. Even though Michael Oakeshott is well known for his critique of rationalism, and his denial that human reason is capable of achieving eternal truths--truths such as those articulated by Plato and his contemporaries--Oakeshott does not view Plato as the source of either error or truth. He instead considers Plato to be the proponent of an important dialectical manner of thinking. In The Enemies of Perfection, author Debra Candreva argues that Plato's philosophy is among the most important influences on Oakeshott's thought, with his debts to Plato far outweighing his criticisms. Further, Candreva's examination of Oakeshott's treatment of Plato forms the basis of an argument against the view that a radical gap between ancient and modern thought renders ancient philosophy either inaccessible or irrelevant to current thinking.

Author : Anna M. Gade
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2004-04-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0824825993

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Perfection Makes Practice by Anna M. Gade Pdf

The last decade has seen widespread Islamic religious revitalization in Southeast Asia, a region with a Muslim population almost as large as that of the entire Arabic-speaking Middle East. One such movement in 1990s Indonesia promoted engagement with the Qurân through memorization, reading, skilled performance, and popular competitions in recitation. This movement drew on longstanding structures of Islamic education and piety, social interests, Southeast Asian patterns of performance and aesthetics, and unique features of the Qurân itself. Based on fieldwork in South Sulawesi and elsewhere in Indonesia, Perfection Makes Practice vividly portrays Indonesian Muslims' committed practice of perfecting their own (and others') Qurânic piety.