Evangelical law and Charity according
Author:
Ignacio M. Manresa Lamarca
Location:
Espíritu: ISSN 0014-0716, Year 69, Issue 159, 2020, pages 29-50
Language:
Spanish
Abstract:
S. Pinckaers asked rhetorically: is St. Thomas’ moral doctrine Christian? The question was justified by the common accusation that Aquinas’ moral theology was more Aristotelian than evangelical. Such an accusation responds to a superficial reading of the doctrine of St. Thomas. The present article tries to show the supernaturality of one of the structuring elements of St. Thomas’ moral theology, the Evangelical Law or New Law. We can see its supernaturality in its interior nature due to the grace of the Holy Spirit, as well as in its content and motive of charity. On the other hand, this supernaturality is also evident when we see how Saint Thomas grasped it from the Holy Scripture, especially in one of its most decisive points: the interior character of the knowledge proper to the New Law.
Key words:
Saint Thomas Aquinas; New Law; Biblical Thomism.