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Despite heightened attention to virtue, contemporary philosophical
and theological literature has failed to offer detailed analysis of
how people attain and grow in the good habits we know as the
virtues. Though popular literature provides instruction on
attaining and growing in virtue, it lacks careful scholarly
analysis of what exactly these good habits are in which we grow.
Growing in Virtue is the only comprehensive account of growth in
virtue in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Mattison offers a robust
account of habits, including what habits are, why they are needed,
and what they supply once possessed. He draws on Aquinas to
carefully delineate the commonalities and differences between
natural (acquired) virtues and graced (infused) virtues. Along the
way, Mattison discusses the distinction between disposition and
habit; the role of "custom" in virtue formation; the nature of
virtuous passions; the distinct contribution of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit to graced life; explanations for persistent activity
after the loss of virtue; and the possibility of coexistence of the
infused and acquired virtues in the same person. For readers
interested in virtue and morality from a philosophical perspective
and scholars of theological ethics and moral theology in
particular, Mattison offers compelling arguments from the work of
Aquinas explicitly connected to contemporary scholarship in
philosophical virtue ethics.
A compelling analysis tying the work of Aquinas to contemporary
literature on virtue Despite heightened attention to virtue,
contemporary philosophical and theological literature has failed to
offer detailed analysis of how people attain and grow in the good
habits we know as the virtues. Though popular literature provides
instruction on attaining and growing in virtue, it lacks careful
scholarly analysis of what exactly these good habits are in which
we grow. Growing in Virtue is the only comprehensive account of
growth in virtue in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Mattison offers
a robust account of habits, including what habits are, why they are
needed, and what they supply once possessed. He draws on Aquinas to
carefully delineate the commonalities and differences between
natural (acquired) virtues and graced (infused) virtues. Along the
way, Mattison discusses the distinction between disposition and
habit; the role of “custom” in virtue formation; the nature of
virtuous passions; the distinct contribution of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit to graced life; explanations for persistent activity
after the loss of virtue; and the possibility of coexistence of the
infused and acquired virtues in the same person. For readers
interested in virtue and morality from a philosophical perspective
and scholars of theological ethics and moral theology in
particular, Mattison offers compelling arguments from the work of
Aquinas explicitly connected to contemporary scholarship in
philosophical virtue ethics.
The growing shift in Catholic moral theology from reflecting on
rules alone to focusing on the identity and formation of persons as
moral agents prompts a further question: What impact do recent
changes in the identity and formation of Catholic moral theologians
themselves have on how that discipline is practiced? Young Catholic
moral theologians experience a sharply different professional
formation and a changed location of ongoing professional life than
prior generations of moral theologians. How do these differences
influence the field of moral theology as a whole? New Wine, New
Wineskins: A Next Generation Reflects on Key Issues in Catholic
Moral Theology addresses these questions and more by offering a
snapshot of how a new generation of Catholic moral theologians
understands not only topics in the field, but the effects of their
own identity and formation on their treatment of those topics. The
distinctive contribution of this volume is the interweaving of
three key concerns, all of which arise out of a critical
self-reflection on the task of moral theology today: the character
and adequacy of training and ongoing formation in the field of
Catholic moral theology, the purpose and nature of teaching
Catholic moral theology, and the fittingness of methodological
debates with regard to the needs of the Christian life. Each essay
makes a contribution to its specific area of interest-ranging from
economic ethics, to Patristic rhetoric, to the nature and
development of practical reasoning-while probing what exactly young
Catholic moral theologians are doing, and how they can do what they
do better.
In this volume, William C. Mattison, III demonstrates that virtue
ethics provides a helpful key for unlocking the moral wisdom of the
Sermon on the Mount. Showing how familiar texts such as the
Beatitudes and Petitions of the Lord's Prayer are more richly
understood, and can even be aligned with the theological and
cardinal virtues, he also locates in the Sermon classic topics in
morality, such as the nature of happiness, intentionality, the
intelligibility of human action, and the development of virtue. Yet
far from merely placing the teaching of Aristotle in the mouth of
Jesus, he demonstrates how the Sermon presents an account of
happiness and virtue transformed in the light of Christian faith.
The happiness portrayed is that of the Kingdom of heaven, and the
habits needed to participate in it in the next life, but even
initially in this one, are possible only by God's grace through
Jesus Christ, and lived in the community that is the Church.
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