A compelling study that will offer scholars and theologians a bold new interpretation of Aquinas's virtue theory . . . A masterpiece of deliberative scholarship.
[Austin's] interpretations are always insightful, and at their best, illuminating and persuasive. On his showing, seemingly abstruse metaphysical concepts are relevant, and sometimes indispensable to making sense of a wide range of issues in Aquinas and moral thought generally. His causal analysis of the relation of the virtues to the passions, and the role of the passions in rational deliberation, struck this reviewer as especially illuminating. . . . This is a valuable book that deserves widespread attention, by moral theorists as well as students of Aquinas.
This book is a positive pleasure to read: always clear, teacherly, and admirably nonpartisan...This sophisticated introduction to Aquinas' theory of virtue moves Aquinas studies in just the right direction.
10/15/2017
The philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas is seen as a creative synthesis between the dominant but waning philosophy of Saint Augustine and the ascendant yet controversial philosophy of Aristotle. But what made Aquinas a synthetic thinker? In the area of ethics, Austin (theological ethics, Heythrop Coll., Univ. of London) suggests an answer in a causal explication of theologian Peter Lombard's Augustinian definition of virtue. Austin moves carefully to this point, starting with an explanation of virtue theory, in which character and habit play critical parts. He continues to discuss Aristotle's four-fold idea of causality, and Aquinas's contribution to it, defending the concept against current thinking. Only then does Austin introduce Lombard's concept of virtue and decipher it according to the four causes. Much of the rest of the book is divided among various interpretations of Aquinas's moral theory in light of Austin's interpretive key, and how the thoughts of Aquinas relate to Catholic theology. VERDICT Although Austin assumes readers are familiar with Aquinas and Aristotle, the first half of this work will appeal to those interested in virtue theory. The second recommends itself to those interested in a close reading of Aquinas.—JW
One of the strengths of this work is the author’s ability to address the two divergent, yet interconnected, spheres of medieval and contemporary moral theology without inadvertently doing any injustice to either or convoluting his lines of argument—a risk explicitly noted in his introduction. Austin succeeds in providing a holistic causal analysis of virtue that is conversant with the concerns of contemporary society.
Austin has done proponents of virtue ethics a great service by providing a clear, concise, and contemporary guide to Aquinas’ virtue theory.
Austin fulfills his intention to make Aquinas's understanding of virtue more intelligible for modern man by means of a causal analysis. He amply shows how Aquinas's virtue theory is neither univocal nor reductionistic, but rather, capable of dialogue with modern perspectives, while nevertheless, penetrating deeper than modern theories.
A fresh look at Thomas Aquinas's treatment of virtue . . . A welcome contribution to the ongoing conversation on virtue ethics.
Nicholas Austin’s Aquinas on Virtue: A Causal Reading is a highly welcome and stimulating addition to Thomistic studies as well as to the modern literature on virtue ethics. His illumination of Aquinas’s thinking on the virtues through the lens of the four classical causes which cooperate to produce them delivers an original and insightful treatment which is both temperate and persuasive, and deeply satisfying to follow.
Twelve years ago Nicholas Austin began a study into Thomas Aquinas’s writings on temperance. Along the way, he discovered that Thomas explored his own understanding of the virtue by engaging temperance’s specific causes: material, formal, exemplary, efficient, and final causes. That discovery led Austin to expand greatly his investigation: could the causes themselves provide the hermeneutical lens for understanding most of Thomas’ writings on the virtues? Here in your hands is Austin’s long-awaited, ground-breaking answer.
Austin skillfully reconstructs Aquinas’s multidimensional account of causation and uses it to reframe Aquinas’s definition of virtue. In the process, he develops a method for reaching a more complete understanding of any particular virtue. A highly innovative and fruitful analysis.
Nicholas Austin’s sweeping study represents an impressive achievement in the field of Christian ethics. Its approach is more fundamental and thus more potentially illuminating than other introductions to Thomistic virtue available today. It provides a full account not only of what Aquinas understands virtue to be, but also the significance of the method by which he comes to and communicates that understanding. As enjoyable to read as it is challenging in its claims, this book is clearly the work of a master teacher and will no doubt be an invaluable resource for student and specialist alike.
"Austin skillfully reconstructs Aquinas's multidimensional account of causation and uses it to reframe Aquinas's definition of virtue. In the process, he develops a method for reaching a more complete understanding of any particular virtue. A highly innovative and fruitful analysis." — Diana Fritz Cates, professor of religious ethics, University of Iowa
"Nicholas Austin's Aquinas on Virtue: A Causal Reading is a highly welcome and stimulating addition to Thomistic studies as well as to the modern literature on virtue ethics. His illumination of Aquinas's thinking on the virtues through the lens of the four classical causes which cooperate to produce them delivers an original and insightful treatment which is both temperate and persuasive, and deeply satisfying to follow." — Jack Mahoney, emeritus professor of moral and social theology in the University of London, and Honorary Fellow of Campion Hall, University of Oxford
"Nicholas Austin's sweeping study represents an impressive achievement in the field of Christian ethics. Its approach is more fundamental and thus more potentially illuminating than other introductions to Thomistic virtue available today. It provides a full account not only of what Aquinas understands virtue to be, but also the significance of the method by which he comes to and communicates that understanding. As enjoyable to read as it is challenging in its claims, this book is clearly the work of a master teacher and will no doubt be an invaluable resource for student and specialist alike." — Patrick Clark,, University of Scranton
