The Virtues, or The Examined Life

by Cessario, Romanus

• ISBN13: 9780826413895
• ISBN10: 0826413897
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-30
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The chief characteristic of Christian morality is its being linked to the person of Jesus Christ who is himself the universal, personal, and concrete norm of moral action. This book is about the virtues of the Christian life--both the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) and the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance)--and it deals particularly with the question, how it is possible for believers to decide for the morally good and to live accordingly. Reflecting on the basic questions of Christian morality, the book offers a commentary on the corresponding sections of The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Author Biography

Romanus Cessario is a professor at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, and at the theological institute of Fribourgh, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	i
Introduction	v
I The Theological Virtues	1	(96)
Faith and the Life of Christian Virtue	3	(30)
What the Angels See: Nature and Grace	3	(4)
Natural and Gospel Law	7	(2)
The Virtuous Life	9	(4)
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit	13	(6)
Faith and the Gifts of Understanding and Knowledge	19	(8)
The Gift of Wisdom	27	(3)
Our Lady and the Recollected Life	30	(3)
Theological Hope and Christian Expectation	33	(28)
The Virtuousness of Theological Hope	33	(4)
Hope and the Promise of Happiness	37	(5)
Hope and the Love of Desire	42	(3)
The Provisional Character of Hope	45	(3)
Despair as Anticipation of Nonfulfillment	48	(2)
The False Hope of Presumption	50	(2)
The Gift of the Fear of the Lord	52	(9)
Theological Charity and Communio	61	(36)
Charity, The Realization of Friendship	61	(6)
The Distinctiveness of Christian Virtue	67	(6)
Charity, the Form of the infused Moral Virtues	73	(2)
Persons in the Communio	75	(9)
The Priorities of Charity	84	(3)
The Realization of Christian Communio	87	(4)
The Fruits of Charity	91	(6)
II The Moral Virtues	97	(2)
Christian Prudence and Practical Wisdom	99	(1)
``But we have the mind of Christ'' (1 Cor 2: 16)	99	(1)
What Is Christian Virtue?	100	(5)
The Nature of Christian Prudence	105	(5)
Prudence and the Moral Virtues	110	(5)
The Elements of Prudence	115	(3)
The Vices Opposed to Prudence	118	(4)
The Gift of Counsel	122	(5)
Christian Justice and Human Society	127	(1)
``But strive first for the kingdom of God and his justice'' (Mt 6: 33)	127	(2)
The Justum, or the Right	129	(3)
The Virtue of Justice	132	(11)
The Virtues Allied to Justice	143	(5)
S. Religion	148	(4)
The Acts of the Virtue of Religion	152	(3)
The Gift of Piety	155	(2)
Fortitude and the Courage of Christ	157	(1)
Christian Anthropology and Human Emotion	157	(5)
The Virtues of Personal Discipline	162	(3)
Virtue and Value-Free Theories	165	(2)
The Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude	167	(3)
Fortitude and Martyrdom	170	(1)
The Vices and Sins against Fortitude	171	(2)
The Components of Fortitude, and the Gift of the Holy Spirit	173	(4)
Christian Moderation and Temperance	177	(1)
Human Action and Human Biology	177	(3)
The Dignity of the Human Person	180	(2)
The Virtue of Temperance	182	(4)
The Makeup and Kinds of Temperance	186	(1)
Chastity, Abstinence, and Sobriety	187	(5)
The Vices Opposed to Temperance	192	(2)
Infused Temperance and Christian Humility	194