Prima Secundae #

A study of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Prima Secundae (First Part of the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae). These lectures examine human acts, happiness, virtue, law, and grace—analyzing the foundations of moral theology from beatitude through the passions, habits, virtues, sin, and divine law.

285 episodes, about 261 hours

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Classes #

Class 1 2011-01-27 #

Part 1 of 2 · Thomas’s Premium to the Ethics: Wisdom, Order and the Parts of Moral Philosophy; Aristotle’s Opening — the Good Is What All Want #

56 min Berquist reads Aquinas’s Proemium to his commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics alongside Aristotle’s own opening lines, tracing reason’s fourfold order down to the claim that “the good is what all desire.”

Part 2 of 2 · Is It Good Because We Want It? The Order of Ends and Arts, the Chief Good, and Political Science #

68 min Berquist opens Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, asking whether things are good because we want them or wanted because they’re good, then traces the chain of arts and ends up to political science as the master art of the chief good.

Class 2 2011-02-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aristotle’s Ethics I: The Good, the Last End, Certitude in Ethics, and Man’s Own Act #

68 min Berquist works through the opening of Aquinas’s commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics I, tracing how every subordinate art and good points toward a highest good sought for its own sake, and asking what kind of certitude ethics can claim.

Part 2 of 2 · Happiness as Activity by Virtue: The General Meaning of Virtue, Moral Virtue and Choice, and Shakespeare on Reason #

58 min Berquist works through Book One of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics on happiness as activity by virtue, then turns to Shakespeare to dramatize what reasoned choice looks like against mere impulse.

Class 3 2011-02-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · Prologue to the Second Part and Question 1, Article 1: Does Man Act for an End? #

63 min Berquist opens the Prima Secundae with Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 1, a. 1, asking whether every human act is done for an end, and sets Thomas’s ordering of the virtues against Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.

Part 2 of 2 · Question 1, Articles 2–3: Nature Acting for an End and How the End Specifies Human Acts #

67 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 1, aa. 2–3, asking whether acting for an end belongs to rational agents alone and how the end specifies a human act—illustrated with Fabre’s wasps, plants, and habituation.

Class 4 2011-02-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Last End (Summa I-II, Q1, Art. 4): One Feast, One House, One Mutual Happiness — Why Ends Cannot Go On Forever #

70 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q1, Art. 4 on why human ends cannot regress infinitely, and reads Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona as an image of the one last end.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Last End (Summa I-II, Q1, Art. 5): Can a Man Have Many Last Ends? No One Can Serve Two Masters #

53 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q1, A5, asking whether one man’s will can have many last ends, and why Thomas answers no.

Class 5 2011-03-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II, Q.1, Articles 6–7: Whether we will everything for the sake of the last end, and whether all people share one last end (jest, speculation, taste and the sweetness of the Lord) #

62 min Given on the feast of St. Thomas, Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.1, A.6 on whether we will everything for the sake of the last end—even jesting and speculation—and opens A.7 on whether all men share one last end.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II, Q.1, Article 8 and Q.2, Articles 1–2: God as the end of all things, and why happiness is not in riches or honor #

50 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q.1, a.8 on whether other creatures share man’s last end, then q.2, aa.1–2, where Aquinas rules out riches and honor as happiness.

Class 6 2011-03-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Felicitas as Fruit, Boethius on False Happiness, and Why Happiness Is Not Honor or Glory (ST I-II q.2 aa.1-3) #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 2, aa. 2-3, asking whether happiness lies in honor or in fame, and traces “felicitas” back to its root meaning of fruit.

Part 2 of 2 · Why Happiness Is Not Power, Bodily Goods, or Pleasure (ST I-II q.2 aa.4-6) #

64 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s articles on happiness (ST I-II, q. 2, aa. 4-6), showing why power, bodily goods, and pleasure all fail to be man’s final end.

Class 7 2011-03-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · Beatitude Is Not in the Soul or Any Created Good (Summa I-II q.2 aa.7–8) #

70 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 2, aa. 7–8, asking whether beatitude belongs to the soul and whether any created good could satisfy the will.

Part 2 of 2 · What Beatitude Is: Created, and an Operation (Summa I-II q.3 aa.1–2) #

48 min Berquist opens the Summa’s treatise on beatitude (I-II, q. 3, aa. 1–2), asking whether beatitude is created or uncreated, and whether it is an operation.

Class 8 2011-03-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.3 a.3–4: Beatitude, the Senses, and Why Happiness Is Not Essentially an Act of the Will #

43 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.3, aa.3-4, asking whether happiness lies in sensory operation and whether it is essentially an act of will or of intellect.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.3 a.4–5: Replies on Peace, Charity vs. Faith, and Beatitude in the Speculative Intellect #

61 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s replies in Summa I-II, q. 3, a. 5, arguing that perfect beatitude lies in the speculative intellect’s contemplation of God, not in the will or the practical intellect.

Class 9 2011-03-31 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Beatitude I: Seeing God and Sinlessness, the Speculative Sciences, and Knowing the Angels (Prima Secundae q.3 a.6–7) #

55 min Berquist reads Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 3, a. 6-7 on whether happiness lies in the speculative sciences or in contemplating angels, with a detour into whether angels who see God face to face can still sin.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Beatitude II: The Vision of God’s Essence, the Wonder to Know What Things Are, and Pleasure in Beatitude (q.3 a.8, q.4 a.1) #

52 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether beatitude consists in seeing God’s very essence (ST I-II, q.3, a.8), then opens the question of what pleasure adds to that vision (q.4, a.1), reading also from a handout on the Phaedo.

Class 10 2011-04-07 #

Part 1 of 2 · Shakespeare’s Definition of Reason and the Trinity; Is Beatitude Chiefly Vision or Pleasure? (Summa I-II, Q.4, A.2) #

55 min Berquist traces Shakespeare’s definition of reason as “looking before and after” into the Trinity, then asks Aquinas’s question (Summa I-II, q. 4, a. 2): is beatitude chiefly the act of vision or the pleasure that accompanies it?

Part 2 of 2 · Comprehension and Rectitude of Will in Beatitude (Summa I-II, Q.4, A.3–4) #

45 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.4, A.3–4 on whether comprehension is required for beatitude and whether rightness of will is necessary for it, tracing Aquinas’s two senses of “comprehension.”

Class 11 2011-04-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · Loving God as a Friend, Knowing God “Too Much,” and Whether Souls Without Bodies Can Be Blessed (I-II, Q.4, a.5) #

42 min Berquist asks what it means to “wish well” to God as a friend rather than merely desire Him, then works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 4, a. 5 on whether a body is needed for beatitude.

Part 2 of 2 · Replies on the Separated Soul; Does Beatitude Need a Perfect Body or Outside Goods? (I-II, Q.4, aa.5–7) #

62 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 4, aa. 5–7 on whether beatitude needs a well-disposed body or external goods, drawing on Aristotle’s De Anima and Augustine along the way.

Class 12 2011-04-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Beatitude: Whether Friends Are Needed in Heaven, and Whether Man Can Achieve Beatitude (I-II, Q.4 a.8 – Q.5 a.1) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 4, a. 8 and q. 5, a. 1, asking whether the blessed in heaven need friends and whether man’s rational nature can actually attain beatitude.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Degrees of Beatitude, Happiness in This Life, and Whether Beatitude Can Be Lost (I-II, Q.5 aa.2–4) #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 5, aa. 2–4: whether one person can be more blessed than another, whether beatitude is attainable in this life, and whether it can be lost.

Class 13 2011-05-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.5 a.5-6: Can Man Reach Beatitude by His Natural Powers or Through an Angel? #

45 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 5, articles 5 and 6, asking whether man can reach beatitude by his own natural powers, and whether an angel or other creature could confer it on him.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.5 a.7-8: Are Good Works Needed for Beatitude, and Does Everyone Desire It? With the Logical Division of the Second Part #

49 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.5, a.7-8, asking whether good works are needed for beatitude and whether all men desire it, then maps the logical structure of the Second Part.

Class 14 2011-09-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q6 Art. 1: The Plan of the Treatise on Human Acts and Whether Human Acts Are Voluntary #

46 min Berquist opens the treatise on human acts in the Prima Secundae, then works through Summa I-II, q. 6, a. 1 to define the voluntary as an intrinsic principle joined with knowledge of the end.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q6 Art. 2-4: The Voluntary in Animals, Voluntary Omission, and Whether the Will Can Be Forced #

53 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 6, articles 2 through 4: whether brute animals act voluntarily, whether voluntary omission counts as voluntary without an act, and whether the will can be forced by violence.

Class 15 2011-10-06 #

Part 1 of 2 · Violence, Fear and the Involuntary (Prima Secundae Q.6, aa.5–6) #

47 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 6, aa. 5–6, asking why violence always makes an act involuntary while fear only makes it involuntary in a qualified sense.

Part 2 of 2 · Concupiscence, Ignorance and the Circumstances of Human Acts (Q.6, aa.7–8; Q.7, aa.1–2) #

64 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s treatment of concupiscence and ignorance as causes of the involuntary, then opens the question of circumstances in human acts, working through Summa I-II, q. 6, aa. 7–8 and q. 7, aa. 1–2.

Class 16 2011-10-13 #

Part 1 of 2 · Circumstances of Human Acts and Whether the Will Wants Only the Good (Q.7 aa.3–4; Q.8 a.1) #

69 min Berquist works through the circumstances of human acts and takes up the opening question on the will, asking why it can only want the good, with texts from Aquinas, Aristotle, and Cicero.

Part 2 of 2 · Does the Will Want the End Only, or the Means Too? One Act or Two? (Q.8 aa.2–3) #

49 min Berquist reads Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 8, aa. 2–3, asking whether the will’s act reaches only the end or the means too, and whether one act or two are involved.

Class 17 2011-10-20 #

Part 1 of 2 · Dividing Theology, the End as a Cause, and Whether the Understanding Moves the Will (Question 9, Article 1) #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 9, a. 1 on what moves the will, showing how intellect and will move each other reciprocally — one as efficient cause, the other as final cause — with help from Aristotle’s De Anima II, lectio 5.

Part 2 of 2 · Whether Sense Desire Moves the Will, and Whether the Will Moves Itself (Question 9, Articles 2–3) #

47 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 9, articles 2 and 3: can sensory desire move the will, and can the will move itself?

Class 18 2011-10-27 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II, Question 9, Articles 4–6: Is the Will Moved by Something Outside It, by the Heavenly Bodies, or by God Alone? #

57 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 9, articles 4 through 6, asking whether the will is moved from outside itself, by a heavenly body, or by God alone.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II, Question 10, Articles 1–2: Does the Will Will Anything Naturally, and Is It Moved Necessarily by Its Object? #

59 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Question 10 on whether the will wills anything naturally and whether its object moves it of necessity, distinguishing exercise from specification of the act.

Class 19 2011-11-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.10, Articles 3–4: Is the Will Moved by Necessity by the Passions or by God? #

58 min Berquist reads Aquinas on whether the will can be forced—by unruly passion or by God himself—working through Summa I-II, q.10, aa. 3-4, with side trips to Romans and Aristotle’s Ethics.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.11: Fruition (Enjoyment) and the Last End #

55 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 11, article by article, on fruitio—enjoyment of an end—asking whether it belongs to the will, whether animals share it, and whether it requires actually possessing the last end.

Class 20 2011-11-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.12, Arts. 1-2: Intention as an Act of the Will, and Intending the Last End and Intermediate Ends #

47 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.12, Articles 1-2, asking whether intention is an act of will or of reason, and whether it reaches only the last end or intermediate ends too — with help from Aristotle’s Physics and Homer’s Iliad.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.12, Arts. 3-5: Intending Several Things at Once, One Act Toward End and Means, and Whether Animals Intend #

47 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 12, aa. 3-5: can the will intend two things at once, is intending the end and willing the means one act or two, and can brute animals be said to intend anything at all.

Class 21 2011-12-01 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.13 Art. 1-2: Is Choice an Act of Will or Reason, and Do Animals Choose? #

49 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.13, a.1-2: whether choice belongs to will or reason, and whether animals can be said to choose at all.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.13 Art. 3-6: Choice Is of Means, of Human Acts, of Possible Things, and Is Free #

45 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.13, a.3-6 on choice: whether it bears on the end or only on means, whether it belongs only to human acts, and whether it concerns only what’s possible.

Class 22 2011-12-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · Serving the Lord and Learning from the Teacher; Counsel as Inquiry and Counsel About the End (Summa I-II, Q.14, Articles 1–2) #

61 min Berquist opens from Psalm 100 and John 13’s washing of the feet—Christ as both Lord and Teacher—before turning to Aquinas on counsel: whether it is a kind of inquiry, and whether it concerns the end or only the means.

Part 2 of 2 · What We Take Counsel About, Resolution, and Why Counsel Is Not Endless (Summa I-II, Q.14, Articles 3–6) #

40 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.14, Articles 3–6, asking what counsel is about, why it moves by resolution back to first principles, and why deliberation isn’t endless.

Class 23 2011-12-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Consent (ST I-II q.15, aa.1-3): Will or Intellect, Animals, End or Means #

61 min Berquist works through Question 15 of the Prima Secundae on consent, asking whether it belongs to will or intellect, whether animals can consent, and whether it concerns the end or only the means.

Part 2 of 2 · Consent and Higher Reason (q.15 a.4), then Use (q.16, aa.1-2): Is Use an Act of the Will, and Do Animals Use? #

46 min Berquist finishes q.15 on consent and higher reason, then works through q.16 on whether “use” is truly an act of will and whether animals can be said to use anything.

Class 24 2012-01-05 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Use and Command: Whether Use Comes Before Choice, Whether Command Belongs to Reason, and Whether Animals Command (ST I-II Q.16 a.3–4, Q.17 a.1–3) #

56 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s treatment of use—asking whether it can bear on the last end and how it relates to choice—then opens the question of command, asking whether commanding belongs to reason or will and whether animals can command (ST I-II, Q.16 a.3-4, Q.17 a.1-3).

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Command: Command and Its Act as One, and Commanding the Will, Reason and the Passions (ST I-II Q.17 a.4–7) #

53 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 17, a. 4–7, asking whether command and its commanded act are one, and whether will, reason, and the passions can themselves be commanded.

Class 25 2012-01-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.17 a.8–9 and Q.18 a.1: What Obeys Reason, and Whether Every Human Action Is Good #

60 min Berquist finishes Question 17 on what bodily motions obey reason’s command, then opens Question 18 asking how a human act is judged good or bad — by its being, its object, and reason’s due measure.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.18 a.2–4: Goodness and Badness from the Object, the Circumstances and the End #

46 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.18, articles 2–4, asking whether human acts get their goodness or badness from their object, their circumstances, or their end—testing the question with theft, drunkenness, and Robin Hood.

Class 26 2012-01-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.18 a.5–6: Good and Bad as Differences of Species; the End as Object of the Will #

36 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q.18, aa.5–6, on whether moral acts differ in species by good and evil, using the conjugal act versus adultery and a thief who steals to commit adultery.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.18 a.7–9: Species from the End and from the Object; Indifferent Acts in Species and in the Individual #

64 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q.18, articles 7 through 9: whether the moral species taken from the end outranks the species taken from the object, whether any act is indifferent in its species, and whether a particular act can be morally indifferent.

Class 27 2012-02-02 #

Part 1 of 2 · Circumstances and Moral Species; The Will’s Goodness and Its Object (Aquinas I-II q.18 a.10–11, q.19 a.1) #

62 min Berquist works through Aquinas on how circumstances change an act’s moral species—why stealing from a sacred place becomes sacrilege, but stealing a larger sum does not become a new kind of wrong—then opens Question 19 on the will’s goodness.

Part 2 of 2 · The Good Will Depends on Its Object Alone, on Reason, and on the Eternal Law (Aquinas I-II q.19 a.2–4) #

42 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether the will’s goodness depends on its object alone, on reason, and on the eternal law (Summa I-II, q. 19, a. 2–4), with a detour into Aristotle on friendship.

Class 28 2012-02-16 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Will and Erring Conscience (ST I-II q.19 aa.5-7): Must We Follow Mistaken Reason, and Does Intention Make the Will Good? #

65 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.19, aa.5-7, asking whether a will that follows a mistaken conscience is good or evil, and whether intending a good end is enough to make an act good.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Will (ST I-II q.19 aa.8-9): How Much Good Intention Adds, and Conforming Our Will to God’s #

45 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 19, aa. 8-9, asking whether a good intention adds proportionally to the goodness of an act, and whether our will’s goodness depends on conforming to God’s.

Class 29 2012-02-23 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.19 a.10 and Q.20 a.1: Must our will match God’s will, and is goodness first in the will or in the outward act? #

58 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.19 a.10 on whether our will must match God’s will in the particular thing willed, then opens q.20 a.1 asking whether moral goodness lies first in the will’s interior act or in the exterior act.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.20 aa.2-4: The inner will and the outward act, one goodness or two, and what the deed adds #

42 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.20, aa.2-4, asking whether an act’s goodness comes wholly from the will, whether interior and exterior acts share one goodness, and what the deed itself adds.

Class 30 2012-03-08 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q20 a.5–6 and Q21 a.1: Whether Consequences Add to an Act’s Goodness, Whether One Act Can Be Both Good and Bad, and Rightness and Sin #

58 min Berquist finishes Summa I-II Q20 on whether unforeseen consequences change an act’s goodness and whether one act can be both good and bad, then opens Q21 on rightness and sin.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q21 a.1–3: Malum, Peccatum and Culpa, Praise and Blame, and Merit and Demerit Toward the Community #

50 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q21, articles 2 and 3, using a De Malo text to sort out malum, peccatum, and culpa, then asks why human acts deserve praise, blame, merit, and demerit.

Class 31 2012-03-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.21 a.4: Merit Before God; Why Thomas Treats Human Acts Before the Emotions; Faith, Hope and Charity and the Senses of ‘Before’ #

55 min Berquist closes out Question 21 of the Prima Secundae, asking whether good or bad human acts carry merit or demerit before God, then explains why Thomas turns next to the passions rather than straight to virtue.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.22 aa.1-2: Is There Passion in the Soul? The Meanings of ‘Passio’ and Why Passion Is More in Desire Than in Knowing #

64 min Berquist opens the Summa’s treatise on the passions, asking why “passio” applies to the soul at all, and argues from question 22 that passion belongs more properly to desire than to knowing.

Class 32 2012-03-22 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.22 a.3 and Q.23 a.1: Why Passion Belongs Chiefly to the Senses, and How Concupiscible and Irascible Emotions Differ (Eleven Emotions and Mozart’s Keys) #

59 min Berquist asks why passion belongs to the sensitive rather than the intellectual appetite, then distinguishes the concupiscible from the irascible emotions by their objects—illustrating the eleven passions with examples from Mozart.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.23 a.1–3: Replies to the Objections, How Emotions Are Contrary, and Why Anger Has No Contrary #

44 min Berquist works through the objections and replies of Summa I-II, q. 23, going article by article on how the passions oppose one another—and why anger, alone among them, has no contrary.

Class 33 2012-03-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · The Eleven Passions and Moral Good and Bad in the Emotions (ST I-II Q.23 a.4 – Q.24 a.1) #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.23 a.4 and into Q.24 a.1, laying out the eleven passions of the concupiscible and irascible appetites and asking whether emotions themselves can be morally good or bad.

Part 2 of 2 · Stoics vs. Peripatetics, Passions That Increase Moral Goodness, and the Order of the Passions (ST I-II Q.24 a.2 – Q.25 a.1) #

60 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, questions 24 and 25, on whether the passions are morally evil, whether they diminish or increase a moral act’s goodness, and how the irascible and concupiscible passions are ordered.

Class 34 2012-04-12 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Order of the Passions: Love First Among the Concupiscible, Hope First Among the Irascible (ST I-II q.25 a.2-3) #

73 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 25, asking why love ranks first among the concupiscible passions and hope first among the irascible, distinguishing the order of intention from the order of execution.

Part 2 of 2 · The Four Principal Passions, Comedy and Hope, and the Start of the Treatise on Love (ST I-II q.25 a.4; q.26 a.1) #

46 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s account of the four principal passions—joy, sadness, hope, fear—and opens the treatise on love, asking whether love belongs to the concupiscible appetite (ST I-II q.25 a.4; q.26 a.1).

Class 35 2012-04-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Love (ST I-II q.26, aa.2-3): Love as a Passion, and Amor vs. Dilectio #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II q.26, aa.2-3, asking whether love is a passion and unpacking the later distinction between amor, dilectio, caritas, and amicitia.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Love (ST I-II q.26 a.4, q.27 aa.1-2): Love of Friendship vs. Love of Wanting, and the Good, Beauty and Knowledge as Causes of Love #

60 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s account of love (ST I-II q.26 a.4), distinguishing wanting something from wishing someone well, then opens q.27 on whether the good and knowledge cause love—illustrated through Shakespeare, Austen, and Mozart.

Class 36 2012-04-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Causes of Love: Likeness and the Other Passions (ST I-II q.27 a.3-4) #

50 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s question on whether likeness causes love (ST I-II q.27 a.3-4), tracing why rivals resent each other yet the coward admires the brave.

Part 2 of 2 · The Effects of Love: Union and Mutual Indwelling (ST I-II q.28 a.1-2) #

63 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the effects of love—union and mutual indwelling—reading closely in Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 28, a. 1-2, with digressions through Shakespeare, Augustine, and Dionysius.

Class 37 2012-05-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Effects of Love: Ecstasy, Zeal, and Whether Love Harms the Lover (ST I-II q.28 aa.3-5) #

55 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the effects of love—ecstasy, zeal, and whether love can harm the lover—reading Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 28, aa. 3-5 against Dionysius, Augustine, and the Song of Songs.

Part 2 of 2 · Love as the Cause of All Action, and the Start of Hate: Its Object and Its Cause in Love (ST I-II q.28 a.6; q.29 aa.1-2) #

68 min Berquist asks whether every human action is rooted in love (ST I-II q.28 a.6), then turns to hatred — its object and its dependence on love as cause (q.29 a.1) — illustrating the logic with taste, wine, and Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies.

Class 38 2012-05-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.29 aa.2-4: Love Stronger Than Hate, and Whether a Man Can Hate Himself #

66 min Berquist asks whether hatred is stronger than love and whether a man can hate himself, working through Summa I-II q.29 aa.3-4 with help from Augustine, Dionysius, and Shakespeare’s Richard III and Coriolanus.

Part 2 of 2 · Per Se vs. Per Accidens; Hating the Truth, Hating in General (aa.5-6), and Why Hate Follows Love #

63 min Berquist works through Aquinas on hatred (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 29, aa. 5-6), asking whether one can hate oneself or hate truth, using the per se/per accidens distinction throughout.

Class 39 2012-09-20 #

Part 1 of 2 · Concupiscence I: Is It Only in the Senses, and Is It Its Own Passion? (ST I-II q.30 a.1–2) #

64 min Berquist works through the opening two articles of Aquinas’s question on concupiscence, asking whether it belongs to sense appetite alone and whether it is a distinct passion, drawing on Aristotle’s Rhetoric and John Damascene.

Part 2 of 2 · Concupiscence II: Natural and Acquired Desires, and Whether Desire Is Infinite (ST I-II q.30 a.2 replies, a.3–4) #

44 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.30, articles 3 and 4, asking whether desire always aims at what is absent and whether concupiscence can be infinite, testing the answers against Aristotle and Augustine.

Class 40 2012-09-27 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Pleasure, Part 1: Is Pleasure a Passion? (Summa I-II q.31 a.1) #

46 min Berquist opens Aquinas’s treatise on pleasure by asking whether pleasure counts as a passion of the soul, weighing Aristotle against Plato on whether pleasure is a “becoming” or an attained perfection.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Pleasure, Part 2: Is Pleasure in Time, How Joy Differs from Pleasure, and Pleasure in the Intellect (q.31 a.2–4) #

55 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 31, articles 2 through 4: whether pleasure exists in time, how joy differs from pleasure, and whether angels and intellects can be pleased.

Class 41 2012-10-04 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.31 a.5: Are Spiritual Pleasures Greater Than Bodily Pleasures? (Understanding, Curiosity, and the Natural Starting Point) #

56 min Berquist takes up Summa Theologiae I-II q. 31 a. 5, Aquinas’s question whether bodily pleasures outrank spiritual ones, with side excursions into Summa Contra Gentiles IV and Aristotle’s Ethics.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.31 a.6–8: Pleasures of Touch and Sight, Unnatural Pleasures, and Whether One Pleasure Can Be Contrary to Another #

57 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.31, a.6–8: whether touch or sight gives the greatest pleasure, whether any pleasure is “unnatural,” and whether pleasure can be contrary to pleasure — with detours through Aristotle, Plato’s Phaedo, and Shakespeare.

Class 42 2012-10-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Truth, Life and Appropriation in the Trinity; the Meter of the Adoro te; Operation as the Cause of Pleasure (ST I-II q.32 a.1) #

58 min Berquist traces how divine names like Truth and Life get appropriated to particular Persons of the Trinity, reading it through the hymn Adoro Te Devote, then turns to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 32, a. 1 on whether operation is the proper cause of pleasure.

Part 2 of 2 · Motion, Hope and Memory, Sadness, and the Actions of Others as Causes of Pleasure (ST I-II q.32 aa.2–5) #

58 min Berquist works through four articles of ST I-II q.32 on the causes of pleasure—motion, hope and memory, sadness, and the actions of others—testing Aquinas’s answers against Aristotle, Augustine, and Shakespeare.

Class 43 2012-10-18 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Causes of Pleasure: Doing Good to Others, Likeness, and Wonder (ST I-II q.32, a.6–8) #

58 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the causes of pleasure, asking whether doing good to others and whether wonder can cause delight (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 32, a. 6–8).

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Effects of Pleasure: Expansion of the Heart, Thirst for More, and How Pleasure Hinders Reason (ST I-II q.33, a.1–3) #

49 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 33, articles 1 through 3, asking whether pleasure dilates the heart, breeds a thirst for more of itself, and blocks the use of reason.

Class 44 2012-10-25 #

Part 1 of 2 · Natural Beginnings; How Pleasure Perfects Activity (I-II q.33 a.4) and the Case That All Pleasure Is Bad (q.34 a.1) #

47 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether pleasure perfects an activity (I-II q.33 a.4) and opens the question of whether all pleasure is bad (q.34 a.1), reaching back to Aristotle and Plato on where inquiry must begin.

Part 2 of 2 · Good and Bad Pleasures, Whether All Pleasure Is Good, and the Best Pleasure: Seeing God (I-II q.34 aa.1-3) #

67 min Berquist works through Aquinas on pleasure (Summa I-II, q. 34, aa. 1-3), refuting both the Stoic claim that all pleasure is bad and the Epicurean claim that all pleasure is good, and ending with the vision of God as the best pleasure.

Class 45 2012-11-08 #

Part 1 of 2 · Reason Looks Before and After: Pleasure as the Measure of Moral Good, and Whether Pain Is a Passion of the Soul #

62 min Berquist reads Aquinas on pleasure as the measure of moral goodness (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 34, a. 4), then turns to q. 35’s opening question of whether pain is a passion of the soul.

Part 2 of 2 · Sadness and Pain: How They Differ, Why Pain Is Contrary to Pleasure, and Whether Every Sadness Opposes Every Pleasure #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 35, articles 2 through 4, asking whether sadness is just pain, how grief can shade into pleasure, and whether every sadness opposes every pleasure.

Class 46 2012-11-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · Theobald, Shakespeare and Homer on ‘Looking Before and After’; Is Every Sadness Contrary to Every Pleasure? (Summa I-II, Q35, A4) #

43 min Berquist traces Theobald’s famous emendation of “a babbled of green fields” in Henry V into Hamlet’s “large discourse, looking before and after,” then to Homer’s Menelaus and Polydamas, before returning to Summa I-II, Q35, A4 on whether every sadness is contrary to every pleasure.

Part 2 of 2 · Sadness and the Pleasure of Contemplation (A5); Is Pain Fled More Than Pleasure Is Desired? (A6) #

68 min Berquist works through two articles of the Summa (I-II, q. 35) on whether sadness can oppose the pleasure of contemplation, and why desire for pleasure outweighs flight from pain.

Class 47 2012-11-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.35 a.7-8: Is Inner Sorrow Greater Than Bodily Pain? The Four Species of Sadness #

60 min Berquist asks whether exterior bodily pain hurts more than interior sorrow, then works through Damascene’s fourfold division of sadness—acedia, anxiety, mercy, and envy—from Summa I-II q.35.

Part 2 of 2 · Melancholy, Loneliness and the Replies of a.8; q.36 a.1: Is Sadness Caused More by Evil Present or Good Lost? #

55 min Berquist works through the species of sadness—torpor, anxiety, pity, envy—before turning to q. 36, a. 1: whether an evil present causes sadness more than a good lost.

Class 48 2012-12-06 #

Part 1 of 2 · Why the Emotions Matter, and How Desire Causes Sorrow (Summa I-II, Q.36, Arts. 1-2) #

47 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.36 on what causes sorrow—tracing it to desire, love, and unfulfilled hope—after explaining why emotion-language even applies to will and to God.

Part 2 of 2 · The Desire for Unity, Greater Power, and Sadness’s Effects on Learning and the Soul (Q.36, Arts. 3-4; Q.37, Arts. 1-2) #

65 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 36, aa. 3-4 and q. 37, a. 1, asking whether desire for unity causes pain, whether a greater power causes sadness, and whether sadness weighs down the soul.

Class 49 2012-12-13 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q37 a3–4 & Q38 a1: Whether Sadness Hinders Action and Harms the Body, and Whether Any Pleasure Eases It #

55 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether sadness blocks every action and wounds the body more than other passions, then opens the question of whether pleasure can relieve sorrow, pausing over Augustine’s grief for a dead friend.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q38 a2–5: Remedies for Sadness: Weeping, the Sympathy of Friends, Contemplating Truth, Sleep and Baths #

49 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q38, articles 2-5, on what actually relieves sorrow: weeping, a friend’s sympathy, contemplating truth, and sleep or a bath.

Class 50 2013-01-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Sadness: Whether Sorrow Can Be Good, Honorable, or Useful, and Whether Pain Is the Greatest Evil (ST I-II q.39) #

61 min Berquist works through Aquinas on sadness—whether it’s always bad, whether it can be honorable or useful, and whether bodily pain is the worst evil—in Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 39.

Part 2 of 2 · The Irascible Passions Begin: Hope, How It Differs from Desire, Where It Sits in the Soul, and Hope in Animals (ST I-II q.40) #

54 min Berquist opens the treatise on the irascible passions, asking what hope is and how it differs from mere desire, using Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 40, articles 1-3.

Class 51 2013-01-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Hope, Fear and Despair: Socrates’ Hatred of Arguments and Whether Despair Is Contrary to Hope (ST I-II q.40 a.1-4) #

63 min Berquist works through Article 4 of Summa Theologiae I-II q.40—whether despair is contrary to hope—distinguishing the irascible passions’ contrariety of excess and recess from the concupiscible passions’ contrariety of opposed objects.

Part 2 of 2 · Causes and Effects of Hope: Experience, Youth, Drunkenness, and How Hope Leads to Love (ST I-II q.40 a.5-7) #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 40, articles 5 through 7, asking whether experience, youth, and drunkenness cause hope, and how hope in turn gives rise to love.

Class 52 2013-02-14 #

Part 1 of 2 · Hope and Action; Is Fear a Passion? (Prima Secundae Q40 a8, Q41 a1) #

63 min Berquist closes Question 40 on whether hope aids or hinders action, then opens Question 41 by asking whether fear is truly a passion of the soul, testing Damascene’s definition against Aquinas’s text.

Part 2 of 2 · Fear as a Special Passion, Natural Fear, and the Six Species of Fear (Q41 a2–4) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 41, a. 2–4: whether fear is a special passion, whether any fear is natural, and Damascene’s six species of fear.

Class 53 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Fear, Part 1: Fear’s Object: Good or Evil, Death, and Guilt (Summa I-II Q.42 a.1–3) #

46 min Berquist opens Question 42 on fear’s object, asking whether fear regards good or evil, whether it concerns death and natural evils, and whether it can concern the evil of guilt itself.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Fear, Part 2: Fear of Fear, Sudden and Irremediable Evils, and the Causes of Fear (Summa I-II Q.42 a.4–6, Q.43) #

54 min Berquist works through Aquinas on fear itself: can fear be feared, why sudden evils terrify more than expected ones, why irremediable evils are feared most, and how love and defect cause fear (Summa I-II, qq. 42–43).

Class 54 2013-02-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.44: The Effects of Fear – Contraction, Counsel, Trembling, and the Emotions Compared with the Will and with God #

68 min Berquist works through Question 44 of the Prima Secundae on the effects of fear—why it contracts the body, drives us to take counsel, and makes us tremble—drawing on Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations.

Part 2 of 2 · Emotions, Virtue and Music; Q.44 a.4 Whether Fear Hinders Action; Q.45 Audacity, Its Contraries and Its Relation to Hope #

51 min Berquist takes up whether fear hinders action (I-II, q.44, a.4) and how audacity relates to hope (q.45, aa.1-2), with Mozart and Haydn as illustrations along the way.

Class 55 2013-03-14 #

Part 1 of 2 · Shakespeare on the Effects of Fear, the Death of Saint Ferdinand, and the Causes of Boldness (Question 45, Articles 2–3) #

66 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 45, a. 3 on what causes boldness, then wanders through Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, the death of St. Ferdinand III, and Washington Irving on Spanish romance.

Part 2 of 2 · Are the Bold Quickest at the Start? The Treatise on Anger Begins, with Mozart and Modern Philosophy (Question 45, Article 4; Question 46) #

51 min Berquist works through Article 4 on whether the bold are keenest at the very onset of danger, then opens Question 46 on anger—before drifting into Mozart, Wagner, and the Meno’s paradox.

Class 56 2013-03-21 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Anger, Part 1: Is Anger a Special Passion, and Is Its Object Good or Bad? (Articles 1–2, with side topics on ‘simply’ versus ‘in some way’, the natural desire to see God, and the art of logic) #

66 min Berquist opens Aquinas’s treatise on anger, working through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 46, articles 1 and 2 — whether anger is a special passion, and whether its object is good or bad — with detours through Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Cicero, and Augustine.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Anger, Part 2: Anger in the Irascible Power, Anger and Reason, and Whether Anger Is More Natural Than Concupiscence (Articles 3–5) #

42 min Berquist continues through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 46, asking whether anger belongs to the irascible power, whether it follows reason, and whether it’s more natural to us than concupiscence, with Cicero, Damascene, and Aristotle along the way.

Class 57 2013-04-04 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Anger, Part 1: Anger vs. Hate, Who We Get Angry At, and the Kinds of Anger (Summa I-II, Q. 46, Articles 6–8) #

59 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q. 46, aa. 6–8, comparing anger to hatred and unpacking Damascene’s three kinds of anger, with examples drawn from Coriolanus and Othello.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Anger, Part 2: What Causes Anger – Injury, Being Slighted, Excellence and Weakness (Summa I-II, Q. 47) #

62 min Berquist works through Aquinas on what causes anger — injury done to oneself, being slighted or held in contempt, and how one’s own excellence or weakness affects it (Summa I-II, q. 47, aa. 1, 3, 4).

Class 58 2013-04-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.48: The Effects of Anger – Pleasure, Fervor, Impeded Reason and Silence #

64 min Berquist finishes Question 48 on the effects of anger, asking whether it brings pleasure, bodily fervor, impeded reason, and silence — with articles 2 through 4 of the Summa in hand.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.49: Habits in General – The Prologue, the Senses of ‘To Have’, and Whether Habit Is a Quality #

46 min Berquist opens Summa I-II Q.49 on habits, first distinguishing the “prologue” as a genre from a mere introduction, then working through Article 1 on whether habit is a quality, via Aristotle’s many senses of “to have.”

Class 59 2013-04-18 #

Part 1 of 2 · Power and Glory in Psalm 62; the Senses of ‘To Have’ and the Ten Categories #

44 min Berquist meditates on power and glory in Psalm 62 before turning to Aristotle’s ten categories and the senses of “to have,” tracing Aquinas’s treatment in Summa Contra Gentiles IV, ch. 15 and II, ch. 11.

Part 2 of 2 · Is Habit a Quality? Aquinas on Question 49, Articles 1–2, and the Species of Quality #

53 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 49, a. 1, asking whether habit is a quality—and untangling the equivocal senses of “to have” along the way.

Class 60 2013-04-25 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Habit (ST I-II Q49 aa.2-3): Why Habit Is the First Species of Quality, and Its Order to Action #

59 min Berquist opens with the Eucharist in the Summa Contra Gentiles before turning to Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 49, where he works through Thomas’s critique of Simplicius and the case for habit as the first species of quality.

Part 2 of 2 · Why Habits Are Necessary, and Where They Are: Body, Soul, Powers and Grace (ST I-II Q49 a.4; Q50 aa.1-2) #

53 min Berquist asks why habits must exist at all, then asks where they live: in the body, the soul’s essence, or its powers — working through ST I-II Q49 a.4 and Q50 aa.1-2.

Class 61 2013-05-02 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q50 a3: Habits in the Sensing Powers, with Asides on Imagination, Homer and Euclid, and Memory #

46 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q50, a.3 on whether habits can exist in the sensitive powers of the soul, sorting operations by natural instinct from those under reason’s command—with detours through Euclid, Homer, and a handout on dividing Shakespeare’s plays.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q50 aa4-5: Habits in the Understanding and in the Will #

55 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q50, articles 4 and 5, asking whether habits can exist in the possible intellect and in the will.

Class 62 2013-05-16 #

Part 1 of 2 · Habits in the Angels: The Names of God, the Per Se Axiom, and Pure Act (Summa I-II q.50 a.6) #

51 min Berquist takes up Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 50, a. 6 — whether habits can exist in angels — reading Aquinas alongside Maximus and Simplicius on immaterial substances ordered toward God.

Part 2 of 2 · The Causes of Habits: Natural Habits, Habits from Acts, and Whether One Act Is Enough (Summa I-II q.51 a.1-3) #

59 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q.51, a.1-3, asking whether any habit is natural to man, and whether habits arise from repeated acts or a single act can suffice.

Class 63 #

Part 1 of 2 · Infused Habits and the Growth of Habits: Carrying Words Over, Greatness as Perfection, and the Four Opinions on More and Less #

63 min Berquist works through Aquinas on infused habits and how habits grow, then asks why “greater” gets applied to virtue at all, using Aristotle’s Metaphysics V on words carried over from one thing to another.

Part 2 of 2 · How Forms Admit More and Less: Species as Numbers, Health, Substance and Figure, and Knowledge That Broadens and Deepens #

52 min Berquist works through a text of Aquinas asking why qualities like health and heat admit of “more and less” while substance and figure do not, using species-as-numbers, growth in geometry, and memorized Psalms as test cases.

Class 64 2013-05-30 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q52 A1: How Habits Grow – The Form Itself vs. How Fully the Subject Shares in It #

45 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q52, A1 on whether habits can increase, tracing how words like “great” and “growth” get transferred from bodies to spiritual perfections.

Part 2 of 2 · Q52 A2–3: Habits Don’t Grow by Addition, the Four Kinds of Order, and Whether Every Act Strengthens a Habit #

63 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 52, articles 2 and 3, asking whether habits grow by adding form to form or by deeper participation in one form, and whether every act of a habit makes it stronger.

Class 65 2013-09-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Habits: How They Are Corrupted and Diminished (Summa I-II, Q. 53) #

54 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 53, articles 1 through 3, asking whether a habit can be corrupted, whether it can be diminished, and how — comparing science and moral virtue.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Habits: How They Are Distinguished — by Power, Object, Good and Bad, and Unity (Summa I-II, Q. 54) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q. 54 on how habits are distinguished — by power, by object, by good and bad, and whether one habit can be built from many.

Class 66 2013-09-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.55 aa.1-2: Is Virtue a Habit, and Is It an Operative Habit? (with the plan of the Summa Contra Gentiles) #

59 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 55, aa. 1-2, asking whether human virtue is a habit at all, and whether it is specifically an operative one—with a digression on the plan of the Summa Contra Gentiles.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.55 aa.3-4 and the Start of Q.56: Virtue as a Good Habit, Augustine’s Definition of Virtue, and the Subject of Virtue #

49 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 55, aa. 3-4, testing whether virtue must be a good habit and unpacking Augustine’s definition of virtue, then opens q. 56 on virtue’s subject.

Class 67 2013-10-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Subject of Virtue (ST I-II q.56, aa.1–3): Virtue in the Powers of the Soul, and Why Faith and Foresight Are Virtues Simply #

60 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 56, aa. 1–3, asking whether virtue belongs to the soul’s powers, whether one virtue can span several powers, and whether the intellect itself can be virtuous.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Subject of Virtue (ST I-II q.56, aa.4–6): The Emotions, the Interior Senses, and the Will #

51 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 56, aa. 4–6, asking whether the irascible and concupiscible appetites, the interior senses, and the will can be subjects of virtue.

Class 68 2013-10-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.57: Order of the Virtues, Speculative Habits as Virtues, and Understanding, Science and Wisdom #

61 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.57, articles 1 and 2, asking whether speculative habits count as virtues and why understanding, science, and wisdom must be distinguished as three.

Part 2 of 2 · Principles vs. Conclusions, Why Opinion Is Not a Virtue, and Art vs. Foresight (Prudence) #

61 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 57, aa. 3-4, distinguishing art as right reason about making from prudence as right reason about doing.

Class 69 2013-10-24 #

Part 1 of 3 · Is Foresight (Prudence) Necessary for Living Well? Art, Right Appetite and Practical Truth (Summa I-II, Q57 A5) #

40 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 57, a. 5, asking whether prudence is necessary for living well, and why practical truth answers to right appetite rather than to the thing itself.

Part 2 of 3 · Counsel, Judgment and Command: Eubulia, Synesis and Gnome as Parts of Prudence (Q57 A6) #

43 min Berquist works through Article 6 of Aquinas’s treatise on prudence, asking whether eubulia, synesis, and gnome are rightly annexed to prudence as its subordinate parts.

Part 3 of 3 · What Makes a Virtue Moral? Moral vs. Intellectual Virtue, Socrates and Augustine (Q58 A1-2) #

40 min Berquist opens Aquinas’s treatise on virtue, asking whether every virtue is moral and how moral virtue differs from intellectual virtue, working through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 58, a. 1-2 against Aristotle and Augustine.

Class 70 2013-10-31 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Virtue I (ST I-II q.58 a.3–4): Intellectual vs. Moral Virtue, and Why Moral Virtue Needs Prudence #

41 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 58, a. 3–4, asking whether virtue divides properly into intellectual and moral kinds, and why moral virtue cannot exist without prudence.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Virtue II (ST I-II q.58 a.5 – q.59 a.2): Prudence Needs Moral Virtue; Virtue and the Passions, Stoics vs. Peripatetics #

51 min Berquist finishes Aquinas on whether prudence can stand without moral virtue, then opens question 59 on whether virtue is a passion—setting up the Stoic-versus-Peripatetic dispute over reason and emotion.

Class 71 2013-11-08 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q59 A3–4: Can the virtuous man be sad? Is every moral virtue about the passions? #

53 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q59 Articles 3 and 4, asking whether a virtuous man can be sad and whether every moral virtue deals with the passions, from bodily harm and sin to Christ’s own sorrow.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q59 A5 & Q60 A1: Virtue with passion; is there only one moral virtue? #

38 min Berquist finishes Summa I-II q.59 a.5 on whether perfect moral virtue can exist without passion, then opens q.60 a.1 asking whether there is only one moral virtue, with examples from Shakespeare and Aristotle’s Ethics.

Class 72 2013-12-05 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.60 Aa.2–4: Virtues of Operations and Passions, Justice and Its Kinds, Padre Pio on Suffering, and Being True to Oneself #

61 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.60, Aa.2-4, showing why justice differs from temperance and fortitude as virtues of exterior acts versus interior passions, with help from Padre Pio, Shakespeare, and Socrates.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.60 A.5: Aristotle’s Eleven Moral Virtues and the Rule of Dividing into Two or Three #

34 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 60, a. 5, asking whether moral virtues are distinguished by the objects of the passions—then follows Aristotle’s list of eleven virtues into a wide-ranging look at why the mind divides things into twos and threes.

Class 73 2013-12-12 #

Part 1 of 2 · The Cardinal Virtues: Why They Are Principal, Why There Are Four, and Why Not Magnanimity, Humility or Patience (Summa I-II, Q. 61, aa. 1-3) #

61 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 61, aa. 1-2, asking why prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are called “cardinal” virtues and why there are exactly four, checking Aquinas’s answer against Aristotle, Plato, and Cicero.

Part 2 of 2 · Are the Cardinal Virtues Distinct? Political, Purging, Purged-Soul and Exemplar Virtues (Q. 61, aa. 4-5), with a Coda on Summa Contra Gentiles III, ch. 64 #

40 min Berquist asks whether prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are really distinct virtues, then walks through Macrobius’s fourfold scheme dividing them into political, purging, purged-soul, and exemplar types (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 61, aa. 4-5).

Class 74 2014-01-09 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.62, a.1–2: Are There Theological Virtues, and How Do They Differ from the Intellectual and Moral Virtues? #

44 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 62, a. 1–2, asking whether faith, hope, and charity exist as virtues at all and how they differ from the intellectual and moral virtues.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.62, a.3–4: Why Faith, Hope and Charity Are Three, and How They Are Ordered #

66 min Berquist takes up Summa I-II, q. 62, articles 3 and 4, asking why there are exactly three theological virtues and how faith, hope, and charity are ordered to one another.

Class 75 2014-01-16 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Causes of Virtue: Nature, Habit and Infused Virtues (Prima Secundae Q. 63, aa. 1–3) #

61 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 63, aa. 1–3, asking whether virtue is natural to man and whether repeated acts can cause moral virtue, then turns to infused virtue.

Part 2 of 2 · Infused vs. Acquired Virtues, and Why Virtue Lies in the Middle (Q. 63, a. 4; Q. 64, aa. 1–2) #

50 min Berquist closes Question 63 on why infused and acquired virtues differ in kind, then opens Question 64 on how virtue holds a mean between excess and defect.

Class 76 2014-01-23 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.64 a.2–3: The Middle of Reason, Justice, and the Middle of the Intellectual Virtues (Truth, Contraries, and Opposites) #

59 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 64, aa. 2–3, asking whether virtue’s mean belongs to reason or to the thing itself, then whether truth is the analogous mean for intellectual virtue.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.64 a.4 & Q.65 a.1: Do the Theological Virtues Have a Middle? And How the Moral Virtues Are Connected #

52 min Berquist asks whether the theological virtues admit a mean, then turns to whether the moral virtues are all connected, working through Summa I-II, q. 64, a. 4 and q. 65, a. 1.

Class 77 2014-02-06 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.65, Arts. 2–3: Can the Moral Virtues Exist Without Charity, and Charity Without Them? (Acquired vs. Infused Virtue) #

47 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.65, Arts. 2-3, asking whether moral virtue can exist without charity and charity without moral virtue, distinguishing acquired from infused virtues.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas, Summa I-II Q.65, Arts. 4–5 and Q.66, Art. 1: Faith, Hope and Charity as Friendship with God; Can Virtues Be Greater or Lesser? #

70 min Berquist reads Summa I-II Q.65, arts. 4–5 on whether faith and hope can stand without charity, then opens Q.66, art. 1 on whether virtues admit of degree.

Class 78 2014-02-20 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II, Q. 66, Arts. 2–4: Equality of the Virtues, Intellectual vs. Moral Virtue, and Justice as the Chief Moral Virtue #

62 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q. 66, Articles 2–4, asking whether the virtues are equal, whether moral virtue outranks intellectual virtue, and whether justice is chief among the moral virtues.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II, Q. 66, Arts. 5–6: Wisdom as the Greatest Intellectual Virtue and Charity as the Greatest Theological Virtue #

56 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 66, a. 5 on why wisdom outranks prudence, science, and understanding, then a. 6 on why charity outranks faith and hope, with Shakespeare along the way.

Class 79 2014-02-27 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.67, Articles 1–2: Do the Moral and Intellectual Virtues Remain After This Life? #

51 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 67, articles 1 and 2, asking whether moral and intellectual virtues like temperance and prudence survive the soul’s separation from the body.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.67, Article 3: Does Faith Remain in Glory? Knowing, Guessing and the Beatific Vision #

67 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.67, a.3 to ask whether faith can survive into the beatific vision, and why it cannot.

Class 80 2014-03-06 #

Part 1 of 2 · Does Hope or Faith Remain in Heaven? (Summa I-II q.67 a.4–5) #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 67, articles 4 and 5, asking whether hope and faith survive in the blessed once they see God face to face.

Part 2 of 2 · Charity Never Fails, and How the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Differ from the Virtues (Summa I-II q.67 a.6, q.68 a.1) #

51 min Berquist asks whether charity in heaven is the same habit we have now, then opens Aquinas’s treatise on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, working through Summa I-II q.67 a.6 and q.68 a.1.

Class 81 2014-03-20 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.68 aa.2–4: Why the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Are Necessary for Salvation, Why They Are Habits, and the Objections to Counting Seven #

52 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q.68 aa.2–4, asking why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are needed for salvation, why they must be habits, and how the traditional list of seven holds up.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.68 aa.4–7: How the Seven Gifts Are Distinguished, Their Connection in Charity, Whether They Remain in Heaven, and Their Order of Dignity #

69 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 68, aa. 4-7 on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit — how each answers to a power of the soul, why piety rather than justice is named, how charity binds them together, whether they survive in heaven, and their order of rank.

Class 82 2014-03-27 #

Part 1 of 2 · Gifts Compared with the Virtues; Beatitudes as Acts and Their Rewards in This Life (ST I-II Q.68 a.8; Q.69 a.1-2) #

51 min Berquist finishes Question 68 on how the gifts of the Holy Spirit surpass the virtues yet stay under the theological virtues, then opens Question 69 to ask how the Beatitudes, as acts, differ from virtues and gifts as habits.

Part 2 of 2 · Why the Beatitudes and Their Rewards Are Listed as They Are; the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (ST I-II Q.69 a.3-4; Q.70 a.1-2) #

63 min Berquist works through Aquinas on why the eight beatitudes are ordered as they are and why their rewards fit them, then turns to the fruits of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 5 (ST I-II, q. 69, aa. 3-4; q. 70, aa. 1-2).

Class 83 2014-04-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Q70 Art. 3: Why Paul Lists Twelve Fruits of the Spirit, and the Loss of Wonder #

67 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae Q70 Art. 3 on the twelve fruits of the Spirit from Galatians, then turns to Summa Contra Gentiles IV, ch. 15 and the loss of wonder in philosophy.

Part 2 of 2 · Last Replies on the Twelve Fruits, Fruits vs. Works of the Flesh (Art. 4), and Is All Knowledge Good? #

49 min Berquist closes out the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, sets them against Galatians’ works of the flesh, and asks whether all knowledge is good, reading Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 70, a. 4.

Class 84 2014-04-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Imitation, Humility and the Love of Wisdom; Mozart’s Music; ST I-II Q.71 a.1: Is Vice Contrary to Virtue? #

47 min Berquist opens Summa Theologiae I-II, Question 71 and its first article—whether vice is contrary to virtue—after detours through imitation in Aristotle’s Poetics, humility in Socrates and Augustine, and Mozart’s music as imitation of the passions.

Part 2 of 2 · ST I-II Q.71 aa.2-4: Vice Against Nature and Reason, Habit vs. Act, and Whether Sin Can Coexist with Virtue #

66 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 71, aa. 2-4: whether vice runs against nature, whether a vicious habit is worse than a vicious act, and whether sin can coexist with virtue.

Class 85 2014-05-22 #

Part 1 of 2 · The Compendium of Theology and Sins of Omission (ST I-II q.71 a.5) #

55 min Berquist opens with the Compendium of Theology’s structure before turning to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 71, a. 5, asking whether every sin requires an act — and how sins of omission fit that requirement.

Part 2 of 2 · Augustine’s Definition of Sin and How Sins Are Distinguished (ST I-II q.71 a.6 – q.72 a.2) #

63 min Berquist works through Augustine’s definition of sin — “something said, done, or desired against the eternal law” — and then Aquinas’s account of how sins differ in species, in Summa Theologiae I-II q.71 a.6 and q.72 aa.1-2.

Class 86 2014-05-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.72 aa.3-6: Sin by cause; against God, self and neighbour; mortal and venial; omission and commission #

59 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q.72, aa.3-6, on how sins are told apart by species — by cause, by their object (God, self, neighbor), by mortal versus venial, and by omission versus commission.

Part 2 of 2 · Q.72 aa.6-9: Negation rests on affirmation; sins of heart, mouth and deed; excess and defect; circumstances #

62 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II q. 72, aa. 6-9, on sins of thought, word and deed, and vices that differ by excess and defect, like prodigality and illiberality.

Class 87 2014-09-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Comparing Sins I: Are All Sins Connected or Equal, and Does Gravity Depend on the Object? (ST I-II q.73 aa.1-3) #

69 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether sins are connected, whether they’re equal, and whether gravity depends on the object sinned against—Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 73, aa. 1-3.

Part 2 of 2 · Comparing Sins II: Opposed Virtues and Carnal vs. Spiritual Sins (ST I-II q.73 aa.4-5) #

44 min Berquist works through two articles of the Summa (I-II, q. 73, aa. 4-5) on whether greater sins oppose greater virtues, and why spiritual sins outweigh carnal ones.

Class 88 2014-09-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.73 aa.6–7: How the Demons Know, the Cause of Sin and Circumstances That Make Sin Worse #

49 min Berquist takes up Summa I-II, q. 73, articles 6 and 7, asking whether sin’s gravity tracks its cause and whether circumstances can make a sin worse, with Oedipus and drunkenness as cases in point.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.73 aa.8–10: Harm Done, the Person Sinned Against and the Standing of the Sinner #

66 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q.73, articles 8-10, asking whether sin is worsened by the harm it does and by the dignity of the person sinned against or sinning, with side trips into Shakespeare.

Class 89 2014-10-02 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.74, Part 1: Two Ways the Mind Stumbles; Can Sin Be in the Will? (Arts. 1–2); Virtue, Prayer and Friendship #

56 min Berquist opens Summa I-II q.74 on whether the will can be the subject of sin, using Friar Lawrence’s lines on “stumbling” in Romeo and Juliet to distinguish two ways reasoning fails.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.74, Part 2: Sin in the Passions and in Reason (Arts. 2–5); Mozart, Memory, and Mortal vs. Venial Sin #

47 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s Summa I-II q.74, arts. 2-5, asking whether will, bodily members, sensuality, and reason can be proper subjects of sin—illustrated along the way with Aristotle on music and a detour through Mozart’s operas.

Class 90 · Summa I-II q.74 a.6-10: Morose Pleasure, Consent in Higher and Lower Reason, and Mortal vs. Venial Sin #

2014-10-08 · 76 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.74 a.6-10 on “morose pleasure,” asking where consent to sinful delight is located in higher versus lower reason, and what makes it mortal or venial sin.

Class 91 2014-10-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q75 aa.1–3: Does sin have a cause? Inward causes (reason, will, sense desire) and outward causes #

64 min Berquist works through Summa I-II Q75, aa.1–3 on whether sin has a cause, distinguishing sin as act from sin as disorder and tracing reason, will, and sense appetite as its inward causes.

Part 2 of 2 · Q75 a.4 & Q76 a.1: How one sin causes another through the four causes; ignorance as a cause of sin #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 75, a. 4 on whether sin causes sin via Aristotle’s four causes, then opens q. 76, a. 1 on ignorance as a cause of sin.

Class 92 2014-10-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Ignorance as a Cause of Sin (Summa I-II, Q. 76): Is Ignorance a Sin, Does It Excuse, Does It Diminish? #

68 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s Question 76 on ignorance as a cause of sin, asking whether ignorance can itself be sinful, whether it excuses from sin, and whether it lessens it.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Passion and Sin (Summa I-II, Q. 77, Arts. 1–2): Can Passion Move the Will and Overcome Knowledge? #

45 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, Q. 77, Arts. 1–2, asking whether passion can move the will and cloud reason’s judgment even while it still knows the truth.

Class 93 2014-10-30 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.77 aa.3–6: Sins of Weakness, Love of Self, the Three Concupiscences, and Whether Passion Lessens Sin #

67 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 77, aa. 3–6: whether sin from passion counts as weakness, whether disordered self-love roots all sin, John’s threefold concupiscence, and whether passion lessens or aggravates guilt.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.77 aa.7–8 and Q.78 a.1: Whether Passion Excuses Sin, Mortal Sin from Passion, and Sinning from Malice #

54 min Berquist finishes Question 77 on whether passion excuses from sin and whether sins of passion can be mortal, then opens Question 78 on sinning from deliberate malice.

Class 94 2014-11-06 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Sinning from Certain Malice: Whether It Is Possible, and Whether Sinning from Habit Is Sinning from Malice (ST I-II q.78 a.1-2) #

56 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 78, a. 1-2, asking whether anyone can sin from certain malice and whether sinning from habit counts as sinning from malice.

Part 2 of 2 · Malice Without Habit, Malice Worse Than Passion, and Whether God Causes Sin (ST I-II q.78 a.3-4; q.79 a.1) #

60 min Berquist works through Aquinas on sin from “certain malice”—whether it requires a vicious habit and whether it’s worse than sinning from passion—then asks whether God can be called a cause of sin (ST I-II q.78 a.3-4; q.79 a.1).

Class 95 2014-11-20 #

Part 1 of 2 · Is God the Cause of Sin? Summa I-II Q.79, Articles 1–3: The Act of Sin, Blindness and Hardness of Heart #

65 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.79, articles 1–3, asking whether God causes the act of sin, and whether he causes blindness of mind and hardness of heart.

Part 2 of 2 · Blindness for Salvation or Damnation, and the Devil as a Cause of Sin (Q.79 a.4; Q.80 a.1–3) #

48 min Berquist asks whether God’s blinding and hardening of sinners can ever aim at their salvation, then turns to whether the devil can move the will directly, through suggestion, or by outright necessity (I-II, q. 79, a. 4; q. 80, a. 1–3).

Class 96 2014-12-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas: The devil as cause of sin, how original sin is passed on, and why only Adam’s first sin is inherited (Summa I-II, q. 80 a. 4; q. 81 aa. 1-2) #

52 min Berquist finishes Aquinas on the devil as indirect cause of sin, then turns to original sin: why Adam’s first sin alone is passed to all humanity (Summa I-II, q. 80, a. 4; q. 81, aa. 1-2).

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas: Does original sin reach everyone? Mary, miraculous formation, cloning, and the father’s role in passing it on (Summa I-II, q. 81 aa. 3-5) #

58 min Berquist works through Aquinas on original sin (Summa I-II, q. 81, aa. 3-5): does it reach every descendant of Adam, what would happen to someone miraculously formed from human flesh, and would Eve alone have passed it on had she sinned without Adam?

Class 97 2015-01-08 #

Part 1 of 2 · Original Sin in Its Essence: Habit, Unity, Concupiscence, and Whether It Is Equal in All (ST I-II q.82) #

67 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 82, articles 1–4, asking whether original sin is a habit, whether it is one thing in each person, whether it consists in concupiscence, and whether it is equal in all.

Part 2 of 2 · Where Original Sin Lives: Flesh or Soul, Chief and Instrumental Causes (ST I-II q.83 a.1) #

50 min Berquist and his students work through Summa Theologiae I-II q.83 a.1, asking whether original sin resides in the flesh or in the soul, and how Adam’s sin is transmitted through the seed as instrument.

Class 98 2015-01-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · Original Sin in the Soul: the Soul’s Essence and the Will First (ST I-II q.83 a.2–3) #

42 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II q.83, a.2–3, asking whether original sin sits in the soul’s essence or its powers, and which power it strikes first.

Part 2 of 2 · Infected Powers, Avarice as the Root and Pride as the Beginning of Sin (ST I-II q.83 a.4; q.84 a.1–2) #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 83, a. 4 on why the generative power, the concupiscible appetite, and touch bear the sharpest wound of original sin, then opens q. 84 on avarice as sin’s root and pride as its beginning.

Class 99 2015-01-22 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the capital sins (Question 84, articles 3–4): what ‘capital’ means and how the seven vices are derived #

62 min Berquist reads Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 84, aa. 3-4, asking why “capital” vices are named for headship rather than punishment, then follows Aquinas’s derivation of the seven from Gregory the Great’s Moralia.

Part 2 of 2 · Replies on the seven capital vices, then the effects of sin (Question 85, article 1): does sin weaken the good of nature? #

52 min Berquist closes out the replies on the seven capital vices—why pride and avarice aren’t among them, why anger still counts as principal—before opening Question 85 on whether sin diminishes the good of nature.

Class 100 2015-01-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · Antonomasia in Scripture: ‘The Evil One’ and ‘The Good’; Summa I-II q.85 aa.2-3: Can Sin Destroy Nature’s Good, and the Four Wounds of Nature #

66 min Berquist opens with antonomasia in Scripture—how “the evil one” and “the good” name their subjects by eminence—then turns to Summa I-II q.85, aa.2-3 on whether sin can destroy the good of nature and the four wounds it leaves behind.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.85 aa.4-6: Mode, Species and Order; Death and Bodily Defects as Punishments of Original Sin; Is Death Natural to Man? #

47 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.85, aa.4-6, asking whether sin’s privation of mode, species, and order shows up in death and bodily defects, and whether those defects are truly natural to man.

Class 101 2015-02-12 #

Part 1 of 2 · Death and Defects Natural to Man (Q85 a6): Universal vs. Particular Nature; Scientia in God and Words Taken from the Body #

42 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 85, a. 6 on whether death and bodily defects are natural to man, then digresses into Aristotle’s Physics on the continuous and a De Veritate passage on scientia in God.

Part 2 of 2 · The Stain of Sin (Q86) and the Debt of Punishment (Q87 a1): Lost Brightness, Returning to the Light, and the Threefold Order #

61 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s question on the “stain” of sin—whether it outlasts the act itself—then opens the question on the debt of punishment, tracing sin’s threefold disorder against reason, human law, and divine law (ST I-II, qq. 86–87).

Class 102 2015-02-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · Humility with Charity, Hope with Fear: Aquinas on Matthew, the Magnificat, and the Philosopher’s Virtues; Whether Sin Can Be the Punishment of Sin (Q. 87, a. 2) #

47 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s commentary on Matthew 18 and 8—humility, charity, and Christ’s “wonder” at the centurion—before turning to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 87, a. 2 on whether sin can be the punishment of sin.

Part 2 of 2 · Mortal Sin and Eternal Punishment: Aquinas on Aversion, Conversion, and the Beginning of Order (Q. 87, aa. 3–5) #

66 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 87, aa. 3–5, asking why mortal sin merits eternal punishment and how aversion from God differs from disordered love of creatures.

Class 103 2015-02-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · The Debt of Punishment after Sin: Names of the Holy Spirit, Satisfaction, Medicinal Punishment, and Sons Punished for Their Fathers (Summa I-II, Q. 87, aa. 6–8) #

68 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 87, aa. 6–8 on whether the debt of punishment survives forgiveness, whether all punishment answers to guilt, and whether a son can be punished for his father’s sin, with a supporting look at Summa Contra Gentiles IV, ch. 15.

Part 2 of 2 · Venial and Mortal Sin: Loving God Enough, Repairable and Irreparable Sin, and Analogical Division (Summa I-II, Q. 88, a. 1) #

43 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 88, a. 1, asking whether venial sin is properly divided against mortal sin, and why that division is analogical rather than generic.

Class 104 2015-03-05 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Venial and Mortal Sin (Summa I-II, Q. 88, Articles 2–3): the Temptation of Christ, the Spirit of Error, and Contempt for Order #

61 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s account of venial versus mortal sin (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 88, aa. 2–3), then turns to Summa Contra Gentiles IV, ch. 15, reading the temptation of Christ as a lesson in the spirit of error and contempt for order.

Part 2 of 2 · Can a Venial Sin Become Mortal? (Q. 88, Articles 4–6): Circumstances, Anger, Drunkenness and the Imperfect Act #

43 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 88, articles 4–6, asking whether venial sin can become mortal, whether mortal sin can become venial, and what anger or drunkenness reveal about circumstances changing an act’s moral species.

Class 105 2015-03-12 #

Part 1 of 2 · Understanding, Belief Seeking Understanding, and Whether Venial Sin Stains the Soul (Aquinas, Question 89, Article 1) #

42 min Berquist takes up Aquinas on whether venial sin leaves a “stain” on the soul (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 89, a. 1), pausing to trace what understanding itself means through substance and cause.

Part 2 of 2 · Wood, Hay and Straw, Venial Sin in the State of Innocence, and Why Angels Cannot Sin Venially (Aquinas, Question 89, Articles 2-4) #

65 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 89, aa. 2-4, asking whether venial sin fits Paul’s “wood, hay, and straw,” whether Adam in innocence could sin venially, and why angels cannot.

Class 106 2015-03-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · First Motions of Sensuality in the Faithless, and Whether Venial Sin Can Exist with Original Sin Alone #

32 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 89, articles 5 and 6, on whether the first movements of sensuality are mortal sins in unbelievers and whether venial sin can exist alongside original sin alone, before turning toward the Treatise on Law.

Part 2 of 2 · Beginning the Treatise on Law: Wisdom, the Axioms, and Whether Law Belongs to Reason #

52 min Berquist opens the Treatise on Law with Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 90, a. 1, asking whether law pertains to reason and tracing Aquinas’s answer through digressions on Aristotle’s equivocal terms and the axioms.

Class 107 2015-03-26 #

Part 1 of 2 · Law and Reason, Law and the Common Good (Summa I-II, Q. 90, Articles 1–2): ‘Beginning’ and Its Meanings, Ways to Divide Sacred Doctrine, and the Wise Man’s Judgment of Axioms #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q. 90, tracing the senses of “principium” in Aristotle and Aquinas’s argument that law must serve the common good, not private advantage.

Part 2 of 2 · Who Makes Law, Promulgation, Eternal Law and Natural Law (Q. 90, Articles 3–4; Q. 91, Articles 1–2) #

60 min Berquist finishes Question 90 on who has authority to make law and why promulgation belongs to law’s essence, then opens Question 91 on eternal law and natural law as participation in divine reason.

Class 108 2015-04-09 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.91 aa.3–4: Why we need human law and divine law (the four reasons, Psalm 18, and faith, hope and love in Mozart’s last symphonies) #

60 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.91, aa.3-4, asking why natural law needs human law to complete it, and why both need divine law—reaching Aquinas’s four reasons, with a long detour through Mozart’s last symphonies.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.91 aa.5–6 and q.92 a.1: The old law and the new law, the ’law of hot blood’, and whether law makes men good #

49 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the Old and New Law, the “law of the fomes,” and whether law makes men good, reading Summa I-II qq. 91–92 article by article in Latin.

Class 109 2015-04-23 #

Part 1 of 2 · Dividing in Twos and Threes, and the Acts of Law: Command, Prohibit, Permit, Punish (ST I-II q.92 a.2) #

56 min Berquist surveys Aquinas’s habit of dividing things into twos and threes, then works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 92, a. 2, on whether law’s four acts—command, prohibit, permit, punish—are rightly assigned.

Part 2 of 2 · The Eternal Law as the Highest Reason in God: God as Maker and Mover, the Logos, and the Divine Ideas (ST I-II q.93 a.1) #

54 min Berquist opens Aquinas’s treatise on law, laying out the sixfold division of law and then working through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 93, a. 1: whether the eternal law is the highest reason existing in God.

Class 110 2015-05-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Eternal Law, Part 1: Is the Eternal Law Known to All? Distinction, Before and After, and the Last Instant of Change #

49 min Berquist works through Article 2 of Aquinas’s treatise on law—whether the eternal law is known to all—then illustrates Thomas’s method of distinction with Aristotle’s Physics on change between contradictories, applied to the Eucharist and the state after confession.

Part 2 of 2 · Eternal Law, Part 2: Whether All Law Comes from the Eternal Law, and What Is Subject to It (Articles 3–5) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 93, a. 3 on whether all law derives from the eternal law, then opens a. 5 on whether irrational creatures are subject to it.

Class 111 2015-06-04 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Law, Part 1: Who Is Subject to the Eternal Law, and Is the Natural Law a Habit? (Q93 a6, Q94 a1) #

47 min Berquist closes Question 93 on who is bound by the eternal law, then opens Question 94 to ask whether the natural law is a habit, working through objections from Paul, Augustine, Basil, and Aristotle.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Law, Part 2: The Precepts of the Natural Law, Virtuous Acts, and Whether the Natural Law Is the Same for Everyone (Q94 a2–4) #

70 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.94, a.2–4, asking why natural law has many precepts if the first is one, whether all virtuous acts belong to it, and whether it binds everyone alike.

Class 112 2015-06-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Natural Law I: Can the Natural Law Change? (Abraham, Hosea, Custom and Circumstance) and Whether It Can Be Wiped from the Heart #

44 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s question on whether the natural law can change, testing it against Abraham’s command to sacrifice Isaac, the Israelites despoiling the Egyptians, and Hosea’s marriage, then asks whether it can be erased from the heart.

Part 2 of 2 · Natural Law II and Human Law: Replies on Grace and Unjust Laws; Why Human Laws Are Needed and How They Derive from Natural Law #

40 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s treatment of whether natural law can be abolished by sin (I-II, q. 94, a. 6), then opens the question of human law: why it’s needed and how it derives from natural law (q. 95, aa. 1–2).

Class 113 2015-06-18 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on Human Law (ST I-II Q95 a3–4): Isidore’s Conditions of Law and the Divisions of Human Law #

45 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, Q95, articles 3 and 4, testing Isidore of Seville’s conditions for law and his divisions of human law against Aquinas’s own account of law’s purpose.

Part 2 of 2 · The Power of Human Law (ST I-II Q96 a1–4): General Laws, Vices, Virtues, and Obligation in Conscience #

54 min Berquist works through Question 96 of the Prima Secundae, asking whether law should be framed in general terms, whether it should suppress every vice or command every virtue, and whether human law binds in conscience.

Class 114 2015-06-25 #

Part 1 of 2 · The Footprint of the Trinity, Christ as the Road, and Whether All Are Subject to Human Law (Opening reflections; ST I-II q.96 a.5) #

53 min Berquist opens with the Trinity’s “footprint” in creatures and the image of Christ as the road, before turning to Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 96, a. 5, on whether all men are subject to human law.

Part 2 of 2 · Acting Outside the Words of the Law and Changing Human Law (ST I-II q.96 a.6; q.97 aa.1-2) #

57 min Berquist works through Aquinas on whether one may act against the letter of the law in a case of necessity, and whether human law should ever change, using American history—the Missouri Compromise, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson—to test the principles.

Class 115 2015-09-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Why Reason Is Not a Body (Thomas’s Three Arguments, Sentences II d.19) and Custom as Law (Summa I-II q.97 a.3) #

68 min Berquist works through Thomas’s three arguments—from Aristotle, from universal knowing, and from Avicenna—for why reason cannot be a body, then turns to Summa I-II, q. 97, a. 3 on whether custom can acquire the force of law.

Part 2 of 2 · Dispensing from Human Law (q.97 a.4) and Whether the Old Law Was Good #

47 min Berquist finishes q.97 on whether rulers may dispense from human law, then opens q.98 by asking whether the Old Law was good.

Class 116 2015-09-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · God Alone Is Good, ‘I Am Who Am’: Divine Simplicity and the Senses of ‘To Have’ #

44 min Berquist takes up Christ’s “Why do you call me good? God alone is good” and his word to Catherine of Siena, “I am who am, and you are she who is not,” to explain—through Aquinas on divine simplicity—why God alone is goodness and being, while creatures only have them.

Part 2 of 2 · The Old Law: Given by God, Given Through Angels, and Given Only to the Jews (Articles 2-4) #

66 min Berquist works through three articles of the Summa (I-II, q. 98) asking whether the Old Law came from God, was given through angels, and was addressed only to the Jews.

Class 117 2015-09-24 #

Part 1 of 2 · Before and After, Definition by Causes, and the Old Law: Who Is Bound by It and Why It Came in the Time of Moses (ST I-II q.98 aa.5-6) #

62 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 98, articles 5 and 6, asking who was bound by the Old Law and why it came in the time of Moses, with digressions on definition by causes and the two orders of Christology.

Part 2 of 2 · The Precepts of the Old Law: One End, Many Commands; Moral, Ceremonial and Judicial Precepts (ST I-II q.100 aa.1-4) #

66 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 99, aa. 1-4, asking whether the Old Law is one precept or many, and dividing its precepts into moral, ceremonial, and judicial kinds.

Class 118 2015-10-01 #

Part 1 of 2 · Know Thyself, Act Before Ability, and the Precepts of the Old Law (Summa I-II Q.99 aa.5–6) #

47 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 99, aa. 5–6, sorting out the moral, judicial, and ceremonial precepts of the Old Law and why it leans on temporal rewards and punishments.

Part 2 of 2 · The Moral Precepts and the Decalogue: Natural Law, Every Virtue, and Numbering the Ten Commandments (Summa I-II Q.100 aa.1–4) #

57 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.100, asking whether the moral precepts of the Old Law belong to natural law, cover every virtue, and reduce to the Ten Commandments.

Class 119 2015-10-07 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.100 a.5: Why These Ten Commandments? Duties to God and to Neighbour, Love of Self, and the Four Causes (C-A-T) #

62 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.100 a.5, where Aquinas defends the sufficiency and order of the Ten Commandments against objections about duties to God versus neighbor, and love of parents versus children.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.100 a.6-7: Why the Commandments Come in This Order, and Their Reasons, Promises, Punishments and Memory #

44 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.100 a.6-7, asking why love of God precedes love of neighbor, why honoring parents heads the interpersonal precepts, and why only some commandments carry an added reason, promise, or threat.

Class 120 2015-10-15 #

Part 1 of 2 · A Second Definition of Reason: Understanding, Order, and Whether the Decalogue Admits Dispensation (I-II q.100 a.8) #

44 min Berquist opens with a philosophical account of reason as understanding, order, and “large discourse, looking before and after,” then reads Aquinas on whether the Decalogue’s precepts admit dispensation (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 100, a. 8).

Part 2 of 2 · God Cannot Deny Himself: Homicide, Theft, and Adultery in the Decalogue, and Whether the Mode of Virtue Falls Under the Law (I-II q.100 a.8–9) #

50 min Berquist finishes Aquinas on the Decalogue’s unchangeability—why God could command Abraham to kill Isaac or the Israelites to plunder Egypt—then opens q.100 a.9 on whether law can command the mode of virtue itself.

Class 121 2015-10-21 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Moral Precepts: Charity, the Other Moral Precepts Beyond the Decalogue, and Whether They Justify (ST I-II Q.100, aa.10-12) #

57 min Berquist closes out Aquinas’s treatment of the Old Law’s moral precepts, asking whether charity itself falls under precept, how precepts beyond the Decalogue reduce to it, and whether the moral law can justify (ST I-II, Q.100, aa.10-12).

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Ceremonial Precepts: Worship of God, Figures and Shadows, and Why There Were So Many (ST I-II Q.101, aa.1-3) #

60 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 101, aa. 1-3, asking why the ceremonial precepts belong to worship and why the Old Law needed so many figurative rites pointing to Christ.

Class 122 2015-10-29 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.101 a.4 and Q.102 a.1-2: Dividing the Old Law Ceremonies, and Their Causes in the Letter and in Figure #

64 min Berquist finishes dividing the Old Law’s ceremonies into sacrifices, sacred things, sacraments, and observances, then opens the question of whether those ceremonies have a rational cause—literal as well as figurative.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.102 a.3: The Reasons for the Old Law Sacrifices (Worship, Rejecting Idols, and Figures of Christ) #

57 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s fourteen objections on the Old Law’s sacrificial rules—which animals, how killed, what withheld—and his threefold rationale of excluding idolatry, rightly ordering worship, and prefiguring Christ, pausing partway to continue next time.

Class 123 2015-11-05 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Old Law Sacrifices (Holocaust, Sin and Peace Offerings) and the Trinity as Alpha and Omega #

51 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the Old Law sacrifices—holocausts, sin and peace offerings, and the meaning of blood, fat, and incense—then turns to how creation and providence are appropriated to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Tabernacle and Temple: Why Sacred Places Inspire Reverence #

57 min Berquist works through Article 4 of Aquinas’s treatment of the Old Law’s ceremonial precepts, asking why the tabernacle, temple, and their furnishings, orientation, and consecrated times were ordered as they were rather than arbitrary.

Class 124 2015-11-12 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.102 a.4, replies 6–9: The Tabernacle, the Ark, the Altars and the Coverings as Figures of Christ #

51 min Berquist finishes Summa I-II q.102 a.4, replies six through nine, reading the ark, cherubim, altars, and tabernacle coverings as figures of Christ and the Church.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.102 a.4 reply 10 and a.5: The Feasts of the Old Law, Rest in God, and the Reasons for Circumcision #

54 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.102 on the feasts of the Old Law and the reasons for circumcision, glossing the Latin text objection by objection and tracing each rite’s fulfillment in Christ.

Class 125 2015-11-19 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.102 a.5 (replies 2–4): The Passover meal, the sacraments of the old and new law, and ritual uncleanness #

54 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the Passover meal and the Mosaic purification laws—corpses, leprosy, bodily discharges, unclean vessels—reading them as figures of the Eucharist, heresy, sin, and idolatry.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.102 a.5 (replies 5–9): The red heifer, the Day of Atonement and scapegoat, cleansing lepers, and consecrating priests #

49 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the Old Law’s stranger purification rites—the red heifer, the Day of Atonement scapegoat, cleansing lepers, and consecrating priests—reading each as a figure of Christ.

Class 126 2015-12-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Appropriations to the Trinity, Hamlet on Discourse, the Priestly Vestments, and Objections Against the Ceremonial Observances #

58 min Berquist opens with Trinitarian appropriation and a Hamlet aside, then works through Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles on the priestly vestments and the objections against the Old Law’s ceremonial precepts.

Part 2 of 2 · Why the Old Law Forbade Certain Foods: Clean and Unclean Animals, Literal and Figurative Reasons #

56 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s treatment of the Old Law’s food prohibitions in the Summa Theologiae, asking why Moses declared certain animals, fish, and birds unclean.

Class 127 2015-12-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.102 a.6 (end) and Q.103 a.1: Clothing, Animal and Priestly Laws, and Whether There Were Ceremonies Before the Law #

55 min Berquist finishes the objections in Summa I-II Q.102 a.6 on mixed fabrics, tassels, kindness to animals, and priestly rules, then opens Q.103 a.1 on whether ceremonies existed before the Mosaic Law.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II Q.103 aa.2-3: Did the Old Law’s Ceremonies Justify, and Did They End When Christ Came? #

37 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 103, aa. 2-3 on whether the Old Law’s ceremonies could justify and why they ceased once Christ came.

Class 128 2016-01-14 #

Part 1 of 2 · God’s Beatitude, ‘Know Thyself’, Shakespeare on Ignorance, and Whether the Old Law’s Ceremonies Could Be Kept After Christ’s Passion #

58 min Berquist moves from Aquinas on divine beatitude and the command “know thyself” through a Shakespearean aside on ignorance to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 103, asking whether Mosaic ceremonies could still be kept after Christ’s passion, weighing Jerome against Augustine on Peter and Paul’s dispute at Antioch.

Part 2 of 2 · The Judicial Precepts of the Old Law: What They Are, Whether They Are Figurative, Whether They Still Bind, and How They Are Divided #

46 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 104, articles 1-4, on the judicial precepts of the Old Law: what they are, whether they figure Christ, whether they still bind, and how they divide.

Class 129 2016-01-21 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Old Law’s Judicial Precepts (I-II q.105 a.1-2): Rulers and the Best Mixed Government, Sharing Goods, Inheritance, the Jubilee and Loans #

58 min Berquist works through Aquinas’s article on the judicial precepts for rulers and for relations among people (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 105, aa. 1-2), asking why the Old Law never simply installed a king.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Old Law’s Judicial Precepts (q.105 a.2): Deposits, Wages, Judges and Witnesses, Just Punishments, and How Well the Law Ordered Life Together #

52 min Berquist works through Aquinas on the Old Law’s judicial precepts (I-II, q.105, a.2)—deposits, wages, judges, witnesses, and punishments proportioned to offenses.

Class 130 2016-01-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Old Law’s Rules for Foreigners, War, Slaves and Children (ST I-II q.105 a.3–4) #

53 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 105, a. 3–4, on the Old Law’s rules for foreigners, war, and servants, drawing out parallels to immigration and family authority today.

Part 2 of 2 · Marriage and the Household in the Old Law; Is the New Law Written? (ST I-II q.105 a.4 – q.106 a.1) #

49 min Berquist finishes Aquinas’s account of the Old Law’s household precepts—intermarriage, levirate marriage, divorce, servants and sons—then opens Question 106 to ask whether the New Law is a written text at all.

Class 131 2016-02-04 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the New Law (ST I-II q.106): Grace of the Holy Spirit, Justification, and Why the New Law Came Late and Lasts to the End #

52 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 106, articles 1-4, on why the New Law is chiefly the interior grace of the Holy Spirit and why it came when it did and lasts to the end of time.

Part 2 of 2 · Hope in Shakespeare’s All’s Well and the Theological Virtues; New Law vs. Old Law (ST I-II q.107, aa.1-2) #

58 min Berquist reads Helena’s pursuit of Bertram in Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well as a case study in hope, then turns to Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 107, aa. 1-2 on how the New Law fulfills the Old.

Class 132 2016-02-11 #

Part 1 of 2 · Above and Below; The New Law in the Old; The Burden of the New Law; Exterior Acts in the New Law (ST I-II Q.106 A.3-4, Q.108 A.1) #

58 min Berquist opens with the many senses of “above” and “below,” then turns to Aquinas on whether the New Law lies hidden in the Old (I-II, q. 107) and whether it should command exterior acts (q. 108, a. 1).

Part 2 of 2 · Sufficiency of the New Law, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Evangelical Counsels (ST I-II Q.108 A.2-4) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 108, articles 2 through 4, on whether the New Law adequately orders exterior acts, interior acts, and the counsels—reading it against the Sermon on the Mount.

Class 133 2016-02-18 #

Part 1 of 2 · Grace, Part 1 (ST I-II q.109 a.1): Can We Know Truth Without Grace? God as First Mover, and How Words Like ‘Act’ and ‘Motion’ Carry Over #

68 min Berquist opens Aquinas’s treatise on grace with Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 109, a. 1—can man without grace know any truth?—and traces the article’s key terms, “act” and “motion,” back to Aristotle’s Physics and cosmology.

Part 2 of 2 · Grace, Part 2 (ST I-II q.109 a.2–3): Willing the Good and Loving God Above All Things, in Integral and Fallen Nature #

32 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II q.109 a.2–3, asking whether man can will and do good, and love God above all, by nature alone—before and after the Fall.

Class 134 2016-02-25 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Necessity of Grace (ST I-II q.109 a.4–7): Keeping the Law, Earning Eternal Life, Preparing for Grace and Rising from Sin #

64 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.109, articles 4 through 7, asking whether man can keep the commandments, merit eternal life, prepare for grace, or rise from sin without grace.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on the Necessity of Grace (ST I-II q.109 a.8–10): Avoiding Sin, Help for Those Already in Grace, Perseverance, and a Preview of q.110 #

40 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.109, articles 8-10, asking whether someone in mortal sin can avoid further sin, whether the already-graced still need God’s help, and whether staying good requires a further grace of perseverance.

Class 135 2016-03-03 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.110 a.1: Does Grace Place Something in the Soul? The Three Senses of Grace, the Four Causes, and Our Knowledge Beginning from the Continuous #

48 min Berquist opens the treatise on grace with Summa I-II q.110 a.1, asking whether grace places something in the soul, and unpacks Aquinas’s three senses of “grace” along the way.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.110 a.2–3: Grace as a Quality of the Soul, the Categories and the Five Predicables, and How Grace Differs from Infused Virtue #

68 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.110, a.2–3, asking whether grace is a quality of the soul and how it differs from virtue, using Aristotle’s Categories and Porphyry’s Isagoge to unpack the tools Thomas is using.

Class 136 2016-03-10 #

Part 1 of 2 · Grace, Virtue and the Soul: Rereading Article 3 and the Objections of Article 4 (Summa I-II, Q.110) #

54 min Berquist works through Articles 3 and 4 of Summa I-II, Q.110, asking whether grace differs from virtue and whether it resides in the soul’s essence rather than its powers.

Part 2 of 2 · Grace in the Essence of the Soul, and the Division of Grace: Gratum Faciens and Gratis Datum (Q.110 a.4 – Q.111 a.1) #

64 min Berquist asks whether grace resides in the soul’s essence rather than its powers, then opens the Summa’s division of grace into gratum faciens and gratis data (I-II, q. 110, a. 4 – q. 111, a. 1).

Class 137 2016-03-17 #

Part 1 of 2 · Seven Apostles, the Father of Lights, and Why Aquinas Treats God’s Substance in Five #

68 min Berquist opens with the seven apostles of John 21 and the Catena Aurea’s reading of that number, then turns to James chapter 1 and Aristotle’s Metaphysics Book IX to show how act’s priority over potency structures Aquinas’s account of God in the Summa.

Part 2 of 2 · The Plan of the Summa Contra Gentiles and Divisions of Grace (Summa I-II, Q. 111, aa. 2-3) #

45 min Berquist maps the four books of the Summa Contra Gentiles before turning to Aquinas on the divisions of grace—operating and cooperating, prevenient and subsequent—in Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 111, aa. 2-3.

Class 138 2016-03-31 #

Part 1 of 2 · Operating and Cooperating Grace; the Nine Graces Freely Given and Why Grace That Makes Us Pleasing to God Is Higher (Summa I-II, Q.111, Articles 4–5) #

67 min Berquist works through Articles Four and Five of Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.111, laying out Aquinas’s nine gratuitous graces and asking why grace that makes us pleasing to God outranks them.

Part 2 of 2 · The Cause of Grace: God Alone Deifies, with Christ’s Humanity and the Sacraments as His Instruments (Summa I-II, Q.112, Article 1) #

40 min Berquist opens Summa I-II, q. 112, a. 1, asking whether God alone can cause grace, and works through Aquinas’s account of instrumental causality in Christ’s humanity, the sacraments, and the Holy Spirit.

Class 139 2016-04-07 #

Part 1 of 2 · Summa I-II q.112 a.2–4: Preparing for Grace, Whether Grace Must Follow, and Why Grace Is Unequal #

65 min Berquist works through Summa I-II q.112, aa.2-4: whether man can prepare himself for grace, whether grace must follow such preparation, and why grace is unequal in different people.

Part 2 of 2 · Summa I-II q.112 a.5 and q.113 a.1–2: Knowing Whether One Has Grace, and the Justification of the Sinner #

54 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q.112 a.5 on whether a man can know he has grace, then opens q.113 on the justification of the sinner.

Class 140 2016-04-14 #

Part 1 of 2 · Justification of the Impious (I-II q.113 aa.3-5): Free Will, Faith, and Turning Away from Sin #

61 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 113, aa. 3-5, asking whether justification requires a movement of free will, of faith, and of detestation of sin—and why infant baptism and Augustine’s unconscious dying friend seem to be exceptions.

Part 2 of 2 · Justification of the Impious (I-II q.113 aa.6-7): Remission of Guilt and Why Justification Happens in an Instant #

63 min Berquist works through I-II, q.113, aa.6-7, asking what remission of guilt adds to justification and why the whole process happens in a single instant rather than gradually.

Class 141 2016-04-21 #

Part 1 of 2 · Aquinas on the Justification of the Impious: The Order of Its Parts, Why It Is God’s Greatest Work, and Whether It Is a Miracle (ST I-II q.113 a.8–10) #

55 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q.113, articles 8-10, on the order among the four parts of justification, whether it outranks creation and glorification, and whether it counts as a miracle.

Part 2 of 2 · Aquinas on Merit: Can Man Merit Anything from God, and Can He Merit Eternal Life Without Grace? (ST I-II q.114 a.1–2) #

52 min Berquist opens Question 114 of the Prima Secundae on merit, working closely through Article 1 on whether man can merit anything from God and into Article 2 on meriting eternal life without grace.

Class 142 2016-04-28 #

Part 1 of 2 · Grace and Merit I: Worthy Merit of Eternal Life (q.114 a.3) and Charity as the Source of Merit (a.4) #

51 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 114, aa. 3-4, asking whether grace lets us merit eternal life ex condigno rather than merely ex congruo, and why charity ranks first among the virtues as the source of merit.

Part 2 of 2 · Grace and Merit II: Charity and Merit, and Whether the First Grace Can Be Merited for Oneself or Others (q.114 a.4–6) #

58 min Berquist works through Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 114, a. 4–6, asking whether charity is the root of merit, and whether the first grace can be merited for oneself or for another.

Class 143 · Summa Theologiae I-II, Q.114, Articles 6-10: Restoring Grace, and Whether Merit Increases Charity and Perseverance #

2016-05-04 · 68 min Berquist works through Summa I-II, q. 114, articles 6–10 on merit—can lost grace be restored, does merit increase charity, is perseverance itself merited—after opening on Christ’s “The Father and I are one.”