Customer Reviews

Goodness and Rightness in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae

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Fr. James Keenan, SJ casts fresh light on the concepts of goodness and rightness in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. As many of today's moral theologians stress primacy of conscience in moral decision-making and based that perspective on the thought of The Angelic Doctor I thought it prudent to check out this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Fr. Keenan's presentation of Aquinas's views. Chapter one investigates the distinction of goodness and rightness. For me this was the most important chapter; I had somewhat naively associated goodness with rightness. But as Fr. Keenan points out it is "goodness and badness which describe whether or not human beings can attain rightness in our lives and actions. Rightness and wrongness describe whether or not we attain the end that reason dictates is proper and necessary for our lives and action." [from books's introduction] Chapter 5 on The Moral virtues and Chapter 6 on Charity also had great appeal for me.

As someone who is rereading the Church Fathers these days for moral guidance this book provides a good "summa of the Summa." I recommend it highly to all Christians of all stripes who are interested in Thomas Aquinas' thinking on morality.