Grace and Growth: Aquinas, Lonergan, and the Problematic of Habitual Grace

Abstract

Thomas Aquinas's theory of habitual grace rests on a generically metaphysical account of the faculties of the soul and of the natural and supernatural habits that perfect them. Bernard Lonergan opened up fruitful avenues for rethinking nature, grace, and virtue in a developmental perspective. His intentionality analysis transposes the conception of human nature; the dynamic state of being in love transposes sanctifying grace; the development of skills provides an analogue for virtue; and the role of love in the development, orientation, and transformation of skills provides an analogy for grace as habitual.G RACE PERFECTS AND ELEVATES NATURE. Of all the doctrines commonly associated with Thomas Aquinas, perhaps none is more generally celebrated than this one. Precisely how it is understood, of course, depends on how one conceives its terms. Thomas based his account partly on a theory of the soul, its faculties, and the habits that perfect them. The differentiation of natural and supernatural orders enabled him to specify the gratuity of grace with metaphysical exactitude. The Aristotelian concept of habit provided a ready analogy for the perfection of natural capacities. Aquinas applied this analogy in various ways to conceive sanctifying grace, the theological and cardinal virtues, and the gifts of the Spirit.Thorough as it is, Aquinas's theory is not without its loose ends. Some complain, for instance, that the relationship between natural (acquired) and supernatural (infused) virtues is obscure. Aquinas asserted that the infused cardinal virtues are specifically different from the acquired virtues