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

The author argues that the liturgical practice of the Church strongly supports the view that translated versions of Scripture are as much verbum Domini as untranslated versions. It follows from this that the words of Scripture, the Lord’s words to his people, are found fully in every version approved for public reading by an episcopal

Bernard Lonergan is not usually associated with the field of Catholic social thought. This article explores Lonergan’s efforts to contribute to it in his manuscripts on history and economics from the 1930s and early 1940s, written in response to Quadragesimo anno’s call for a reconstruction of the social and economic orders. The article describes Lonergan’s

Lumen gentium described biblical Israel as a preparation and figure of the church, the new people of God. Jews do not belong to this people but are ordained to it. In light of Nostra aetate and the ensuing Catholic-Jewish dialogue, the article supplements Lumen gentium’s typological account of biblical Israel as a prefiguration of the

The article proposes, contrary to much of contemporary Thomistic scholarship, that according to Thomas Aquinas’s categorizations of virtue, the person in a state of grace cannot possess the acquired cardinal virtues. Arguing from Aquinas’s theory of virtue as to why this is the case, the article examines texts that are commonly interpreted to say otherwise,

In response to recent charges that creatio ex nihilo imposes a dubious metaphysics upon biblical theologies of creation, with the result that divine power is valorized at the expense of a creation in process, the author argues that such criticisms misrepresent the doctrine’s logic that illuminates those biblical theologies while making explicit in philosophical terms

The article argues that Paul’s use of dikaio- terminology, the language of “justification,” has been too narrowly construed by N. T. Wright in his latest monograph on the subject. Wright’s position, that Paul employs the language of justification to signify a divinely bestowed change in status, tells only part of the story. This language also

Occasioned by current challenges facing the Catholic Church, the article explores the role of lamentations and impasse in the life of the church. By drawing on resources in the Scriptures, Augustine’s Expositions on the Psalms, and classic texts in spirituality, the author advances the claim that ways must be developed in ecclesiology and pastoral practice

The article is a reply to one by Kenneth Himes and James Coriden published in our September 2004 issue. Except for minor sylistic changes, the article is published as it was received.