Paul J. Wadell

An introduction to Christian ethics explores ethics as a path to happiness as opposed to a set of strict rules, addressing the topics of friendship, community, conscience, prudence, virtue, and love.

An Introduction to Christian Ethics

Happiness and the Christian Moral Life

An Interpretation of Aquinas' Treatise on the Passions, the Virtues, and the Gifts from the Perspective of Charity as Friendship with God

Una síntesis brillante y lograda de la ética de Santo Tomás desde una perspectiva original: la primacía del amor.

Una introducción a la ética de Tomás de Aquino

La primacía del amor

Thomas Aquinas was a man with a strategy -- not a strategy to assist us in good decision-making or a strategy to help us resolve our problems of conscience, but a strategy to work toward our personal transformation in light of God's love for us. Aquinas has traditionally been represented as a man whose ethics are overly rational, excessively formal, and too scholarly to be of much use in contemporary society. The Primacy of Love gives us a fresh look at his ethical thought and invites us to become part of his vision of the moral life as partners in God's perfect love. Author Paul Wadell gives special attention to the role of the passions, affections, and emotions in our moral life and creates a richly humane and compelling study written in a clear and accessible style. The Primacy of Love is a modern map for our own moral journey that is not so much something to study, but a way of life in which to participate. To follow this journey is to take up an adventure that will involve you from the center of your being and will change you forever.

An Introduction to the Ethics of Thomas Aquinas

The Primacy of Love

Charles R. Pinches

In the thick of modern life, we are tempted to forget what we are doing and why we are doing it. We are busy socializing, building careers, and looking for fun—but what’s it all for? The ancient concept of “vocation” has recently gained popularity as we return to questions about the meaning of life. Almost all religions include the idea that divine purposes should guide our lives; Christianity has particularly accented it. The God who called Israel and sent Jesus has something in mind for us. God’s call challenges us, but also opens us to the best sort of life imaginable. In Living Vocationally, the challenge and the joy of the called life is thoroughly explored. Part one considers the benefits of living vocationally, biblical traditions of call, and subsequent Christian understandings. Part two examines why vocation pertains not only to careers, but indeed touches every dimension of our lives and encompasses our full journey through life. Because every person’s life includes many callings, some very difficult, part three considers the virtues we need to live the called life well. Living Vocationally demonstrates why to have found a calling is to have found a good way to live.

The Journey of the Called Life

Living Vocationally

Unlike many studies of Thomistic ethics, this book argues that Aquinas' treatise on the virtues cannot be read apart from his description of charity as friendship with God. For Aquinas, all the virtues stand in service of friendship with God and take their meaning from that love. But what makes this book especially original is the author's contention that the primacy of charity also discloses a relationship between the virtues and the passions, as well as the virtues and the Gifts of the Spirit, that is seldom noted in studies of Aquinas' ethics. Centering on charity as friendship with God, "Friends of God: Virtues and Gifts in Aquinas," is a fresh and insightful study of Aquinas' unique vision of the moral life.

Paul J. Wadell

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