Theological virtues - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2024)

DOI

10.4324/9780415249126-K101-1

DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-K101-1
Version: v1,Published online: 1998
Retrieved September 14, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/theological-virtues/v-1

Article Summary

The three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, referred to frequently by the apostle Paul in his letters, play an indispensable role in Christian theorizing about a person’s duties with respect to God. Thomas Aquinas is responsible for the most thorough and influential philosophical theory of the theological virtues. According to him, faith, hope and love are virtues because they are dispositions whose possession enables a person to act well to achieve a good thing – in this case, the ultimate good of salvation and beatitude. Without them, people would have neither the awareness of nor the will to strive for salvation. Despite the fact that they are infused in persons by God’s grace, one can wilfully and culpably fail to let them develop.

Faith for Aquinas is the voluntary assent to propositions about God that cannot be known by the evidence available to the natural capacities of humans. Other theologians, such as Martin Luther and Søren Kierkegaard, deny the assumption that faith is primarily cognitive or propositional in nature, insisting instead that it is trust in God. Kierkegaard even challenges the presupposition that faith is logically continuous with natural knowledge. There has been much debate in the second half of the twentieth century as to whether it is ever rationally permissible to believe something on the basis of insufficient evidence.

According to Aquinas, hope for one’s salvation requires that one already have faith. Hope requires that one remain steadfast in the face of despair on the one hand and presumption on the other. Aquinas models the virtue of love on one strand of Aristotle’s notion of friendship. Love of God entails desiring the good that God has to offer, seeking to advance God’s goals, and communicating one’s love to God. Love for others follows from the realization that they are also created with good natures by God.

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Citing this article:
Mann, William E.. Theological virtues, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-K101-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/theological-virtues/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.

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Theological virtues - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2024)

FAQs

Theological virtues - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy? ›

The three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, referred to frequently by the apostle Paul in his letters, play an indispensable role in Christian theorizing about a person's duties with respect to God.

What are the 3 most important theological virtues? ›

Traditionally the theological virtues have been named faith, hope, and charity (love). They are coupled with the four natural or cardinal virtues, and opposed to the seven deadly sins.

What are the theological of virtues? ›

There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. 1814 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself.

What are Paul theological virtues? ›

The theological virtues are those named by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 13: "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." The third virtue is also commonly referred to as "charity", as this is how the influential King James Bible translated the Greek word agape.

What is the greatest virtue in the Bible? ›

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13 is well worth memorizing. It upgrades love to the top of the list of Christian virtues.

What are the 4 cardinal virtues and 3 theological virtues? ›

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Because of this reference, a group of seven virtues is sometimes listed by adding the four cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice) and three theological virtues (faith, hope, charity).

What is the theological virtue considered the greatest of all virtues? ›

Virtue of Charity

“Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC, 1822). Charity is the greatest of all the virtues.

How to practice theological virtues? ›

We grow in the virtues of faith, hope and charity by nourishing them through reading the Word of God, begging the Lord in daily prayer to increase them in us, receiving the Sacraments to strengthen us to persevere in living the virtues, studying the Faith in an ongoing way, cooperating with the Holy Spirit, following ...

What is the difference between cardinal and theological virtues? ›

In the Catholic church, basically the theological virtues (purportedly) come from God and the cardinal virtues are human virtues.

Are theological virtues a gift from God? ›

These virtues are gifts given to us by God freely and it is up to us to decide whether or not we want to accept and use them. The three Theological Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith is the virtue that enables us to believe in God and believe what He has revealed to us as truth because He is Truth Himself.

What are the three virtues of Jesus? ›

This book examines the three virtues of Meekness, Forgiveness, and Devotion that Jesus exemplified so well during his time here on Earth. These three virtues were all necessary for what he accomplished on Earth.

What is your greatest virtue? ›

There are many virtues that are important to have, and the most important one may depend on an individual's personal values and beliefs. Some virtues that are generally considered important include honesty, integrity, compassion, kindness, respect, fairness, responsibility, and self-control.

Why is it called theological virtues? ›

They are called Theological Virtues because they come from God and help us to live for God. Whoever is in the State of Grace has the Theological Virtues. Why is faith considered a virtue? A virtue is something we are not compelled to do naturally but which is seen as a positive action to take.

What is the most excellent of the theological virtues? ›

The theological virtues, which have God as their motive and object, are faith, hope, and charity. We receive the theological virtues through sanctifying grace by means of the Sacraments. The most excellent among the theological virtues is charity because it unites us intimately to God and to our neighbor.

How do we receive the theological virtues? ›

Faith, hope, and charity. They are by God, to bring us to God. When do we receive the supernatural theological virtues? We receive them at baptism, when we receive sanctifying grace.

Which are the 3 most important virtues to you and why? ›

Answer
  • Courage. - this is probably the most important of the virtues, because without courage you cannot practice any of the other virtues.
  • Justice. - this refers to your commitment to the establishment and maintenance of laws in society that protect the person and property of every individual.
  • Respect.
Dec 1, 2020

What are your 3 greatest virtues? ›

The three most important virtues are often considered to be honesty, courage, and compassion. Honesty is the quality of being truthful and transparent in one's dealings with others. It involves being sincere, authentic, and straightforward, and not hiding or misrepresenting one's thoughts, feelings, or actions.

What are the three fundamental virtues? ›

This article suggests three domains of virtues should be considered 'fundamental': the moral, self-regulatory, and intellectual. The concept of a fundamental virtue domain is introduced to clarify issues in the virtue literature surrounding the cross-cultural universality of virtue concepts.

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