•  704
    Eleonore Stump insightfully develops Aquinas’s theodicy to account for a significant source of human suffering, namely the undermining of desires of the heart. Stump argues that what justifies God in allowing such suffering are benefits made available to the sufferer through her suffering that can defeat the suffering by contributing to the fulfillment of her heart’s desires. We summarize Stump’s arguments for why such suffering requires defeat and how it is defeated. We identify three problems …Read more
  •  432
    The Distinctiveness of Intellectual Virtues: A Response to Roberts and Wood
    Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 86 159-169. 2012.
    Robert Roberts and Jay Wood criticize St Thomas Aquinas’ distinction between intellectual and moral virtues. They offer three objections to this distinction. They object that intellectual virtues depend on the will in ways that undermine the distinction, that the subject of intellectual virtues is not an intellectual faculty but a whole person, and that some intellectual virtues require that the will act intellectually. They hold that each of these is sufficient to undermine the distinction. I d…Read more
  •  184
    The Problem of Evil
    Oxford Bibliographies. 2014.
    This is a reference guide to contemporary work on the problem of evil with Oxford Bibliographies Online.
  •  60
    The Emotions of Courageous Activity
    Res Philosophica 92 (4): 855-882. 2015.
    An apparent paradox concerning courageous activity is that it seems to require both fear and fearlessness – on the one hand, mastering one’s fear, and, on the other, eliminating fear. I resolve the paradox by isolating three phases of courageous activity: the initial response to the situation, the choice of courageous action, and the execution of courageous action. I argue that there is an emotion that is proper to each of these phases and that each emotion positively contributes to the performa…Read more
  •  26
    The Virtual Presence of Acquired Virtues in the Christian
    American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 93 (1): 75-100. 2019.
    Aquinas’s doctrine that infused virtues accompany sanctifying grace raises many questions. We examine one: how do the infused virtues relate to the acquired virtues? More precisely, can the person with the infused virtues possess the acquired virtues? We argue for an answer consistent with and informed by Aquinas’s writings, although it goes beyond textual evidence, as any answer to this question must. There are two plausible, standard interpretations of Aquinas on this issue: the coexistence vi…Read more
  •  13
    Edited by Adam C. Pelser and W. Scott Cleveland * Includes interdisciplinary essays on underexplored issues in virtue formation * Provides fresh perspectives on neglected virtues including honesty, graciousness, intellectual humility, and accountability * Features profound insights from first-rate Christian philosophers in aid of moral and spiritual formation * Advances philosophical, psychological, and theological understanding of virtue formation by drawing on ancient philosophical/theological…Read more
  • “Humility from a Philosophical Point of View”
    with Robert Roberts
    In Everett Worthington, Don E. Davis & Joshua N. Hook (eds.), Handbook of Humility: Theory, Research, and Applications, Routledge. 2016.
  • Do Everything for the Glory of God
    Religions 9 (12): 754. 2021.
    St. Paul writes, “whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10: 31 NABRE).” This essay employs the work of St. Thomas Aquinas and the recent philosophical work of Daniel Johnson (2020) on this command to investigate a series of questions that the command raises. What is glory? How does one properly act for glory and for the glory of another? How is it possible to do everything for the glory of God? I begin with Aquinas’ account of glory and the pursuit of glory for God’s…Read more