Full of grace and truth: the sacramental economy according to Thomas AquinasTools Vnuk, Joseph (2013) Full of grace and truth: the sacramental economy according to Thomas Aquinas. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
AbstractNeo-Thomism misread Aquinas by trying to find in him answers to questions posed by Descartes and Kant, producing a theology that people like Chauvet rightly abandoned. This thesis, on the other hand, proposes a decidedly pre-modern reading of Thomas. It begins with two basic structures of Thomas' thought - a threefold notion of truth (so that truth is ontological as well as epistemological), and an understanding of exitus-reditus that shows its links to “archaic” concepts such as the hau of the Maori. Then it considers human life in terms of merit and thus “economy,” (exchange of valuables); but this economy is a gift economy, and here we consider the gift in the light of Seneca (whom Thomas took as an authority) and Mauss, as well as using Allard's insights into how debt, particularly debt to God, generates what in Thomas takes the place of the Cartesian subject. In this light grace is seen as the spirit of the gift with which God graces us, giving rise to gratitude.
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