Religion IV: Moral and Spiritual Theology
2012 - 2013
STUDY GUIDE FOR TEST 1
Test 1 will be an essay test. You will have three or four essay options from which you
will be asked to choose two questions to answer. Each essay question option will ask you
to consider at least two of the texts we have read and discussed.
A successful essay will show familiarity with each of the texts being considered, will
compare and contrast the texts on the specific topic of the essay, and will consider the
topic as broadly as it was discussed in class (in other words, the essay will convey the
different perspectives that were raised in class discussion).
Texts to be covered by Test 1:
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Book I, Ch. 1-6, 7-12; Book X, Ch. 6-7
[NE]
Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica [ST]
Total of 4 packets and 2 handouts including:
On Happiness:
First Part of the Second Part Question 3 Article 5, Q 4 A 1, 2
On the Powers of the Soul:
First Part Question 78 Article 1, Q 80 A 1, 2, Q 83 A 1, 2, 3, 4,
Q 81 A 1, 2, 3, Handout on Emotions
On the Principle of Double Effect
Second Part of the Second Part Q64 A7, Handout on Principle of Double Effect
The Church in the Modern World
Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World) Preface and Introduction (#1-10), Part I, Chapter 1 (#11-22) [GS]
Catechism of the Catholic Church #362-368, 1691-1761, 1776-1794, 2263
[CCC]
Themes, Topics and Terms from each Text:
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
1. What does Aristotle rule out as not being the source of human happiness and why does
he rule out these options?
1
2. What does Aristotle finally conclude is the source of human happiness? (Bk I, Ch. 10,
lines 14-17)
3. Why does Aristotle claim that contemplation is the highest virtue? Why does he call it
divine? (Bk X, Ch. 7)
4. What themes or questions or topics or terms found in Aristotle’s Ethics can also be
found in Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica? In the Catechism of the Catholic
Church? In Gaudium et Spes?
Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica
1. Compare and contrast St. Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of happiness with that of
Aristotle. (First Part of the Second Part Question 3 Article 5, Q 4 A 1, 2)
2. List and describe the five genera of the powers of the soul. (First Part Question 78
Article 1)
3. What is the intellect? (address in discussion of First Part of the Second Part
Question 3 Article 5, Q 4 A 1, 2)
2
4. What is the will? Why is it an appetitive power? In what way is it free? (Q 80 A 1, 2,
Q 83 A 1, 2, 3, 4)
5. What is meant by “sensitive appetite”? Explain and contrast the concupiscible and the
irascible appetites (emotions). (Q 81 A 1, 2, 3
6. List and define the eleven emotions (passions, sense appetites). (First Part of the
Second Part Q 23 A 1, 2, 3, 4)
Summary and synthesis questions: What is the Christian concept of the human person
according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, especially concerning the body and soul? How are
the powers of the soul (intellect, will, emotions, senses) related to each other and to the
body?
Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. What are the characteristics of “Life in Christ”? (#1691-1696)
2. What elements are included in “catechesis for the ‘newness of life’” in Christ?
(#1697-1698)
3. What are the characteristics of the Human Person as created in the Image of God?
(#1700-1715, 362-368)
3
4. What are the main characteristics of the human person? What is the source of the
dignity of the human person? (#1700-1709)
5. What types of freedom does the human person have? What is the truest freedom?
(#1700-1709)
6. What are Natural Law and Conscience? (#1776-1794)
7. Compare and contrast the Beatitudes to Aristotle’s understanding of Happiness.
(#1716-1717)
8. How does the Christian understanding of happiness differ from Aristotle? Discuss
any similarities between the two understandings. (#1718-1722)
9. Why is a correct understanding of what happiness is an essential foundation for ethics
and morality? (#1723-1724)
10. What is grace? (discussed in #1697)
4
11. What are the two kinds of grace and what are their effects? (discussed in #1697)
Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes
1. What are the main characteristics and/or challenges of the modern world? (#1-10)
2. What is the nature of the Church and what does she see as her role in the modern
world today? (#1-10)
3. What are Natural Law and Conscience? (#16)
4. What types of freedom does the human person have? What is the truest freedom?
(#17)
5. How does Christ “fully reveal man to himself” (#22)?
5
Common Threads:
1. Happiness
2. Virtue
3. Human Nature
4. Intellect and Will and Emotions
5. Human Dignity
6. Freedom
7. Natural Law and Conscience
8. Scripture/Revelation
9. Grace
10. Morality
11. Christianity
12. Sin (both Original Sin and personal sin)
Helpful Hints:
1. For each question above, when you locate passages in the text that pertain to the
question, copy the text on the study guide.
2. For each question above, jot down the abbreviation of whichever of the other three
texts discusses the same question or topic. For example, for question 2 under Aristotle’s
Ethics, you might jot down both GS and CCC because both these texts discuss happiness.
3. The “Common Threads” provide the most likely themes for essay questions. Pay
closest attention to the questions about each text that consider one or more of these
“threads.”
6