Man’s Terrible Dignity as God’s Honour Bearer

It is a grave responsibility to represent someone else, to speak and act in another’s name. The honour and reputation of the represented is vicariously liable for the words and deeds of his representative. How much graver is the responsibility then when the authority represented is the Author of creation, and when the reputation made liable to vicarious defamation belongs to the Lord of heaven and earth. For Thomas Aquinas, this is precisely the terrible dignity and responsibility of the Image Bearer. Created with the special dignity of being ministers of divine governance, participating in divine providence as rationally provident for self and others, the image bearer is an agent of divine honour, who, whether he realizes it or not, acts in the name of God and so is responsible to God for his actions. Virtuous actions are thus best understood as participating in God’s honourable goodness such that they become a co-operation of honourable friendship  between God and his honour bearers.

Fr Dominic Verner OP, Providence College will deliver this lecture at 4pm, Wednesday the 29th of April. The event is free and open to everyone, no registration is required. This lecture is part of our Trinity series, see the other talks below.

Fr Dominic Verner OP is an Assistant Professor at Providence College. After earning a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an M.A. in philosophical studies from Mount St. Mary’s University, Fr. Dominic Verner, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers and was ordained to the priesthood in 2016. He earned an S.T.L. from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and a Ph.D. in moral theology/Christian ethics from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote his dissertation ‘Saving Honor: A Thomistic Ethics of Honor’. His research and teaching interests especially concern the motivational role that honour, reputation, and social recognition play in practical reason and how the doctrine and example of Christ norm the pursuit of these goods. Fr. Dominic favours an interdisciplinary approach to these and related questions concerning honourable human agency, seeking to engage Thomistic anthropology and action theory with contemporary social theory, psychology, and neuroscience.

Upcoming events in this series

John Berkman, University of Toronto; Visiting Fellow, Campion Hall,
4pm, Tuesday 19 May: ‘Christian Life Beyond Virtue: Aquinas on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit’

Sara Chan, University of Scranton
5pm, Monday 8 June: ‘Care and Filial Piety as burdened virtues’

Matthew Minerd, Seminary of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Pittsburgh,
4pm, Tuesday 16 June: ‘Ens Morale: The Scholastic Metaphysics of Morals’

Venue: Blackfriars Hall - St Giles Oxford, OX1 3LY United Kingdom Array ( [lat] => 51.756248 [lng] => -1.259881 )

Contact:
Aquinas Institute
aquinas@bfriars.ox.ac.uk