Aquinas on Pride: Diagnosing Our Ills and Prescribing Christ's Remedies
Summa Reading Group
Join a Summa Reading Group with Prof. Michael Dauphinais
Wednesdays, April 1st - 22nd from 7:00-8:00 PM ET on ZOOM
Open to all current students
THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MARCH 27, 2026!
Some interpreters of Aquinas falsely attribute to him a naively optimistic view of the human condition and contrast his vision with an Augustinian emphasis on human pride and sinfulness. This course dives into Aquinas’s treatment of the sin of pride and how it distorts and disfigures our creation in the image of God. We will consider Aquinas’s diagnosis of pride in terms of the impairing and happiness-destroying role it plays in the human intellect and will, human psychology and appetites, as well as personal and communal expressions, such as idolatry and ignorance. The course also addresses Aquinas’s presentation of the remedy for pride through the redemption and new life accomplished and offered by the authentic magnanimity, humility, and charity of Christ.
Relevant Summa Articles:
- Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 162, On Pride
- Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 85, On Sacrifices; q. 94, On Idolatry
- Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 129, On Magnanimity; q. 161, On Humility
- Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 23, On Charity; III, q. 48, On How Christ’s Passion Accomplished Our Salvation
Apply below!
