Abstract

This study was presented originally as a doctoral dissertation entitled Formal and efficient causality in Saint Thomas Teaching on Original Justice. That title, which seems a bit too unwieldy, had the merit of indicating exactly the problem to be solved. I have attempted to find a definitive answer to a highly controversial question concerning St. Thomas' theology of original justice, the question regarding the relation of sanctifying grace and that justice. Through there was some conflict of interpretations among the earlier followers of St. Thomas, the controversy was sharply focussed three decades ago on the occasion of the works of Martin, Bittremieux and Kors. According to the interpretations elaborated especially by the latter two authors, original justice was completely distinct from sanctifying grace. Grace is strictly a personal gift, supernatural, the efficient cause of original justice.