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Summa Theologiae · II-II, q. 27

Question 27. Of the Principal Act of Charity, Which Is to Love

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Second Part of the Second Part. 8 articles.

Read in the reading room → This question at New Advent

Text: Summa Theologiae, Project Gutenberg #18755, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa in the English Dominican translation (first printed 1911 to 1925; second and revised edition from 1920). A sample check on 2026-11-09 against pre-1931 printings at the Internet Archive (first printings of 1915 and 1916 and the second and revised edition of the 1920s) found that the article text matches, with no 1947 introduction, synopsis, or index. Question and article numbers were added by the transcriber. Rights: Public domain (US)

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We must now consider the act of charity, and (1) the principal act of charity, which is to love, (2) the other acts or effects which follow from that act.

Under the first head there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Which is the more proper to charity, to love or to be loved?

(2) Whether to love considered as an act of charity is the same as goodwill?

(3) Whether God should be loved for His own sake?

(4) Whether God can be loved immediately in this life?

(5) Whether God can be loved wholly?

(6) Whether the love of God is according to measure?

(7) Which is the better, to love one's friend, or one's enemy?

(8) Which is the better, to love God, or one's neighbor?

Articles

  1. Whether to Be Loved Is More Proper to Charity Than to Love?
  2. Whether to Love Considered As an Act of Charity Is the Same As Goodwill?
  3. Whether Out of Charity God Ought to Be Loved for Himself?
  4. Whether God Can Be Loved Immediately in This Life?
  5. Whether God can be loved wholly?
  6. Whether in Loving God We Ought to Observe Any Mode?
  7. Whether It Is More Meritorious to Love an Enemy Than to Love a Friend?
  8. Whether It Is More Meritorious to Love One's Neighbor Than to Love God?

Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part. Project Gutenberg #18755. Project Gutenberg record. Public domain in the USA. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Project Gutenberg notices retained. The full Project Gutenberg license is kept in the hosted text.