According to Thomas Aquinas, the Eucharist is meant to build up the unity of the church. This desired ecclesial unity is, however, not often given adequate treatment. In Speaking with Aquinas, David Farina Turnbloom seeks to describe the relationship between the celebration of the Eucharist and the unity of the church. By examining Aquinas's treatment of grace and virtues, this book allows the reader to understand Aquinas's eucharistic theology within the context of the spiritual life of the church. In the end, Turnbloom retrieves a Thomistic theology of the Eucharist that arises from Aquinas's concern for the virtuous life of the church, rather than a eucharistic theology that too narrowly focuses on theories of transubstantiation.

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David Farina Turnbloom is assistant professor of theology at the University of Portland. He has published numerous articles focusing on the relationships between Christian worship and ethics. He is a board member of the ecumenical group The Liturgical Conference. He holds a PhD in systematic theology from Boston College.

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Contents FOREWORD - Bruce T. Morrill, SJ PREFACE Conversion through Conversation INTRODUCTION Finding a Lost Voice I. Grammars II. Scholastic Grammars III. Modern Grammars IV. The Problem: Lacking Context V. The Solution: Finding a Lost Voice CHAPTER ONE Why the Secunda Pars? I. Lamenting the Loss of a Loss 1. The Deadly Dichotomy 2. Consequences of the Deadly Dichotomy II. The Purpose of the Summa Theologiae III. Signification and Causality IV. Baptism and Penance: Infusing Charity V. The Eucharist: Increasing Charity VI. Unanswered Questions CHAPTER TWO Grace as the Embodied Spiritual Life I. The Teleological Nature of the Spiritual Life 1. The Structure of the Summa Theologiae 2. The Place of the Prima Secundae in the Summa II. Grace and the Spiritual Life 1. Grace Actualizing the Image of God 2. The Spiritual Life Conforming to Grace III. Belief and Signs IV. Conclusion: Cooperative Participation CHAPTER THREE The Theological Virtues Founding the EmbodiedSpiritual Life I. The Theological Virtues: Orders and Degrees 1. Faith, Hope, and Charity 2. Orders of Generation and Perfection 3. Three Degrees of Charity II. Falling in Love with God 1. Justification 2. Infusion III. Growing in Love for God 1. Sanctification 2. Increase IV. Being Saved by Love CHAPTER FOUR The Moral Virtues Manifesting the Embodied Spiritual Life I. Moral Virtues 1. The Codependence of Moral Virtues 2. Acquiring and Increasing Moral Virtue II. Embodying Friendship with God 1. Operating Ex Caritate 2. Dispositive Acts of Charity 3. Communal Embodiment of Friendship with God III. Grammars of Grace and Virtue CHAPTER FIVE The Eucharist Nourishing the Embodied Spiritual Life I. Jesus Establishes the Way 1. Paschal Mystery as Sacrificial Sign of God's Love 2. Provocation as Possibility of Theosis II. Sacraments Show the Way 1. Writing the Signs through Religion 2. Reading the Signs through Faith 3. Graced Cooperation III. Eucharist as Nourishment for the Way 1. Writing Christ through the Eucharist 2. Spiritually Eating through Faith 3. The Unity of the Church:The Fellowship of Sinful Saints C H A P T E R S I X A Liturgical Theology of Right Religion I. A Self-Defeating Tendency II. Goodness and Rightness III. Religious Signification IV. Right Religion 1. Religious Prudence 2. Striving for Right Religion V. Writing a Diverse Christ for a Plural World 1. Prudently Writing Christ 2. How Do We Write Christ? CONCLUSION Speaking with a Lost Voice Bibliography Index