Jean PORTER. The Perfection of Desire: Habit, Reason, and Virtue in Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2018. pp. 158. $15.00 hb. ISBN: 978-1-62-600-508-2. Reviewed by Dolores L. CHRISTIE, Shaker Heights, OH 44122.

This lovely little book is the text of Professor Porter’s 2018 Pere Marquette Lecture in Theology. It is the forty-ninth addition to this distinguished scholar series. The author is well respected by her peers, for good reason. Not only does she have a singular command of Thomas Aquinas and related literature, she writes with exquisite precision and clarity.

The book is divided into four sections. Part One considers habits as principles of action. Habits are necessary to rational creatures. They are shaped by reason, yet they are not disconnected from the inherent passions human persons share with other sentient beings. Porter notes that there is a two-way influence between habits and actions. Habits influence how persons act, but what people do influences the habits they form. Human behavior is complicated by individual needs and desires as well as by experiences.

Part Two examines virtue, perfection, and reason: Aquinas’ ideas of how right reason applies to virtues. While the real lives of persons influence their moral reality, there are rational norms or standards that—shall we say—serve as the rigid framework for what is good. I can decide what color to paint a wall, but the structural reality of a proper wall is already defined. Virtues function within such boundaries. Neither Aquinas nor Porter countenance moral action as a free-flowing solution of relativism. Still, decisions are influenced by the real needs and circumstances in which they are made.

Part Three highlights habits and virtues of the will. It “takes up some questions raised by justice,” as the author puts it. Justice differs from other virtues, as it opens the door beyond the good of the self to consideration of relationships with others. Even children, notes Porter, have reaction awareness of and reaction to how their behavior impacts others. These experiences tend to shape their moral identity and action. In addition there is a hierarchy of others’ justice claims on the moral agent determined by the degree of closeness they might have with relationship to others.

The last concluding section looks at Aquinas’ consideration of infused and acquired virtues. After spending some time on the reality of sinfulness and blameworthiness, as well as factors that contribute to evil acts, Porter and her Dominican interlocutor end on a more optimistic note. There is grace. There is grace that lights up both opportunity and possibility for good.

An important contribution of this volume is its reference to contemporary work in psychology and human behavior. Aquinas existed in the bubble of a static world view.  His understanding of the complexity of human behavior and—in some portions of his writings—belies a tendency toward a proportionalist mind set. For a reviewer who struggled through Thomas’s heavy corpus a half-century ago. this dialogue with contemporary insights is refreshing. Nevertheless. even without contemporary help the author is always crystal clear in her exposition, leaving no pertinent avenue unexplored. This work is no exception.

The book is too dense—in a good sense—to be exhausted in a short review. It is like a well-prepared Chateaubriand, with appeal to those of discerning palate and an appetite for a rich main course. Those who prefer their philosophy patties of beef on a sesame bun should skip this special offering.