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The Thomist Inheritance and the Household Economy of Father Vincent McNabb
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Social justice, which treats the common good as a purpose of action, and brings all the virtues into our relationships with others, is not the only requirement of living in society, but some understanding of it is fundamental, both to liberal societies and to those of a more ancient stamp. Social justice incorporates the question of distribution of wealth, of how to deal with possessions, property, things. The Church has recently uncovered the role of the laity in her understanding of the Christian life, and this aspect of social justice can perhaps be regarded as especially the province of lay people, who deal with the world of ‘ordinary life’: the life of production and reproduction, of work and family. It is not unreasonable to regard these aspects as central to modem life and indeed to Christian spirituality and philosophy. ‘For instance, my sense of myself as a householder, father of a family, holding down a job, providing for my dependents; all this can be the basis of my sense of dignity.’
1 ‘Pro Foco Non Foro Agri Colendi’ was the Latin tag on Fr. McNabb's headstone, arguing even in death that the hearth and not the market place was the reason to cultivate the fields.
2 Taylor, C. Sources of the Self Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 15Google Scholar
3 McNabb, V. OP. The Church and the Land (London, 1926)Google Scholar Chapter 1‐entitled ‘A Call to Contemplatives’.
4 Brocard Sewell, Like Black Swans, p. 141
5 R.Neuhaus First Things 52, April 1995 p.56–68
6 Aristotle Politics Bk II Ch 5, tr. A. Sinclair, Harmondsworth 1962, p. 62–66
7 See Finnis, J., Aquinas, Oxford University Press 1998, p.190Google Scholar. I am thoroughly indebted to this fine book.
8 See Hont, I. and Ignatieff, M., ‘Needs and justice in the Wealth of Nations: an introductory essay’, in Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of the Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment ed. Hont, and Ignatieff, , Cambridge University Press, 1983, p.27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 J.Finnis, op.cit., p.191
10 ibid. p. 195
11 ibid. p. 196
12 McNabb OP., op.cit., p.5
13 see Finnis, op.cit. p.217, note a, with references to Finnis, 1980.
14 Hont and Ignatieff, op.cit. p.28–29
15 ibid, p.29
16 A.J.Ayer, Hume, Oxford University Press 1980, p.91
17 Hont and Ignatieff op. cit.p.24–5
18 See e.g. Hugh Walters OP. ‘The Monastic Ethic and the Spirit of Greenery’New Blackfriars March 1992 p. 177–187
19 Corrin, J.P., G.K Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. The Battle Against Modernity, Ohio University Press, 1981 p. 107Google Scholar
20 MacCarthy, F., Eric Gill, Faber and Faber 1989Google Scholar, p.
21 V. McNabb OP., Unpublished Notes in Dominican Archives, Edinburgh.
22 McNabb, V. O.P. Meditations on St John, Aquin Press 1962, p.40Google Scholar
23 McNabb, V. O.P. Nazareth or Social Chaos, London 1933, p.20Google Scholar
24 see Finnis op.cit. p.244 for this translation from the de Regno.
25 ibid.
26 D.Quinn, The Chesterton Review XXII Nos 1 and 2 February and May 1996 p.34.
27 Gill, E., ‘Private Property’, in Essays, London 1947, p.34Google Scholar.
28 Finnis op.cit. p. 184.
29 From A Holy Tradition of Working, an anthology of Gill's writings much to be recommended, edited by B. Keeble, Golgonooza Press, Ipswich 1983, p. 124.
30 Maritain, J., Art and Scholasticism London 1930 p. 150Google Scholar.
31 A Holy Tradition p. 126.
32 ibid. p. 137.
33 ibid. p.80.
34 ibid.p.138.
35 Berry, W., What Are People For, San Francisco 1990 p.194Google Scholar. See also A. Cunningham in The Chesterton Review Feb and May, 1996, Special Issue on ‘Fr. Vincent McNabb.’
36 Quoted in the stimulating essay on Conrad Pepler by Nichols, Aidan O.P. in Dominican Gallery, Gracewing, 1997, p.361Google Scholar.
37 It continued in some form however until the 1980′s. There were other figures who deserve more recognition than it has been possible to describe here, notably David Jones, Philip Hagreen and Valentine Kilbride. It is not prudish to say that Gill's obsession with sex was unfortunate–it is, at the least, unfortunate in any individual, or indeed culture. Art and Prudence: this distinction between making and doing finds its instantiation in the distinction between the work and the morality of the artist. In Gill's case one feels that perhaps he justified too much of his behaviour through this distinction, but it is there in Maritain in abundance, who states that;'Art in no wise tends to make the artist good in his specifically human conduct;. as the artist is first a man and then an artist, it is easy to see what conflicts will rage in his heart between Art and Prudence, his character as Maker and his character as Man.' (Maritain op.cit. p. 14–15) He quotes Oscar Wilde that ‘The fact of a man being a poisoner is nothing against his prose.’ (ibid. p. 152) Only the saints can perhaps live well fully; but it is possible to see in Gill the difficulties of combining Art and Prudence, of not sacrificing his immortal substance to the devouring idol in his soul; and indeed to see how McNabb the Prudent man and Gill the Artist may have come into conflict (as did Pepler and Gill). Maritain makes it clear that Art aims at Beauty and in that way is independent of and metaphysically superior to Prudence: because it is more speculative and, following Aristotle, speculation is better than the moral life. ‘It is difficult therefore for the Prudent Man and the Artist to understand one another. The Contemplative and the Artist on the other hand, both perfected by an intellectual habit binding them to the transcendental order, are in a position to sympathise.’ (ibid. p.85) Perhaps Gill could value McNabb the Contemplative and see his grandeur; likewise the Contemplative in McNabb could value Gill the Artist; but when Gill's art began to reflect his disturbed life, McNabb the Prudent Man could no longer find himself in sympathy. Perhaps this is to make the men too much the conveyors of metaphysical ideas; but there is no doubt that they were animated by such things, part of a living tradition.
38 See Finnis op.cit p.52, notes 1–6.
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