“Political virtues? Like politics?”
“Not quite. In this case, political derives from the Greek word, politikos, ‘of or pertaining to the polis,’ the city-state the ancient Greeks lived in. A key difference is that political virtues are acquired through man’s own actions in his political society, while theological virtues, commonly accepted as hope, faith and charity, belonged to man’s relationship with God. While a man cannot acquire hope or faith without God, he can acquire the political virtues through his own endeavors.”
Wilberforce paused. “And there, perhaps, we have this separation from God in justice that you seek.”
“Justice must be a political virtue,” Jude said.
“Part of justice,” Wilberforce countered. “Churchmen also became very interested in what became a major philosophical question for Aquinas’ era and which was to have great implication for the meaning of justice. In fact, it was to preoccupy the intellectual men of Europe for centuries.”
“What is it?”
The minister smiled.
Wilberforce swirled the cup and watched the leaves settle in the murky liquid. He ran his tongue over his lips, savoring the last of the tea that Jude grew more impatient for he knew the reverend was being deliberate. Jude laughed. Wilberforce was turning into another Ernst. “Keep it simple,” he urged.
Wilberforce snorted. “For the sake of your impatience, imagine I am a professor delivering a lecture, and my lecture is divided into three parts. For the first part, we must return to the free-will. Then the second is virtues, including justice. The third is applying justice in the political society. All three are intricately linked and cannot exist without the others, and at the end, you will learn much about the irreligious justice you seek. Let this structure provide a guarantee that there is a conclusion. Now, if you will let me begin?”
Admonished again, Jude nodded.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Quest for Justice to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.