The problem of the finality of worship and the standard thomistic account

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to introduce the issue of the finality of religious worship into the analytical Thomist tradition. It aims to develop a response, based on an analysis of St. Thomas Aquinas’s texts, to the following questions: What is the end of worship? Why do we worship God? What benefit does God derive from our worship? Alternatively, perhaps, is it not ourselves, rather than God, who are the beneficiaries of our own worship? The paper aims to develop what may be called the ‘Standard Thomistic Account’ as a solution to this problem. In the first part (II), the paper examines the problem of the finality of worship within the context of Classical Theism. Part II presents the current state of the problem in the contemporary secondary literature concerning this issue. In the third part (III), the paper focuses on Cajetan’s version of the Standard Thomistic Account, and shows in which aspects it is in need of more nuance to be able to portray Aquinas’ complete solution. Finally, Part IV proposes a careful and faithful reading of the texts and lays out the foundations for a new and more nuanced solution to the problem.