ABSTRACT
This chapter explores St. Thomas Aquinas’ conception of friendship as the pragmatic dimension of naming God. As discussed in the last chapter, sacred doctrine redirects our language from the world to God. This eminent mode of signification opens a new form of singular reference unavailable to natural reason. Since sacred doctrine is, in Thomas’ words, both theoretical and practical, this reshapes the pragmatics of naming God-the way of life opened through this mode of relation. Thomas articulates this in his discussion of charity.
