Envy

Even the mundane labors of a theology editor, such as the remarkably unenvious Joseph Mangina, can show us the importance of charity in the life of the church. Envy, a great enemy of charity, is described by Thomas Aquinas as “sorrow for another's good.” Hence in the New Testament, envy is more than just one item on a vice list. It is a vice that is destructive of community, and it is particularly destructive of the kind of love that makes the church possible. The envious cannot rejoice in the spiritual gifts of others as goods that build up the whole community. John Rawls tried to construct a concept of justice that was not dependent on egalitarian understandings of justice fueled by envy. What Rawls lacks, however, is an account of the common good that shows why envy is destructive not only of community but also of our ability to live lives of virtue.