The International Society for MacIntyrean Philosophy is holding its second annual conference at Saint Meinrad’s in Indiana, from July 30 through August 3, 2008. The topic is: “Theory, Practice, and Tradition: Human Rationality in Pursuit of the Good Life.” You can see the conference’s dense schedule here (DOC format).

Peter Weigel, of the Department of Philosophy at Washington College, has authored a book on Aquinas’s doctrine of the divine simplicity, due to appear this year. Here’s some of the blurb:

Aquinas’s teaching that God is entirely simple is central to his philosophy of God. Much of his thought cannot be properly understood without an adequate grasp of what simplicity involves and why he argues for it. The depth and rigor of Aquinas’s account of divine simplicity mark a significant contribution to the development of this crucial position in traditional philosophical theology. Commentators usually focus on limited aspects of Aquinas’s position, and contemporary philosophical assessments often reflect an incomplete understanding of the distinctive ontology supporting his theological conclusions.

This book offers an in-depth examination of what divine simplicity means for Aquinas and how he argues for its claims. Simplicity and other divine predicates are analyzed within the larger metaphysical and semantic framework surrounding Aquinas’s philosophy of God. The work thus goes beyond the issue of simplicity to some of the fundamental tenets of Aquinas’s philosophical theology and his views on divine predication. The author also engages with a variety of Aquinas’s recent commentators, bringing the insights of this great figure to bear on contemporary discussions.

A team consisting of Peter Kwasniewski and others has produced a translation of texts from Thomas’s Scriptum super sententiis that deal with charity. Published by Catholic University of America Press, the volume will appear shortly (see this PDF file). Here’s a snippet from the blurb:

Among the great works of Thomas Aquinas, the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard has suffered almost total neglect among translators. Such neglect is surprising, considering that the massive Commentary—more than 4,000 pages in the last printed edition—is not only Aquinas’s first systematic engagement with all the philosophical and theological topics on which he expended his energy over the span of a short career but is also characterized by an exuberance and elaborateness seldom found in his subsequent writings. Although Chenu had already drawn attention decades ago to the importance of studying this youthful tour de force for a fuller understanding of Thomas’s more mature work, the Commentary on the Sentences has remained a closed book for many modern students of Thomistic and medieval thought because of its relative inaccessibility in English or in Latin.

The present volume, containing all the major texts on love and charity, makes available what is by far the most extensive translation ever to be made from the Commentary with the added benefit that the better part of the translation is based on the (as yet unpublished) critical edition of the Leonine Commission. The collection of texts from all four books has a tight thematic coherence that makes it invaluable to students of Thomas’s moral philosophy, moral theology, and philosophical theology. In addition, the inclusion of parallel texts from Aquinas’s first (Parisian) Commentary as well as from his second (Roman) attempt at a commentary, the recently rediscovered Lectura Romana, makes this edition all the more valuable for those who wish to track the internal development of Thomas’s thinking on these matters.

This volume is part of the Thomas Aquinas in Translation Series from CUA, which also has three other texts.

Scraped from a number of places, some information on the passing of W. Norris Clarke, SJ, long of Fordham University in New York City:

We regret to inform you of the death of Father W. Norris Clarke, S.J., Fordham University Professor Emeritus, who died on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, New York.  Father Clarke was born on June 1, 1915. He joined Fordham's Philosophy Department in 1955 and became Professor Emeritus in 1985.  See more biographical information at:

http://www.fordham.edu/philosophy/faculty/clarke.htm

WAKE:
Sunday, June 15, 2008
3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM
Loyola Hall Chapel
Fordham University
Bronx, NY 10458

MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL:
Monday, June 16, 2008
10:30 AM
Fordham University Church
Bronx, NY 10458

BURIAL: Jesuit Cemetery, Auriesville , NY

Other links that I have found are:

• Link to his faculty page at Fordham's website.
• Notice about his funeral services from Fordham.
• Notice on the First Things website, and one on the America website.

With thanks to Roberta Baranowski at the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame, news of an upcoming colloquium: "Philosophy and Theology in the Studia of the Religious Orders and at the Papal Court," to be held at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana), October 8-11, 2008. The colloquium is actually put on by the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM), to mark its 50th anniversary. The description of the colloquium:

The XVth Colloquium of the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM), which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Société, will take place at the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday, October 8 through Friday, October 10, 2008. The Colloquium, organized by Kent Emery, Jr. (Notre Dame) assisted by William J. Courtenay (Madison, Wisconsin), will focus on the particularities of the teaching of philosophy and theology in the studia of the mendicant (Augustinian, Carmelite, Dominican, Franciscan) and monastic (Benedictine, Cistercian) orders and at the theological schools at the Papal Court (notably at Avignon) as distinct from instruction in the faculties of the university proper.

More about it here, with a PDF file containing its entire program here.

To whet your appetite, the speakers at the conference are:

• Fabrizio Amerini (Parma)
• Luca Bianchi (Vercelli)
• Alain Boureau (Paris)
• Stephen F. Brown (Boston)
• Julie Casteigt (Toulouse)
• Amos Corbini (Torino)
• Russell Friedman (Leuven)
• Hester Gelber (Palo Alto, California)
• Joseph W. Goering (Toronto)
• Wouter Goris (Amsterdam)
• Guy Guldentops (Köln)
• Jacqueline Hamesse (Louvain-La-Neuve)
• Maarten Hoenen (Freiburg Im Breisgau)
• Alfonso Maierù (Roma)
• Michèle Mulchahey (Toronto)
• Lauge Nielsen (København)
• Patrick Nold (Albany)
• Adriano Oliva, O.P. (Paris)
• Alessandro Palazzo (Lecce)
• Georgio Pini (The Bronx, New York)
• Sylvain Piron (Paris)
• François-Xavier Putallaz (Fribourg, Suisse)
• Christopher Schabel (Nicosia)
• Neslihan Senocak (New York)
• Thomas Sullivan, O.S.B. (Conception Abbey, Missouri)
• Christian Trottmann (Dijon-Paris-Tours)