Contributions
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The Psychological Possibility of Mortal Sin: A Reply to Hart
By WILLIAM MATTHEW DIEM, S.T.D.
Although David Bentley Hart admits we can reject God, he insists that “we cannot do so with perfect knowledge and perfect freedom.” Although it’s true that no sane person is able to choose eternal misery as such, that is not relevant to the question: one need not choose misery to merit misery.
Thomas Aquinas Against the Originalists
By JONATHAN CULBREATH
As opposed to the originalist conception of law, St. Thomas teaches that law is an ordinance of reason for the common good promulgated by him who has power over the community, derived from the natural law itself, for the purpose of making men virtuous.
Those Two Roads: How a Natural Philosophical Solution to a Difficulty about Motion Serves Thomistic Theology
By JOHN BRUNGARDT, Ph.D.
A consideration of the philosophical notion of motion and how this aids Thomistic theology.
Three Divine Persons Distinguished by Four Real Relations: On the Correct Translation of ST I, Q. 30, A. 2
JOHN O’NEILL, PhD Cand.
Thomas has already identified four relations in God and defined a divine person as a subsisting relation. Why, then, are the four real relations not four persons? Or why are there not only three real relations that subsist?
The Importance of Good Posture
BRETT T. FEGER
Aquinas’ analysis of the physical disposition of man’s posture provides a groundwork from which a meaningful conversation can be had with evolutionary materialists who reduce man to a mere animal.
Marriage: The Greatest of Friendship
JOSHUA MADDEN, PhD
Put briefly, we can say along with Thomas Aquinas that “between husband and wife, it seems, there exists the greatest of friendship.”
Some Mistakes Due to What is Per Accidens
JOHN G. BRUNGARDT, PhD
Against some important philosophical mistakes which occur by the conflation of what is per accidens with what is per se.
St. Thomas Aquinas for Beginners
DAVID A. SMITHER
A very brief introduction to the life and work of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Subordinated Causality as Illustration of Philosophy's Service to Theology
TAYLOR PATRICK O’NEILL, PhD
There is a plethora of examples of the service which philosophy provides to theology. Perhaps one of the best examples is that of subordinated causality.
What is a Thomist? The Contribution of John of St. Thomas
JÖRGEN VIJGEN, PhD
What accounts for the essence and unity of Thomism? Two approaches have been developed: a doctrinal approach and a methodological approach, but a third approach has been developed by John of St. Thomas.
Aquinas on Name in Sacramental Formulae
BRANDON L. WANLESS, PhD (cand.)
Aquinas provides the theological ratio underpinning the words of the sacramental formulae, namely, of baptizing, confirming, and absolving precisely “in the name of” the Trinity.
A Thomistic Critique of Cartesian Dualism
PAUL CHUTIKORN
Aquinas’ view of substance provides a solution to Descartes’ problem by avoiding a theory of dual substances. Aquinas shows us that we can acknowledge a duality within substance itself, while maintaining its inherent substantial unity.
Aquinas' View of Israel in the Isaiah Commentary
JOSHUA MADDEN, PhD
As the commentary on Isaiah is one of the few which St. Thomas composed on the Old Testament, it is worth taking stock of the manner in which he speaks specifically of Israel and the Jews, even if only briefly.
MORAL PRECEPTS OF THE OLD LAW
RYAN J. BRADY, PhD
The New Law, which is perfect, supplies what was lacking in it. Both are directed to man’s justification, but the Old Law did not provide the means for its fulfillment as the New Law does.