Nerd alert: ON.
Here in my office I have the beefy printed edition of Paul Oskar Kristeller's Latin Manuscript Books before 1600: A List of the Printed Catalogues and Unpublished Inventories of Extant Collections staring at me, and telling me, "get to work!" If you need access to this work, it's now on-line (link). Happy hunting for the manuscript that breaks your stemma!
Nerd alert: OFF.
The people at Blackfriars aren't sitting still. They've put together a compelling program of studies (link) for their Aquinas Institute. The program is headed by Fr Fergus Kerr, OP. A scrape:
The Aquinas Institute was established in 2004 under the directorship of Fergus Kerr OP. It aims to foster study of St Thomas at Oxford through seminars, occasional conferences, summer schools, and programmes that will bring international research scholars to the university each year.
Make sure to see the cool seminar series that they've put together, too.
From William E. Carroll, of Blackfriars:
Fergus Kerr is now retired and the new director of the Aquinas Institute is Vivian Boland, O.P.
This one was too easy. Some required ICANN checking lead me to a reminder to see whether the name “thomistica,” was available on twitter. I was shocked, truly shocked, to find out that it was, so I nabbed it, and have set things up here. Now you can follow us here on thomistica (link) when I tweet about the small things.
You’ll also note on the right sidebar that I’ve included that last few tweets. All the best.
Catholic philosopher Edward Feser has published Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide (link), an introduction to the thought of St Thomas. Here’s a scrape from Amazon’s page:
One of history’s most influential philosophers and theologians, Thomas Aquinas was the father of modern philosophy of religion, and is infamous for his proofs for God’s existence. In this cogent introduction to his work, Edward Feser argues that you cannot fully understand Aquinas’ philosophy without his theology and vice-versa. Covering his thoughts on the soul, natural law, metaphysics, and the interaction of faith and reason, this is an essential introduction to the great thinker.
Feser is a well-known philosopher who vigorously engages contemporary philosophy and science, from an Aristotelian-Thomistic point of view (i.e., supportive of natural philosophy and A-T metaphysics). While at Amazon.com, check out his important The Last Supersition: A Refutation of the New Atheism.
Feser is also an active blogger, writing on an array of topics ranging from philosophy of mind to contemporary politics. More on his book (including the Table of Contents) at his website.
With thanks to James South, Chair of Marquette's Philosophy Department, here is a link to a 45-minute long, streamed discussion on Aquinas, from BBC Radio 4. The discussion is led by Melvyn Bragg, and includes Martin Palmer, John Haldane and Annabel Brett. Here is a scrape from the BBC's website:
Melvyn Bragg discusses the life, works and enduring influence of the medieval philosopher and theologian St Thomas Aquinas with Martin Palmer, John Haldane and Annabel Brett.
St Thomas Aquinas' ideas remain at the heart of the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church today and inform philosophical debates on human rights, natural law and what constitutes a 'just war'.
Martin Palmer is Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture; John Haldane is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews; Annabel Brett is Lecturer in History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Here is a direct link to the streamed discussion.
Wow. Here’s a link to a downloadable copy of the entire Summa theologiae in Italian, a labor of love by Tito Centi and Angelo Belloni (link to zip file; note: 30 MB).
A scrape from their site:
Il P. Tito Centi, del Convento di S. Domenico di Fiesole, che per ben 28 anni si è accollato quasi per intero la “gioiosa fatica”di tradurre, annotare, introdurre, correggere, redigere l’edizione italiana della Somma Teologica, mentre prende atto con piacere che le nuove edizioni italiane riproducono praticamente la sua, avendo ormai raggiunto la venerabile età di 94 anni ha espresso il desiderio che il frutto delle sue immani fatiche diventi, attraverso la rete informatica internet maggiormente accessibile al grande pubblico senza oneri di sorta. Il sottoscritto si è messo semplicemente a sua disposizione perché tale desiderio diventasse realtà. (P. Angelo Zelio Belloni o.p. – Fiesole)
N.B. Questa edizione integrale on-line non riproduce semplicemente quella pubblicata negli anni 1949-1975 a Firenze, ma è stata radicalmente rivista e modificata soprattutto nelle introduzioni, nella struttura e nei contenuti con apporti originali. Ci scusiamo per eventuali imperfezioni dovute alla trascrizione elettronica di alcune parti e alla dimensione consistente dell’intero documento.
AVVERTENZA: Il testo qui pubblicato é tutelato dai diritti di copyright. E’ consentito l’utilizzo solo per uso privato e personale. E’ quindi assolutamente vietata la riproduzione a fini commerciali con qualsiasi mezzo effettuata nonché la sua diffusione sullo spazio web senza una preventiva autorizzazione da parte nostra.
Are you looking for the a scanned edition of, let's say, Aegidius Romanus' Quodlibeta (Lovanii: Typis Hieronymi Nempaei, 1646) or Durandus a Sancto Porciano's In IV libros Sententiarum (Venezia: Ex Typographia Guerraea, 1571) or—even better—Johannes Capreolus's entire Defensiones theologiae? This is the place to find them (link). Do this quickly, as texts have a tendency to dissappear…
Don't forget to pay Jörgen Vijgen's website a visit (http://www.thomisme.org). Like Thomistica.net, his site is devoted to Thomism, with a particular focus on the work of Fr Leo Elders, often with on-line PDFs to articles Fr Elders has written. More recently Jörgen has placed on-line texts written by Romanus Cessario, OP.
Via Jörgen Vijgen (again!), a link to an interview with Fr Pawel Krupa, OP, of the Leonine Commission (with audio).
Eek! It’s just embarrassing, how behind I am with my posts on the site! Almost a year ago we here at Marquette University had the honor of the presence of Adriano Oliva, OP, head of the Leonine Commission, who had come stateside to participate in the SIEPM conference at Notre Dame, and in our Aquinas and the Arabs conference here at Marquette.
Fr Oliva graciously agreed to do an interview with me about the work of the Commission, and about how our Project (link) might be of use to the efforts of the Leonine Commission. We chose to do the interview in Italian (apologies for my occasionally “airport Italian”—it was a long week), which may prove to be a challenge for some viewers. But Fr Oliva speaks so carefully that I suspect many will get the gist of what he is saying (I’d be thrilled if any visitors had the time and inclination to do a translation [contact me]). One particular highlight: Fr Oliva gives an update on the status of the work of the Commission.
Our audio/visual people here at Marquette worked hard to produce the video, which is hosted on our media server (QuickTime required). So, with apologies for my tardiness, happy viewing.
PS: when they tell you that the camera adds 10 lbs, they lie: it adds 20—and I’ve gone on a diet.
Thanks go to Jörgen Vijgen (what else is new?) for noting Quodlibase, an on-line rendering of Palémon Glorieux’s ground-breaking La littérature quodlibétique de 1260 à 1320 2 vols., (Le Saulchoir: RSPT, 1925; Paris: J. Vrin, 1935 [biblio. info.]). Glorieux scoured the libraries of Europe to come up with what turned out to be a toe-hold into the vast world of quodlibetal literature, the place where “real-world” questions were often addressed to Masters.
Quodlibase lets you into that world. Here is the site’s self-description:
Base de données des Quodlibets théologiques (1230-1350)
Séances extraordinaires de questions disputées, organisées deux fois par an à l’Université de Paris, à l’Avent et pendant le Carême, les Quodlibets permettaient à un public élargi d’interroger les maîtres qui se soumettaient à l”exercice sur toutes sortes de questions. De ce fait, les documents qui retranscrivent ces exercices permettent de saisir la vitalité des débats intellectuels médiévaux.
Quodlibase a pour première matière les répertoires dressés par Palémon Glorieux (1925 et 1935), corrigés et mis à jour en fonction des recherches et éditions de texte menés depuis lors.
Pour la consulter, il est nécessaire de s’identifier. Si vous n’avez encore jamais consulté la base, vous devez vous inscrire en utilisant le formulaire prévu à cet effet.
As the last line notes, you need to register at the site to get access (an instant process).
The people at Calvin College's Philosophy Department have created an on-line library of papers by well-known Christian philosophers in the Protestant, especially Reformed, tradition. Here is the site's self-description:
Calvin's Philosophy Department houses one of the finest undergraduate philosophy programs in the nation. Calvin's Philosophy Department was the undergraduate and/or teaching home of four American Philosophical Association Presidents—Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Frankena and O. K. Bouwsma.
At present the Library holds 177 articles, with some of the listed authors having no articles represented, while Alvin Plantinga has twenty. The site's address is: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/philosophy/virtual_library/
Under the direction of the Sacra Doctrina Project
