Medieval Institute at Notre Dame offers summer courses (languages, paleography)

The Medieval Institute is pleased to offer summer courses in medieval languages and paleography to graduate students and to qualified undergraduates from Notre Dame and all across the country. Offerings are also available in other fields. While in summer residence, students have access to the bountiful resources of the Medieval Institute and its renowned library.

Most summer courses run from mid-June to the beginning of August, an ideal time to enjoy the luxury of uninterrupted study in the pastoral setting of the Notre Dame campus. Participants in the summer program benefit both from the expertise and commitment to their disciplines that our summer faculty members bring to their teaching, and from the smaller enrollments and shorter, concentrated duration of most summer classes, which also permit sustained and frequent contact between student and teacher. While graduate students, especially, find the summer program to be an ideal opportunity to acquire the skills they need for their programs, these classes also appeal to others imbued with a love of the Middle Ages.

Medieval Latin and Paleography, both seven-week courses are taught by Frank A. C. Mantello, professor in the Department of Greek and Latin at The Catholic University of America. Several other language courses are also offered at Notre Dame by both the Medieval Institute and the University’s Summer Institute in Ancient and Medieval Languages.

The Medieval Institute has the privilege of offering two CARA scholarships for summer Latin or paleography study, thanks to the Medieval Academy. See the application details.

Applicants for the summer session at Notre Dame should consult http://www.nd.edu/~sumsess/ for information regarding tuition, fees, housing, and registration.

Unpublished biblical commentary translations of Aquinas

Okay, I promise. This is the last Ave Maria entry for the day.

Ave Maria University’s Aquinas Center has some previously unpublished translations into English of some of Thomas’s biblical commentaries. Here’s what they say:

The following unpublished translations, done years ago by Fr. Fabian Larcher, of St. Thomas Aquinas’s biblical commentaries on Hebrews, Colossians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians. Until a couple years ago, these unpublished translations - good but left unpublished because they are not critical editions (i.e. with footnotes, using the most critically up-to-date Latin text etc.) - existed only in typescripts kept in a box by Fr. Pierre Conway OP of the Dominican House in Washington D.C. He gave the typescripts to the Aquinas Center on the promise that they would be converted into digital format and worked toward publication.

The Adobe Acrobate (PDF) files are as follows:

• Hebrews - Section 1 (845kb)

• Hebrews - Section 2 (1.06mb)

• 1 Corinthians (1.82mb)

• 2 Corinthians (1.36 mb)

• Colossians (454kb)

• Ephesians - entire group (1.84mb)

  • Introduction (210kb)

  • Prologue (79kb)

  • Chapter 1 (227kb)

  • Chapter 2 (188kb)

  • Chapter 3 (190kb)

  • Chapter 4 (240kb)

  • Chapter 5 (212kb)

  • Chapter 6 (158kb)

Aquinas the Augustinian Conference at Ave Maria in Florida

Ave Maria University’s Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal, which is “a new academic institute created to foster the renewal of Catholic theology,” is hosting another conference, this one entitled “Aquinas the Augustinian Conference,” to be held in Naples, Florida, on February 3-5, 2005. From the web site:

The recent work of such thinkers as Alasdair MacIntyre and Servais Pinckaers OP has highlighted the Augustinian aspects of Aquinas’s philosophy/theology. It is thus a fruitful time to bring together a group of scholars to investigate in a systematic fashion the interplay between these two great theologians and the ways that retrieval of their thought in the modern context should proceed.

The list of speakers is as follows:

Conference Speakers:
Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago, Keynote Address
Michel Barnes, Marquette University
Johannes Brachtendorf, University of Tübingen
Stephen F. Brown, Boston College
Sarah Byers, University of Dallas
Michael Dauphinais, Ave Maria University
Barry David, Ave Maria University
Robert Dodaro, OSA, Augustinianum
Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg
Harm Goris, Thomas Instituut of Utrecht
Wayne Hankey, Dalhousie University
Reinhard Hütter, Duke University
Mark Johnson, Marquette University
Matthew Lamb, Boston College and Ave Maria University
Matthew Levering, Ave Maria University
Jody Vaccaro Lewis, Dominican House of Studies
Guy Mansini, OSB, St. Meinrad’s Seminary
Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University
John O’Callaghan, University of Notre Dame
Thomas Osborne, University of St. Thomas (TX)
John Rist, University of Toronto
Tracey Rowland, John Paul II Institute (Melbourne)
Michael Sherwin, OP, University of Fribourg
Jeremy Wilkins, University of St. Thomas (TX)

See you there!

Gregory Rocca's book wins Charles Cardinal Journet Prize

In a follow-up to the previous story, the Aquinas Center at Ave Maria University has announced that Gregory P. Rocca, O.P.’s Speaking the Incomprehensible God: Thomas Aquinas on the Interplay of Positive and Negative Theologyis the winner of this year’s Charles Cardinal Journet Prize, which consists of:

a $500 award and an invitation to deliver the Journet Lecture at Ave Maria University during the Spring of the year, all expenses paid by the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal. The purpose of the Journet Prize is to stimulate and draw attention to the ongoing renewal, among both Catholic and Protestant thinkers, of contemporary and energetic Thomistic scholarship.

Father Rocca is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California, where he recently completed nine years as president.

Prizes offered by the Aquinas Center at Ave Maria University

Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, has announced two prizes for which scholars can compete. The first, the “Charles Cardinal Journet Prize,” will be awarded to the best scholarly monography on Thomas Aquinas, while the second is the “Thomas Aquinas Dissertation Prize,” which

honors the dissertation defended in any language during the past calendar year that best exemplifies the task of drawing upon the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas to engage constructively in contemporary theology, philosophy, and/or biblical studies.

Follow this link to the Aquinas Center’s web site.

Search for dissertations

The people over at phddata.org have a site that might be useful to teachers (but especially students); it’s a web site where you can search for currently registered dissertations on a very, very wide range of subject (philosophy, theology, and medieval studies included). This will help you find out what’s being done (much like the SIEPM’s catalog), and whether a dissertation you’re about to direct (or write) is being done elsewhere by someone! Worth a look.

Conference: "Current Research on Thomas Aquinas" in Spain

A conference entitled “A Panorama of Current Research on Thomas Aquinas” will be held at the University of Navarre, Pamplona (Spain), on April 25-27, 2005. Here is the presentation from the web site (which is in both English and Spanish):

Thomas Aquinas is the most outstanding representative of the medieval synthesis of cultures that gave unity to Europe. Even after seven centuries, his doctrine continues to be a paradigm of universality, balance and integration.

The year 2005 will mark the 125th anniversary of the proclamation of Thomas Aquinas as the patron of academic centers. This year’s Navarre Philosophy Meetings, A Panorama of Current Research on Thomas Aquinas, will commemorate this anniversary by offering a global vision of contemporary Thomism. We wish to highlight the work of major centers of Thomistic study, focusing on their history, their present state and their ongoing projects. In addition, we will present sessions on current trends in interpretation, new critical editions of texts, and the application of new technologies to academic research.

Papers by: Fr. Abelardo Lobato OP, Prof. Dr. Enrique Martínez, Dr. David Berger, Fr. Leo Elders SVD, Prof. Dr. Enrique Alarcón, Prof. Dr. Ángel Luis González, Fr. Roberto Busa SJ, Prof. Dr. John F. Boyle, Fr. Adriano Oliva OP — a star-studed cast, no?

Even 20 years later, still a sad day.

James A. Weisheipl, OP 1923-1984Today, December 30, 2004, marks the 20th anniversary of the sudden death of James A. Weisheipl, OP, who taught so many students at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, and who was a pioneer in the field of medieval natural philosophy.

Fr Weisheipl was perhaps known best, of course, as the author of Friar Thomas D’Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Work, which was the definitive biography of St Thomas until the appearance of Fr Torrell’s, in the early 1990’s.

20 years later, I still haven’t gotten over it…

University of Notre Dame, Medieval Institute (Mellon Postdoc)

University of Notre Dame, Medieval Institute

2005-2006 A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Medieval Studies. The fellowship will permit a recent Ph.D. in any field of medieval studies to pursue research while in residence at the Medieval Institute during the academic year 2005-06. Applicants must have the Ph.D. in hand as of the application date and must hold a regular appointment at a U.S. institution to which they plan to return following the fellowship year.

The fellowship stipend is $37,500. For more information, consult here. Contact Roberta Baranowski, Assistant Director, Medieval Institute, 715 Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-5629, or e-mail Roberta.Baranowski.7@nd.edu. Application deadline: January 15, 2005.

The University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, Canada, has a Medieval Studies job

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Prince Edward Island is seeking an assistant professor for a cross-appointed, tenure-stream position in Medieval Studies, beginning July 1, 2005.

This position will encompass the disciplines of history, philosophy and religious studies. We are seeking a candidate who is able to work in original source material, and to teach courses in the Medieval and Renaissance period (including Thomism). A secondary competency in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle is considered a strong asset.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, evidence of research and teaching, and three letters of recommendation to:

Dr. Richard Kurial Dean, Faculty of Arts University of Prince Edward Island 550 University Avenue Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3

Send mail to: rkurial@upei.ca. Closing date: January 7, 2005. On-line version of advertisement here.

Call for Papers Jaarboek 2004

The good people over at the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht have issued their annual call for papers for their journal Jaaboek: “The editorial board of the Jaarboek Thomas Instituut te Utrecht is preparing Jaarboek 2004 (volume 24). You are welcome to send in a contribution which will be assessed by the editorial board. Your contribution has to be submitted by 28-02-2005. Please send your paper to Dr. Cristina Pumplun, editorial secretary: cpumplun@ktu.nl

Google Suggest: another neat search tool from Google

Google Suggest rocks! Type in the beginning of a query and a dropdown list appears that not only allows you to pick from common queries that match what you typed so far, but it even shows the number of hits for those queries - very nice indeed… Admittedly, however, you’re not likely to go hunting through tens or hundreds of thousands of hits.