The Medieval Academy of America, through the Committee on Centers and Research Associations (CARA), offers 2 summer fellowships to students studying Medieval Latin or Paleography at the University of Notre Dame. The fellowship covers tuition for one course for credit. Applicants must hold student memberships in the Medieval Academy.
Application details are available at: http://www.nd.edu/~medinst/programs/summer.html.
Passed on to me by Jörgen Vijgen (see his web site here):
Wonderful, encouraging words by our Pope! Pope John Paul II talks about Aquinas in the second chapter of his most recent book Memoria e identità (Rizzoli, Milano 2005):
IDEOLOGIE DEL MALE
Come dunque hanno avuto origine le ideologie del male? Quali sono le radici del nazismo e del comunismo? Come si è giunti alla loro caduta?
“Per meglio illustrare questo fenomeno occorre risalire al periodo anteriore all’illuminismo, in particolare alla rivoluzione operata nel pensiero filosofico da Cartesio. Il cogito, ergo sum – penso, dunque sono – portò con sé un capovolgimento nel modo di fare filosofia. Nel periodo precartesiano la filosofia, e dunque il cogito , o piuttosto il cognosco , era subordinato all’ esse che era considerato qualcosa di primordiale. A Cartesio invece l’ esse apparve secondario, mentre il cogito fu da lui giudicato primordiale. In tal modo non soltanto si operava un cambiamento di direzione nel filosofare – ma si abbandonava decisamente ciò che la filosofia era stata fino ad allora, ciò che era stata in particolare la filosofia di san Tommaso d’Aquino: la filosofia dell’ esse”. (19)
“Prima tutto veniva interpretato nell’ottica dell’ esse e di tutto si cercava una spiegazione secondo quell’ottica. Dio come Essere pienamente autosufficiente ( Ens subsistens ) era ritenuto l’indispensabile sostegno per ogni ens non subsistens, ens participatum , cioè per tutti gli esseri creati, e dunque anche per l’uomo”. (19)
“Se vogliamo parlare in modo sensato del bene e del male, dobbiamo tornare a san Tommaso d’Aquino , cioè alla filosofia dell’essere”. (23)
“Con il metodo fenomenologico, ad esempio, si possono esaminare esperienze come quella della moralità, della religione o anche dell’essere uomo, traendone un arricchimento significativo della nostra conoscenza. Non si può però dimenticare che tutte queste analisi, in modo implicito, presuppongono la realtà dell’essere uomo, cioè di un essere creato, e anche la realtà dell’Essere assoluto. Se non si parte da simili presupposti «realisti» , si finisce per muoversi nel vuoto”. (23)
From Professor Elżbieta Jung (Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz):
Mailing address:It is a pleasure for me to inform you that the Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum is back! It is open for contributions in history of medieval philosophy, theology and science in English, French, German and Latin and editions of medieval texts of approximately 30 printed pages (ca 54000 characters).
With best regards, Contact Person: Miss Monika Michalowska, the Secretary of MPP (monikamichalowska@o2.pl)
Therese Bonin (of THOMAS AQUINAS IN ENGLISH: A Bibliography fame) has posted a translation of Thomas’s Quodlibet IV.9.3 (the question on theological determination using authorities or reasons) on her web site. She says:
“I’ve updated my web page a wee bit and put myself among the translators — Quodlibet 4.9.3, brief but very interesting, is now at http://www.home.duq.edu/~bonin/qq493.html You may find it useful for teaching.”Her site is a must-visit place for on-line resources and bibliography in English.
Briar Cliff University is seeking a broadly educated theologian with area of specialization in scripture. Preference will be given to candidates with competence in moral theology. Ph.D. required. Teaching experience preferred. Successful applicant will teach in the first-year experience program. Position is tenure-track and effective September 2005.
Briar Cliff University is a Roman Catholic liberal arts institution committed to Franciscan values of service, caring, and openness to all.
Review of applicants will begin immediately and will continue until position is filled. Send letter of application and CV to:
JoAnn Peterson
Human Resources
Briar Cliff University
3303 Rebecca St.
Sioux City , IA 51104
E-mail: joann.peterson@briarcliff.edu
AA/EOE
The people at the Ateneo Romano della Santa Croce have announced their 13th conference on philosophy:
THE NECESSITY OF FRIENDSHIP: “For no one would choose to live without friends” (Nicomachean Ethics VIII, 1)
Here’s the description from their web site:
The richness and power of the reflection on friendship in classical philosophy remains unparalleled in the history of philosophical thought. For Aristotle, friendship was “absolutely necessary”, to the point that “no one would choose to live without friends”; by contrast, in the postmodern age, there seems to be neither a satisfying praxis of friendship nor an equally deep philosophical reflection on it. Still, Aristotle’s legacy can be enriched by the profound modern achievements in the articulation of the being and the relations of the human subject. Indeed, thanks to the experience of everyday life as shaped over the course of modern times, friendship has come to the fore as something fundamental and decisive for personal growth; and its adaptability to highly diverse relational contexts and life-situations makes it a prime link in a multicultural and globalized society. The objective of this Conference is to seek to decipher, in a specifically philosophical way, the meaning of friendship within a fragmented society such as today’s, by bringing to light the ontology, anthropology, ethics and social theory that make this relationship a real possibility.
The Conference consists of eight presentations, leaving ample room for discussion and joint reflection in a roundtable setting at the conclusion of each day. It is hoped that these days can serve to initiate the formation of an international and interdisciplinary research network, involving experts in academic, cultural and educational fields, on the theme of “Relationships, Affections, and Reasons”.
You can find out more my going to the conference’s web site, here.
Chapel With a Storied Past Is Undergoing Restoration
(Fondi, ITALY [Feb 2, 2005] Zenit.org): The Sancta Maria Antiqua chapel in Fondi, which once housed the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas and is undergoing restoration, has offered some unexpected historical revelations.
In the sacred enclosure, adorned with 15th-century frescoes, was kept the body of the Dominican saint between 1355 and 1368, when he had already been canonized.
The remains of the “Angelic Doctor” ended up there, thanks to the fervor of Niccolo Gaetani, a local nobleman, who spirited them away and kept them in the chapel in this town located between Rome and Naples.
The chapel with the restored frescoes belongs to an old hospital, which may have been a Benedictine or Dominican church, according to architectural findings.
So what was the saint’s body doing in that city?
Margherita Maria Rossi thinks she knows. The president of the St. Thomas Institute of the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum, in Rome, told ZENIT that Count Gaetani, a great admirer of the saint, took the body to his castle.
Gaetani later brought it to the chapel because, so it seems, “his mother had visions in her dreams of St. Thomas who on two occasions said that he did not like the spot where the count had placed him,” said Rossi.
The count stole the body in Fossanova, where St. Thomas died in 1274. “The news is vague, in part because it was a ‘robbery’ and, therefore, something rather secret,” explained Rossi.
Celebrations for the restoration of the chapel were held last weekend. There was a film festival, attended by Polish film director Krzystof Zanussi, as well as a festival of sacred music.
Later, there were talks by professors and experts on St. Thomas, such as the rector of the Angelicum, Dominican Father Francesco Compagnoni, and Alvaro Cacciotti, of the Order of Friars Minor, president of the College of Medieval and Franciscan Studies of the Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum.
Among the speakers at the celebratory meeting were architects, theologians, restorers, historians and communicators.
Margherita Rossi said that the discovery of this chapel is important, as it shows the great affection that people had already at that time for the saintly philosopher and theologian.
One can thus understand, she added, the way in which the “spread and re-elaboration of his thought ” took place, “which culminated with authors like Cajetan, one of his many commentators, perhaps the sharpest, who wrote wonderful commentaries on the ‘Summa Theologiae’ in the 16th century.”
Moreover, Rossi said, this event has made it possible to address “unpublished topics,” such as the “relation between historical presence and influence of a saint.”
Unfortunately I must delay posting my first “Tommaso d’Aquino Newsletter,” which I had promised for January 28th. Although I was most infatuated with the romance of getting the thing posted then, the simple fact is that I won’t make it; I’m working on two papers for upcoming conferences, have my teaching, and of course the millions of other things that fill our days. I’m so very sorry.
That said, I believe it to be completely doable to post the Newsletter instead on March 7, 2005, which is appropriate in its own way. I’m also heartened that by then I will have some pictures from the upcoming conference on “Aquinas the Augustinian” in Florida, a conference at San Domenico’s in Bologna, and will have some facts double-checked by then (which will spare you my errors).
Please accept my apologies, and don’t forget to keep sending in news and information.
A few years backed I published a short article in David Berger’s wonderful journal, Doctor Angelicus, regarding the problem of Thomistic Bibliography (see: Mark F. Johnson, “The Future of Thomistic Bibliography,” Doctor Angelicus 2 [2002]: 193-198). I very much want that article to start some serious discussion, so I asked David Berger for his permission to post it here, which he immediately and charitably gave. Please take a look at the article and make some comments here. There’s an on-line version, and downloadable versions.
I’ve created and included a ‘subscribe’ module to the website. You can now enter your e-mail address to be updated when an announcement about the site is made (I’m planning eventually to distribute the “Tommaso d’Aquino Newsletter” itself by this list). You can subscribe by going here, then entering your e-mail address, and pressing the “sign up” button. You will then be brought to a subscription-verification page, which will double-check your e-mail address (to make sure you got it right), and then ask you some basic demographic questions (i.e., what country do you live in, etc.). This will help us get an idea of where are visitors are, and how we can serve them best.
Of course, this is all totally free.
(A note about privacy. I will never share your e-mail addresses with a third party. This is all supposed to be fun, informative, and hassle-free, right?).
So sign up right away, and we’ll be able to share information regularly, and freely.
Vagantes 2005 (University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana March 3-5)
Vagantes is an interdisciplinary medieval graduate student conference. Papers will be presented on visual hermeneutics, the social implications of romance, ecclesiastical politics, the medieval Mediterranean, interfaith disputes, conversion, economics, and experimentation with literary genre conventions.
Paul Cobb, assistant professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, and Steven Justice, associate professor of English at University of California at Berkeley, will give keynote addresses.
In an attempt to accommodate a graduate student’s budget, there is no conference fee, three meals will be provided, and the closing banquet costs only $15. Local transportation and a limited amount of free housing will be available. Please see http://www.vagantes.org for more details.
Register at: http://www.vagantes.org.
Send questions to Miranda Wilcox: mwilcox@nd.edu.
Wow. Fr Brian Mullady, OP, has been working on a translation of Thomas’s Commentary on Job (written in Orvieto, 1262-1265), and has placed it on his webpage. An on-line version is about half-way complete, but the translation of the whole commentary is complete, and is available as an MS Word document! See his webpage devoted to the project here.
Under the direction of the Sacra Doctrina Project
