A collection of essays by Servais Pinckaers, OP

The Pinckaers ReaderBack in the 1980’s one of my teachers in Toronto, Walter Principe, CSB, noted my interest in St Thomas’s moral teaching and encouraged me to read the work of Servais Pinckaers, OP. In honesty I never got around to that much — my “commentator time” had been given over to Santiago Ramirez — but I knew that, at some point, I would need to read Pinckaers.

The people over at Catholic University of America Press have made that easier, with the publication of The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Thomistic Moral Theology, a new volume containing 20 of Pinckaers’s studies, translated into English. Here is the blurb from the CUA site:

Servais Pinckaers, O.P., is one of the preeminent Catholic moral theologians of his generation. His highly acclaimed works, among them The Sources of Christian Ethics, offer a thoroughly Thomistic and contemporary vision of the Christian moral life. They reflect the philosophical and spiritual prowess of a moral theologian who is estranged neither from philosophical ethics nor from dogmatic theology, neither from Scripture nor from spirituality.

The first collection of its kind available in any language, this volume features the twenty most significant essays written by Pinckaers since his highly praised Sources. The essays offer profound reflections that are only possible by a contemporary moral theologian who knows the thought of Aquinas from lifelong study. Rather than taking a simply historical approach to Aquinas, Pinckaers seeks the basis of the intelligibility of the moral life, providing rich spiritual and theological insights along the way. He plumbs the depths of fundamental moral theology in these essays, where he treats Thomistic method and the renewal of moral theology, beatitude and Christian anthropology, moral agency, and passions and virtues, as well as law and grace. Such a detailed treatment of key issues in fundamental moral theology and Christian philosophical anthropology will certainly demand attention from every theologian and advanced student interested in Aquinas and in a virtue approach to Christian ethics.

Pinckaers’s work has been an important source for the revival of interest in virtue-oriented moral theology in recent years and will continue to be a major source for debates over the place of Scripture and the Holy Spirit in moral theology.

John Berkman is Associate Professor of Moral Theology and Area Director of Moral Theology/Ethics at The Catholic University of America. Craig Steven Titus is Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Ethics and Moral Theology at the University of Fribourg and Visiting Professor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. The essays are translated by Sr. Mary Thomas Noble,O.P., Craig Steven Titus, Michael Sherwin, O.P., and Hugh Connolly.

Here is the link to CUA Press, and you can also find the volume on Amazon.com.

Roccasecca inaugurates its statue of Saint Thomas

Overlooking
la Valle del Liri

In anticipation of the Jubilee Year of 2000, the city of Roccasecca held a contest among more than ten sculptors for a statue of St Thomas. A book was produced (Concorso per la statua di San Tommaso, ed. Floriano De Santi [Roccasecca: Centro Internazionale “Umberto Mastroianni,” 1999]), with articles about the importance of Thomas to the city (in Italian, and English translations), and with pictures of the many entries. The statues were in various styles, from traditional to ultra-modern. The winning sculptor was Giuliano Vangi, whose entry was a colossus, in a streamlined yet traditional style (my layman’s description).

Vangi finally completed the final version of the 20-ft+ statue, and the City of Roccasecca held an inauguration on May 29, 2005, marked (literally!) with a postage stamp. You can see pictures of the ceremony here (it seems that the whole town turned out!).

Need to get order out of the chaos

I have no intention to be a clearing house for all the many and useful Thomistic links out there, but I do want to provide as many links as would be of use to Aquinas scholars, and this would include, for instance, links to language sites, organizations, and the websites of journals. But I did a poor job setting up the links page, which will just grow out of control over time, because I didn’t anticipate what order would be necessary, and didn’t create some sort of organizational structure. I committed the parvus error in principio.

So I’ll be changing the Thomistic Links section of the site, setting up a container page, with separate pages underneath the main page. I’ll surely have a page devoted to language links, to organization links, and to journals/publishing house links. Can you think of any others that I should add? I’d be grateful for your feedback.

Feel free to comment on this posting, or to send me an e-mail via the contact page.

Software notes for Thomistica.NET readers

Just a few notes of interest to visitors about software that I use or am testing.

• The people who produce the bibliography management program, Endnote, have released Endnote 9.0. I use this program (as well as Reference Manager 11). Time to upgrade?
• One of my favorite sites when I’m writing or reading other languages (including Latin) is http://www.verbix.com, which has a fine on-line conjugator. They have just released the downloadable version, 7.0, which makes things much easier. The list of improvements is:
  
  
  • Plenty of new languages: Russian, Polish, Sanskrit, Hebrew, etc.
  • Issues corrected in existing languages.
  • Custom verbtables option: design your own look and feel for verbtables.
  • Reports (language lists, language trees.)
  • Maps.
  • Smoother verb tables & print preview.
  • More comprehensive on-line help.
  • Improved handling of Verbix language extensions.
  • More information about languages.
  • Better Windows XP compatibility
• Microsoft Corporation has decided to release another version of Internet Explorer. It will be named Internet Explorer 7.0, and will attempt to catch up to the features that you can currently get with Mozilla.org’s very fine Firefox program (e.g., built-in RSS support, tabbed-browsing, phishing protection). I just downloaded the first beta of the program (for testing Thomistica.NET), and am very pleased. Doubtless you’ll be interested in the released product, down the road.

Please feel free to comment on this news item or to send me a comment about software that you use that you think would help others.

International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology (and its Yearbook)

The International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology (IGTM) has founded a yearbook dedicated to publish scholarly articles and book reviews on all fields of medieval theology, especially the history of theology, philosophical theology, history of exegesis, history of liturgy, history of canon law, church history, history of spirituality, art history etc. not only of the Latin West, but also of the Greek East as well as the contemporary Judaism and Islam. The journal will also accept for publication short critical editions as well as studies on and repertories of medieval manuscripts relevant for the field.

• Languages of publication are: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
• Articles will be accepted for publication on the basis of double blind peer review. Any kind of allusion to the author in the text should therefore be avoided.
• Authors are held to submit their articles in electronic format (Word / Word Perfect) plus three paper copies, to observe the guidelines set up by the editorial board and are requested to ensure that permission for the reproduction of images is obtained prior to publication.

All colleagues are asked to consider if they would like to submit an article and also to spread the word to those who might be interested. As the journal will also include book reviews you might also want to encourage your publisher to send your publications to be reviewed.

The journal, Archa verbi (Annuarium Societatis Internationalis pro Studiis Theologiae Mediae Aevi promovendis) is published by Aschendorff, and you can look at the table of contents for the very promising first issue here.

Suffering and Hope: an interdisciplinary conference on the ideas underlying the medical specialty of palliative care

The University of St. Thomas Center for Thomistic Studies will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a conference that will bring together experts from a number of fields – philosophy, theology, medicine, nursing, law, literature and art – to put forward a positive view of suffering in the divine scheme, of the importance of affirming life, of regarding dying as a natural process, and of seeking neither to hasten nor to postpone death.

• KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
  Dr. Eduardo Bruera, M.D., Head of Palliative Care Unit at M.D. Anderson, Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX
• Teresa S. Collett , Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas, School of Law, St. Paul, MN
• Dr. Maureen L. Condic, Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah, School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT
• Dr. Patrick Lee, Professor of Philosophy, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville, OH
• Dr. Janet Smith, Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI

CALL FOR PAPERS:
The Center for Thomistic Studies invites papers for “Suffering and Hope: an interdisciplinary conference on the ideas underlying the medical specialty of palliative care.”

Papers are invited from philosophers, theologians, medical and nursing practitioners, lawyers, experts in counseling, psychology and the social sciences, and all other areas of study which relate to this increasingly important medical specialty.

Papers should in general be suitable for a cross-disciplinary audience, though the presentation of some more specialist academic papers is also encouraged. For the purposes of oral presentation, papers should not exceed about 20 minutes of reading (about 2000 words). The Center aims to make the full contents of the Conference available on CD, with the consent of the author, and without prejudice to author’s copyright. It is also hoped to produce a paperback selection of the papers which have most interdisciplinary importance, again without prejudice. 

A title and abstract should be submitted before September 1st 2005. Full papers should be submitted before October 15th 2005 to:

Christopher Martin
Center for Thomistic Studies 
University of St Thomas
3800 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, Texas, 77006 U.S.A.

or by e-mail to martincf@stthom.edu.

Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages: article-writing opportunities

The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (ODMA), which will be a resource of first resort on the general model of The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed., 1996) for all key aspects of European history, society, religion, and culture, c. 500 to c. 1500, is currently being compiled.

The ODMA will consist of 1,300,000 words in four volumes with approximately 7,000 entries, 60 maps, and 550 illustrations. It has an international advisory board of five, an editorial board of twenty-six, and projected contributors of nearly 800. The complete, edited text is due to be delivered in early 2006 with publication, we hope, in late 2006 or early 2007.

If you work on England, France, Italy, Islam, or Ecclesiastical History and would like to contribute to this important project, please send an updated cv and a list of entries you would like to contribute as an email attachment c/o Robert E. Bjork, the General Editor, to jennifer.michaud@asu.edu with “ODMA” in the subject line. Contributors writing 4,000 words or 25 entries or more will receive a free copy of the ODMA, and all contributors will receive author status with Oxford University Press, a 50% discount off one copy of the ODMA, and $50 per 1,000 words contributed.

Please write to Prof. Bjork for a list of headwords available.

Hortulus: An On-Line Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies

Hortulus, is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, Web-based journal of medieval studies, founded and published annually by an international board of graduate students. It described itself thus:

Hortulus is a refereed journal devoted to the literatures and cultures of the medieval world. Electronically published once a year, its mission is to present a forum in which graduate students from around the globe may share their ideas.

In preparation of our second issue, we invite the submission of academic articles on the topic of Hybridity. The idea of hybridity is necessarily complex. Recent discussions have tended to address it in terms of identity and identity formation. However, it may be extended to consider many other areas. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Nationality and nationalism
• Culture, cultural motifs and cultural practices
• Religion and religious syncretism
• Language(s)
• The body
• Literary hybrid genres
• Identity
• Conversion
• Borrowed histories
• Gender play
• Translation

The journal also incorporates lighter fare such as interviews, opinion pieces, reviews and essays on diverse aspects of medievalia under the aegis of a section entitled Hortus Amoenus. We are particularly interested in reviews of historical novels and medieval-themed films, as well as reports on archaeological digs and museum exhibitions, but we are happy to receive any and all contributions relevant to medieval studies. Potential Hortus Amoenus authors should contact hortusamoenus@hortulus.net with a 250-word summary of their contribution before submitting a complete article.

For submission guidelines and more information, please read the Submission Guidelines and the Style Guide. Contributions should be sent electronically to: submit@hortulus.net. The deadline for submission is October 15, 2005.

All students currently pursuing graduate work in medieval studies or allied disciplines are eligible to submit papers and lighter contributions, as are alumni/ae of master?s and doctoral programs within one year of their graduation. Those who hold doctoral degrees are eligible only if not currently employed as professors.

"The Body in Medieval Culture," Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

“The Body in Medieval Culture,” Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, 10-11 March 2006. The last fifteen years have produced both some of the best and some of the worst critical approaches to medieval understandings of the body. These range from anachronistic projections of modern constructions of gender and sexuality onto medieval texts to more nuanced studies that take into account both medieval and modern frameworks in assessing the representation, function, and cultural import of the body. This conference, “The Body in Medieval Culture,” will focus on the ways in which conceptions of the body rooted in theological and medical discourses are manifested in the cultural production of the Middle Ages.

Invited plenary speakers include Peter Biller, Dyan Elliott, and Nicholas Watson.

We invite submissions by scholars working in a range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) history, literature, philosophy, religion, history of science, and art history. To facilitate the exchange of ideas across disciplinary boundaries, sessions will be organized in five strands:

1. devotional or theological discourse
2. medical (especially humoural) discourse
3. rhetorical and literary discourse
4. discourses of gender and sexuality
5. civic and political discourse

Please send 250-word abstracts, together with a one-page C.V., to the co-organizers (Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Jill Ross) at bodyconf@chass.utoronto.ca. Abstracts should be received by 20 September 2005.

Jacques Maritain Center at University of Notre Dame

This web site is obvious to those of us here in North America. The Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame is a storehouse of interesting links, including those that point to the Summer Thomistic Institutes that Ralph McInerny has sponsored over the years (with on-line and downloadable copies of fine papers), a recorded interview with Maritain from the 1940’s (MP3 files), and many, many other links (to dissertations directed by McInerny, River Forest [i.e., Dominicans in Chicago] archives, and more).

thomasinternational.org (a web site devoted to Aquinas)

It’s amazing what you’ll find when you hunt around websites that Ralph McInerny of Notre Dame has a role in. In looking through the website for the Jacques Maritain Center at Notre Dame, I discovered that there is an international web site on Thomas’s legal theory, which describes itself as follows:

Thomas International aims at reigniting the classical tradition of philosophy and theology – which is the cultural root of Western civilization – by promoting international scholarship focused especially (though not exclusively) on the thought of Thomas Aquinas. This commitment is not of merely historical interest, but is meant to promote engagement between classical thought and modern and contemporary thought, in all branches of human knowledge, in order to confront the perennial questions of the human heart and to seek solutions to the problems facing our society.

Thomas International is especially committed to promoting a new International University with the main campus in the United States, which will subsequently become the new center for its broad cultural enterprise.

Thomas International fulfills its mission through the joint activity of various Research Institutes, and through scientific collaboration with other universities and educational institutions.

There are also many links, especially to sites in Italy, that touch upon Aquinas.

Fabulous on-line list of medievalia

I just found a great on-line resource of medieval links (to journals, libraries, other websites, etc.). You’ll find it at:

http://www.ulb.ac.be/philo/urhm

which is run by the people at the Free University of Brussels (l’Université Libre de Bruxelles). It’s wonderful. The site also points to a consortium of other medievalist sites, and a portal for medievalists that is as thorough as I have yet seen.