A new book by David Berger

David Berger, editor of Doctor Angelicus (the newer German journal devoted to Aquinas), has a new book coming out. The book is entitled In der Schule des Hl. Thomas von Aquin: Studien zur Geschichte des Thomismus (Bonn: Verlag Nova et Vetera, 2005). Here’s the blurb (auf Deutsch):

Seit dem Tod des hl. Thomas von Aquin (1274), des „engelgleichen Lehrers" der katholischen Kirche, haben sich seine Schüler immer wieder neu um die Aneignung und Tradierung seiner Lehre bemüht und diese dadurch lebendig erhalten: so entstand als eigene Denkrichtung und philosophisch-theologische Schule der Thomismus. Obgleich dieser Schule über all die letzten sieben Jahrhunderte bis zur gegenwärtigen Stunde eine eminente Bedeutung zukommt, existiert bis heute keine Gesamtdarstellung ihrer Geschichte.

In dem hier vorliegenden Buch sind Studien zu wichtigen Aspekten dieser Geschichte versammelt, die einen Beitrag für eine noch zu schreibende historische Gesamtdarstellung des Thomismus bieten wollen. Dabei reicht das Themenfeld von der Jahrhunderte langen Suche dieser Denkrichtung nach ihrem eigenen Wesen über naturrechtliche Fragen bis hin zu wichtigen thomistischen Institutionen (Päpstliche Thomasakademie, Zeitschrift „Divus Thomas") sowie bedeutenden Thomisten (N. Del Prado, R. Garrigou-Lagrange, B. Lakebrink, J. Brinktrine).

Ganz entsprechend der Doktrin des hl. Thomas selbst, ist die historische Forschung jedoch stets mit dem systematischen Anliegen verbunden: durch alle Studien hindurch wird deutlich gemacht, dass der Thomismus kein museales Phänomen ist, sondern gerade heute eine ganz einzigartige Aktualität besitzt: Zeigt er uns doch den hl. Thomas inmitten der aufgewühlten Wogen der „Diktatur des Relativismus" (Papst Benedikt XVI) als jenen Leuchtturm, der uns den Weg zur Wahrheit weist.

The book will appear in Oktober, and can be purchased from Verlag Nova et Vetera. You can get the table of contents and the forward in PDF format by clicking here.

Update on Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum

An update from Monika Michalowska (on behalf of Professor Elzbieta Jung):

It is a pleasure for me to inform you that we have almost completed the first number of Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum which will be published at the beginning of 2006. 

However, as we have some place for a few articles it is still 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 signs). I would also like to ask you to send a short note about you together with the text.

So….got an article you’d like to see published? See the original call for papers here, posted in February, 2005, which contains the mailing address, and e-mail address, of the journal.

Robert Pasnau's book wins APA Book Prize for 2005

Robert Pasnau’s book, Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature : A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae, 1a 75-89 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), has won the American Philosophical Association Book Prize award for 2005. The book is a new, in-depth, consideration and presentation of Thomas’s teaching on human nature as found in questions 75-89 of the first part of the Summa theologiae. The book is available on amazon.com.

COLLOQUIUM PLOTINUS 204/205-2005: University of Bucharest (November 12, 2005)

The University of Bucharest, Department of Philosophy, is holding a Colloquium on Plotinus on November 12, 2005. Here’s what they have to say:

Plotinus is generally recognized as the founder and the most important figure of neoplatonic current. The aim of this conference is to provide proves of the influence of his texts upon western philosophy. Papers may deal with long time discussed topics (such as, but not restricted to, plotinian metaphysics, the theory of the soul etc.), as well as new research interests (logic, philosophy of science or plotinian ethics). Historical-philosophical approach may be developed on a wide area of subjects from plotinian reconstruction of some platonic, aristotelian and stoic doctrines or the relation between Plotinus and accademic neoplatonism to the influence of the Enneads on some christian thinkers (St. Augustine, Boethius and Arab thinkers) or on some Renaissance and XVII-th century intellectuals.

Lecture titles of the keynote speakers will be announced at the end of September 2005.

Eligibility

Applicants should hold a PhD title or be in the final stage of completing a PhD program in a relevant research field.

Submissions

Only completed papers will be considered. Authors should observe very carefully the guidelines before submitting their texts. Papers must be accompanied by an abstract of 200 words and an academic curriculum vitae (with a list of publications).

All papers must be received via e-mail by October 3rd, 2005, 12.00. CET. Early submissions are encouraged. Applicants will learn of the status of their paper submissions only via e-mail by October 23rd, 2005. Please, send your papers to: plotinus2005 “@” gmail.com All correspondence should be addressed to Marin Balan or Cristian Ducu plotinus2005 “@” gmail.com

The web address for the this Colloquium is http://www.hybris.ro/plotinus/.

American Maritain Association Conference: "Philosophy and Vocation: Intellectual and Spiritual Conditions for Renewal"

The American Maritain Association will be holding its 2005 conference at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The conference opens on October 13 and concludes the morning of October 16. Additional information is available at www.jacquesmaritain.org. The conference program is not yet on-line, but you can learn about the conference by looking at the Association’s call for papers page.

Update on 2005-09-05 11:57 by Mark Johnson

Peter Pagan kindly sent me the program for the conference, which you can get by clicking here (PDF format). There is an MS Word/RTF version of the program on the website of the American Maritain Association. An extensive and interesting line-up of speakers and participants…

The International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria

Peter A. Kwasniewski, Dean and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria, reminded me recently that “the International Theological Institute offers one of the most rigorous Thomistic theological formations available at a pontifical institute. We grant the STB and STL, and in the future hope to grant the pontifical doctorate as well. Courses for the last two years of the STB program are almost entirely treatises from the Summa theologiae.” The impressive and detailed overview can be found here.

A conference in honor of Servais Pinckaers, OP: "Renew all things in Christ"

A conference will be held in Fribourg, Switzerland, October 28-30th, entitled “Renouveler toutes choses en Christ: Vers un renouveau thomiste de la théologie morale: hommage à Servais Pinckaers, O.P.” Michael Sherwin, OP, holder of the Chair of Moral Theology at the University of Fribourg, pointed me to the web page for the conference, which also has a nice, downloadable program (in PDF format). Scholars like Sherwin, Romanus Cessario, John Corbett, Angela McKay, Paul L. Gondreau, William Mattison, John Berkman, and Tobias Hoffmann, will be presenting, as will others.

Time to check my travel budget…

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.