The Medieval Tradition of Natural Law (Kalamazoo 2007)

From Harvey Brown at the University of Western Ontario comes a call for papers for next year’s Kalamazoo conference:

The Medieval Tradition of Natural Law

The International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 2007.

1. Natural Law & Political Philosophy
2. Natural Law & Moral Philosophy

Proposals should be sent, by September 15, 2006, to:

Harvey Brown
Political Science Dept.
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada

His e-mail address is: hbrown2@uwo.ca

One year position at College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University

Wanted to get this posted quickly:

The College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University announces a one-year full-time adjunct position in the department of theology for the 2006-2007 academic year. The teaching load will consist mostly (or perhaps entirely) of three sections each semester of the introductory theology course titled “The Christian Tradition.” Ph.D. or ABD preferred. Please send curriculum vitae, transcripts, two letters of reference, and evidence of teaching effectiveness to:

Dr. John Merkle, Chair
Department of Theology
College of Saint Benedict
Saint Joseph, MN 56374

For more information, please contact Dr. Merkle at jmerkle@csbsju.edu or (320) 363-5925.

Basic bibliography for the Lectura romana from Santiago Argüello

I wanted to post this a while back, but forgot!

Santiago Argüello has been working on some texts from the Lectura romana this past year at PIMS in Toronto, and he kindly send along the following bibliographical notes, listing the basic bibliography for the Lectura:

Biographers of St. Thomas referring the fact

Bernardus Gui , Legenda sancti Thomae Aquinatis, in Angelico F errua , S. Thomae Aquinatis vitae fontes praecipuae, Edizioni Dominicane, Alba, 1968, 127-95: vid. 189.

Ptolomeus de Lucca , Historia ecclesiastica nova, in A. F errua , op. cit., 355-69: vid. 368.

Torrell , Jean-Pierre, Initiation à saint Thomas d’Aquin. Sa personne et son oeuvre, Éditions Universitaires (Fribourg, Suisse) – Éditions du Cerf (Paris), 1993: vid. 66-9 and 210.

Weisheipl , James Athanasius, Friar Thomas d’Aquino. His Life, Thought, and Works, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D. C., 1983 (with Corrigenda and Addenda): vid. 216-7 and 359.

Bibliography referring the fact

Bataillon , Louis Jacques, “Bulletin d’histoire des doctrines médiévales. Le treizième siècle: Th omas d’Aquin”, Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, 73 (1989), 584-604; especially: 590-1.

Biffi , Inos, “Il Co mmento di S. Tommaso alle «Sentenze» di Pietro Lombardo”, Sacra Doctrina, 46,5 (2001), 11-122: repr. of his “Introduzione generale” to italian ed. of the Scriptum (2000).

Dondaine , Antoine, “Autor de secrétaires de saint Thomas”, in Paul Wilpert (ed.) Miscellanea Medievalia, Band 2: “Die Metaphysik im Mittelalter”, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, 1963, 745-54. ————- This is the first time in which is announced the existence of the texts in the margins of the Ms. Lincoln College.

——. “ Hayen A. S. Thomas a-t-il édité deux fois son Commentaire sur le livre des Sentences. – Rech. théol. anc. et méd. IX (1937), pp. 219-236”, Bulletin Thomiste, 6 (Anées XVII-XIX: 1940-2), 100-8.

Hayen, A., “S. Thomas a-t-il édité deux fois son Commentaire sur le livre des Sentences?”, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 9 (1937), 219-236.

Mandonnet, Pierre, Des écrits authentiques de saint Thomas d’Aquin, Imprimerie de l’oeuvre de Saint-Paul, Fribourg (Suisse), 1910 (2 ^e éd. Revue et corrigée).

Merriell, Juvenal, To the Image of the Trinity. A Study in the Development of Aquinas’ Teaching, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, 1990.

Motte, A.-R., “ Dondaine , A., O. P. Saint Thomas a-t-il disputé à Rome la question des «Attributs Divins»? (I Sent., d. 2, q. 1, a. 3). – Notes et Comm. du Bull. Thom., I (1931-33), pp. 171*-182*”, Bulletin Thomiste, 4 (Anées XI-XIII: 1934-6), 135-6.

Ramírez, Santiago, “Introducción general” a Santo Tomás de Aquino , Suma teológica, B.A.C., Madrid, 1947, 1*-237*: vid. 33* and 183*-4*.

Torrell , J.-P., “Introduction” to Boyle , L.E., Facing History…, especially xviii-xxiv.

Vansteenkiste, P. Clemente, “ Boyle , Leonard E., A.P., «Alia lectura fratris thome» . MSt 1983 (45) 418-429”, Rassegna di Letteratura Tomistica (Nuova serie del «Bulletin Thomiste» - Vol. XXXI), 19 (1986: letteratura dell’anno 1983), p. 40, n. 73.

“ Boyle , Leonard E., The setting of the Summa Theologiae of Saint Thomas . (The Etienne Gilson series, 5). Toronto Pontif. Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1982”, Rassegna di Letteratura Tomistica (Nuova serie del «Bulletin Thomiste» - Vol. XXX), 18 (1985: letteratura dell’anno 1982), 45-6.

“Dondaine , H.-F., Alia lectura fratris Thome? (Super 1 Sent.)”. MSt 1980 (42) 308-336.

Thanks for your help, Santiago.

Notre Dame: CARA Summer Latin Scholarship

Interested in working on your medieval Latin?

The Medieval Academy generously supports the study of medieval Latin by funding two scholarships through CARA which may be used for course work at the University of Notre Dame during its summer session.

The application deadline of April 25 is approaching. Please alert potential students at your institution about this program and encourage them to apply.

Two students (graduate-level or qualified undergraduates) taking "Medieval Latin" or "Paleography" for credit will be awarded full tuition scholarships. Scholarship applicants must be student members of the Medieval Academy. To apply for one of these scholarships, please send a letter of intent, two letters of recommendation, and a transcript to the address below. The deadline for Summer 2006 is April 25, 2006.

CARA Summer Scholarships
Medieval Institute
715 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5629

Course descriptions are available, as is information about summer registration, application fees, housing, etc. If you need further details, please feel free to contact:

Roberta Baranowski Assistant Director
Medieval Institute University of Notre Dame
715 Hesburgh Library
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574) 631-8304 (telephone)
(574) 631-8644 (fax)

Christendom College: one-year position in Classics for 2006-2007

This is a tangential connection, but when it comes from Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas scholar, Steve Snyder, how could I refuse? Here is what he wrote:

Christendom College is advertising a one-year position in Classics for 2006-2007. The description of the position is attached. We would be very grateful if you would post the ad in your departments and call it to the attention of qualified individuals you might know. As you will see, we will do a national search for a full-time, continuing position the following year. For the 06-07 one-year position, an M.A. in Classics, or equivalent competency in Latin or Greek, is sufficient. Please emphasize to any you contact personally that enthusiastic agreement with the College’s mission statement (on the web) is a sine qua non in all Christendom hiring.

Thank you for your help. Christendom students are a delight to teach, and the faculty, administration, and chaplains are congenial and without exception mutually supportive.

Thanks once again for any help you are able to give!

Steve attached a file with the specifics of job-posting, which I’ve converted to a PDF file.

Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum seeks submissions

This just in, from Poland.

The journal, Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum, is seeking submissions for a forthcoming issue of the journal.

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 signs). We will welcome papers on any topic concerning history of medieval philosophy, theology and science. The deadline is 30th September.

The contact person at the journal is Monika Michalowska, the Secretary of MPP, (monikamichalowska@o2.pl), and the journal’s address is:

Editor of Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum
Director of the Department of History Premodern Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy
University of Lódz
Ul. Kopcinskiego 16/18
90-232 Lódz
POLAND

Lectura romana bibliography: additions and new information

By way of Peter Kwasniewski, an addition to the fledgling bibliography I put together on the Lectura romana, as well as some additions:

• William B. Stevenson, "The Problem of Trinitarian Processions in Thomas’s Roman Commentary," The Thomist 64 (2000): 619-629—rats! I forgot about this article!

• Mario Coccia, “Credit Where Credit is Due: St. Thomas Aquinas versus Peter Lombard on the True Nature of Charity,”  Doctor Angelicus 5 (2005): 165–178.

• A translation, in English, is on its way out (eventually) that will include both the Paris and Roman versions of Book I, distinction 17.

Again, if you have some items to contribute on the topic of the Lectura romana, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that I can put you in touch with others.

Conference: Jacques Maritain's Aesthetics and Modern Art

From Rajesh Heynickx in Belgium comes the following conference announcement:

Jacques Maritain’s Neo-Thomist Aesthetics and European Modernist Art Circles during the Interwar Period

International Conference, 12-13 May 2006
Royal Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences of Belgium
Paleis der Academiën, Hertogstraat 1, 1000 Brussels

In recent literature on cultural history and art theory, modernist art of the first half of the twentieth century has not been viewed purely as a product of rationalism. That all too simplistic reading has been replaced by a dissection of the cultural, social and also religious background of modernist aesthetics. For modernist artists, a belief in instrumental reason, order and functionalism did not preclude the importance of myth, history and spirituality. Less well known is the fact that, besides esoteric mysticism or theosophical movements, a traditional religious frame of reference as Catholicism - often in a non-conformist version - appealed to the imagination. This is evident in the influence wielded by the French philosopher Jacques Maritain [1882-1973] on many European modernists. In the 1920s and 1930s, his cultural criticism [Antimodern, 1922, Religion et Culture, 1930] and certainly his reflections on aesthetics [Art et Scolastique, 1921] enjoyed wide interest in artistic and intellectual circles.

The Neo-Thomist philosophy promoted by Maritain, and specifically his philosophy of art, seems to have spoken to many modernist artists. The composer Igor Stravinsky consulted Maritain before formulating his theory of art and considered converting to Catholicism. The French poet, writer and filmmaker Jean Cocteau did also that in the 1920s. For the painter Gino Severini, a pioneer of Futurism, and otto Van Rees, one of the first Dadaists - both converts - Maritain played the
role of spiritual counsellor. And when the promoter of abstract art Michel Seuphor embraced Catholic faith in the early 1930s he, too, had extensive contact with Maritain. For these artists, the dictum of the Irish modernist poet Brian Coffey, once a doctoral student under Maritain, applied: modern art needs a Thomist conceptual framework.

However, besides admiration, Maritain also provoked irritation with his theories. He was accused by some of being a charlatan who sought to appropriate the work of others, and for this reason surrounded himself with artists in his house in the Paris suburb of Meudon. Maritain, so the story went, was out to place modern art under the glass bell-jar of Catholicism. The fact that Maritain met with both praise and vilification speaks volumes. It reveals how the Catholic religion continued to be an important factor within the development of modern art. The protest and the adoration that arose around the figure of Maritain lays bare a crucial debate about the role of religion in modern art [and art
theory]. In order to arrive at an understanding of the main issues and the development of that debate, Maritain’s conceptions must be approached from a double perspective. This entails the analysis of the networks [friendships and his indirect aderents] that he developed through Europe, and of his criticisms [views of criticasters].

Maritain can function as a lense for examining, comparing and understanding a number of crucial dimensions of the aesthetic theories and religiously-inspired cultural criticism of European modernists. Research into the reception and the perception of Maritain not only tells us something about Maritain the person; an analysis of the many kinds of perception and reception which Maritain’s ideas met, can also shed light on the hybrid character of the modernism of the first half
of the twentieth century. To begin with, it can be shown that modernist art often depended on a metaphysical conception of beauty. In the second place, an insight can be gained into the fact that within modernism, a regressive utopia, based on neo- Thomism, was able to make its presence felt. Archaic, even reactionary elements such as an interest in the pious Middle Ages, were seen to be compatible with a belief in progress. An analysis of the reception and perception of Maritain therefore offers the opportunity to re-write the history of modern art and culture by relating it to aspects that are too often separated from it.

Programme

Friday 12 May 2006

09:00 Registration
1. Les grandes amitiés
Belgium: Wallonia [1], Flanders [2], beyond Flanders [3]

09:30 Welcome by Carlos Steel [K.U.Leuven] Introduction and programme outline
09:50 [1] Cécile Vanderpelen-Diagre [ULB] "Codifier la littérature?" Maritain and the Catholic Writers in French Speaking Belgium
10:30 [2] Jan De Maeyer [KADOC-K.U.Leuven] Towards a Modern Religious Art: the Limit Case of Albert Servaes
11:10 Break
11:40 [3] Rajesh Heynickx [K.U.Leuven] “Ma seule nostalgie de Paris”. Michel Seuphor in his mid-thirties: a missionary of Jacques Maritain
12:20 Discussion
13:00 Lunch

Afternoon:

France [4], England [5], The Netherlands [6]
02:30 Rajesh Heynickx [K.U.Leuven] Introduction and Programme outline
02:40 [4] Stephen Schloesser [Boston College, USA] “Ernest Psichari m’a précédé sur votre terre de Belgique”: Mystic Modernism as réparation
03:20 [5] Alex Davis [University College Cork, Ireland] Neo-Thomism and Modernist Poetry: the Case of Brian Coffey
04:00 Break
04:30 [6] Mathijs Sanders [Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherlands] Literature and the Cult of Youth: Pieter van der Meer de Walcheren
05:10 Discussion

Saturday 13 May 2006: Confrontations

09:00 Dirk De Geest [K.U.Leuven] Introduction and Programme outline
09:10 Carlos Steel [K.U.Leuven] The Thomistic Aesthetics of Jacques Maritain
09:50 Stephane Symons [K.U.Leuven] Artistic Theology: Walter Benjamin and Jacques Maritain
10:30 Break
11:00 Michael Einfalt [Universität Freiburg, Germany] Jacques Maritain, Ernst Robert Curtius and André Gide: Literary Autonomy and Cultural Criticism
11:40 Jason Harding [Âbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland] “The Just Impartiality of the Christian Philosopher”. Jacques Maritain and The Criterion
12:20 Discussion
12:50 Carlos Steel, Jan De Maeyer, Rajesh Heynickx General Conclusions and Debate

Practical information

Venue: Royal Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences of Belgium, Paleis der Academiën, Hertogstraat 1, 1000 Brussel [beside the Royal Palace]

Dates: Friday 12 & Saturday 13 May 2006
Languages: Lectures will be given in English. No simultaneous interpreting is provided.
Proceedings: The proceedings of the conference will be published.
The Fee: Participating in the whole symposium costs EUR 25,- if you register before April 23, 2006. After that date the fee will be EUR 35,-. This includes the symposium brochure, lunch on Friday, coffee and light refreshments, but NOT housing.

Reduced student fee:
EUR 10,-. Fee per day
EUR 20,- on Friday
EUR 15,- on Saturday

Payment: Payment can be made on the spot in cash or with a credit card [Visa or Euro card].
Accomodation: For accommodation in Brussels, contact:
Grote Markt, 1000 Brussel
T + 32 [0]2 513 89 0 - F + 32 [0]2 513 83 20
E-mail : tourism@brusselsinternational.be or
mice@brusselsinternational.be
Website: www.brusselsinternational.be

More information: Magda Pluymers  T +32 16 32 35 11 - F +32 16 32 35 01