Anti-Thomism, its history, themes, and personages

If you'd been able to hop a plane to Toulouse for this weekend (i.e., Friday, May 11-Saturday, May 12) you'd have been able to attend a fascinating conference on "Anti-Thomism," sponsored by the Revue thomiste: «Antithomisme: histoire, thèmes, figures». The conference covers medieval anti-Thomists (e.g., Durandus) and modern figures who labored in one way or another in reaction to "Thomism" (e.g., Henri Bouillard, SJ).

Thanks to Gilles Emery, OP, for providing the link.

Gilles Emery, OP’s, latest book

The good people at Ave Maria University’s “Sapientia Press,” have published a second volume of Fr Gilles Emery, OP’s, writings on Aquinas. Here is the account provided to me by Matthew Levering:

Following upon Gilles Emery’s universally well-received Trinity in Aquinas, this new collection of essays by the noted Swiss Thomist will further enhance his reputation for theological depth and breadth. The first four chapters, which comprise the first 153 pages of the book, make available in English the best instruction on the most difficult issues that characterize St. Thomas Aquinas’s Trinitarian theology. This superb “book within a book” explores in detail the very purpose of Trinitarian theology, with an emphasis on distinguishing St. Thomas’s approach from the various forms of arid rationalism and on displaying Aquinas’s debt to Augustine’s spiritual vision. In addition, these opening chapters on the Trinity engage the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Son according to Aquinas—a topic treated in Trinity in Aquinas but now deepened by a meditation on “the Spirit of Truth”—as well as the “personal mode” of Trinitarian action ad extra. For readers seeking to understand how and why Aquinas’s theology is fully Trinitarian rather than (as is sometimes suggested) modalist, Emery’s exposition of the Trinitarian action ad extra and our relation in grace to each Person of the Trinity will be necessary reading.

A second section of the book demonstrates Emery’s extraordinary theological range. He devotes two chapters to the sacraments as they relate to the Church, in each case showing that Aquinas’s insights speak profoundly to contemporary controversies. Another chapter treats briefly the place of the Eastern Fathers in Aquinas, a question that has become increasingly important in ecumenical dialogue so as to show that Thomistic theology is not antithetical to reunion with the Orthodox East. In the context of a world plagued by Cartesian dualism and inability to come to terms with the scope of human suffering, two further chapters treat Aquinas’s hylomorphic understanding of the human person and his account of God’s permission of evil (the latter through the lens of Charles Cardinal Journet). Finally, the book concludes on a fittingly ecumenical note, as Emery takes up George Lindbeck’s influential reading of Aquinas as a “postliberal” theologian who thereby has an important place in contemporary Protestant-Catholic dialogue. In the hands of Gilles Emery, the work of Thomas Aquinas is shown to contribute profoundly to the task of appreciating and resolving the central theological discussions and controversies of our time.

This is an extraordinary volume, with great studies on a wide variety of issues. And Fr Emery’s work is the gold standard for Thomistic scholarship. Check out the blurbs on the back of the book .

Papers on Aquinas at Kalamazoo 2007

Here is a list of papers on St Thomas that are scheduled at this year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, MI:

Thursday, May 10, 2007

• The Theory of Transcendentals in Aquinas and His Islamic Predecessors (Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Catholic Univ. of America)
• Reason, Ignorance, and Faith: Is It Better Not to Know Too Much before Believing? (Gregory J. Coulter, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston)
• Aquinas on the Justification of Faith (Carl N. Still, St. Thomas More College, Univ. of Saskatchewan)
• Thomas Aquinas and the Possibilities of a Post-Modern Phenomenology of Faith (Randall Smith, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston)
• A Good Corpse: Why Dead Faith Is Not Evil (Steven Jensen, Wheeling Jesuit Univ.)
• Aquinas on the Heretic's Assent to the Articles of Faith (Michael V. Dougherty, Ohio Dominican Univ.)
• Infidelity and Good Actions (Thomas Osborne Jr., Center for Thomistic Studies)
• Faith and Philosophy in Thomas Aquinas's Account of the Procession in God (Anthony James Carey, U.S. Air Force Academy)
• The Five Uses of Philosophy in the Two Modes of Sacred Theology (Matthew Ryan McWhorter, Ave Maria Univ.)
• Charity and Happiness: An Aporia in Aquinas? (Christopher J. Malloy, Univ. of Dallas)

Friday, May 11, 2007

• The Fruits of Contemplation: Jesus, Sacra Doctrina, and the Vision of God in the Lectura super Ioannem of Thomas Aquinas (R. William Carroll, Independent Scholar)
• Saint Thomas and Metaphysical Hierarchy (Lawrence Dewan, OP, Dominican College of Philosophy and Theology)
• Finis Cui or Finis Quo: Saint Thomas and William of Moerbeke on De anima II.4 (Gerald Malsbary, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary)
• Aquinas as Reader of Aristotle's Rhetoric (Kevin White, Catholic Univ. of America)
• Aquinas and the Transcendent Power of the Passions (Michael R. Miller, Mount St. Mary's Univ.)
• Resistance to the Demands of Love, Part II: Secular Analogues to Aquinas's Spiritual Sloth (Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, Calvin College)
• Time and History in Aquinas )Montague Brown, St. Anselm College
• Saint Thomas and the Infinity of Grace (David Liberto, Notre Dame Seminary)
• The Church as the Image of the Trinity: Does the Unity of God Distort the Theology of the Church (Matthew Levering, Ave Maria Univ.)
• Aquinas on Grace, Free Will, and Original Sin: A Maimonidean Reading (John Y. B. Hood, Independent Scholar)
• Is Logic a Contemplative Science? Aquinas's Point of View (Bruno Tremblay, St. Jerome's Univ.)
• An Assessment of Martin Grabmann's Reading of Aquinas on the Divine Ground of Our Truth-Knowing (Matthew Cuddeback, Providence College)
• Thomas Aquinas on Angels and the Subject of Metaphysics (Travis Cooper, College of St. Thomas More)

Saturday, May 12 2007

• Legal Injustice in the Thomist Tradition and the Case of Civil Disobedience (Justin B. Dyer, Univ. of Texas–Austin)
• The Relation of Language and Logic in Farabi and Aquinas (Mostafa Younesie, Tarbiat Modares Univ.)

Sunday, May 13, 2007

I can't find any!

This is, admittedly, as narrow view of the work that might be of interest and indeed crucial use to Thomists. There is, for instance, a session on Peter Lombard, sporting a paper by none other than Philipp W. Roseman.

Thomistic Seminar at Princeton

I came across this site and this event a bit back. The "Thomistic Seminar" is an annual meeting at Princeton, more akin to a graduate seminar—taking place in a single week's time—than a conference with papers' being presented and discussed. The seminar sports a full and attractive web site, with information about its present doings, as well as past seminars. Also listed are the faculty for this summer's seminar, including David Gallagher and Gyula Klima.

Fr Torrell’s intellectual journey

Fr. Jean-Pierre Torrell has placed on his personal web page at the University of Fribourg an autobiographical account of his personal intellectual life, entitled "Mon parcours intellectual," dating from early February of this year. A fascinating read. At the base of the web page you'll find a PDF file of his bibliography, listing—gulp!—392 different writings. Of particular notice among the newer items is Nouvelles recherches thomasiennes. Cinq études revues et augmentées, to appear this year.

RIP: B.-G. Guyot, OP

This sad news in, from Fr. Adriano Oliva, OP, president of the Leonine Commission, in Paris:

Chère Amie, Cher Ami,
Il y a une heure, dans le couvent de l'Annonciation à Paris, le P. Betrand Georges Guyot s'est endormi dans le Seigneur. Il était dans sa 87ème année, 62ème de vie religieuse. Le 12 avril j'avais parlé avec lui et il se sentait très fatigué, sans savoir pourquoi. Il était serein et joyeux comme nous l'avons connu. Dès que nous connaîtrons le jour de ses obsèques je vous le communiquerai.

Amitiés, Adriano Oliva.

Fr Guyot was one of the hard-working members of the Commission for many, many years, and author of critical articles on medieval manuscripts, particularly those pertaining to philosophy and theology.

Modern Moral Philosophy

Rethinking the topic of virtue ethics recently had me visiting some classic sources, one of which is by any account seminal: G.E.M. Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy," Philosophy 33/124 (1958): 1-19. The article has been republished all over the place, especially in anthologies devoted to the subject of virtue ethics. But it is also located on the web, intact. Copy, paste, print…

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Just rediscovered this resource, located at Notre Dame University: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. It’s an on-line storehouse that contains reviews of important books in philosophy, covering some recent and well-known books about St. Thomas, by reputable reviewers. You can read, for free, reviews about Aquinas, Thomist, medieval, and more.

A new look, and some structural updates

With both spring and Easter coming I decided today that I wanted to change the look of the site. This also led to some other changes that I'd wanted to make—after all, two solid years of the same look is way too long in "Internet time," no? So in a flurry of activity I've made the following changes:

• The main theme of the site has been changed to a more spacious look, based on some nice templates found in the Squarespace catalog of themes. Users of Microsoft Office 2007 or Windows Vista will like the use of the glorious new font, Calibri, which is wonderfully readable. I also moved away from my favorite, but overused font, Jus Lefthand, to P22's finely crafted Operina Pro (with swashes!). The banner graphic is from a picture I took of the church dedicated to Saint Thomas in Roccasecca.
• I have removed the "Subscribe" entry on the sidebar in favor of a new way to get e-mail addresses from those who want to be contacted about important updates. In its place I've created a "Mailing List" page, from which users can subscribe to updates, or unsubscribe from the mailing list. This new page uses an important new feature that Squarespace has introduced into its many offerings.
• I've moved around a few of the items on the sidebar, for clarity. I am planning on removing the annoying "Google ads" soon, but for the nonce the Google ads do help defray the increasing costs of the site.
• I am—behind the scenes for now—planning a survey on how many of our visitors are using "really simple syndication" (RSS) to keep up on news of interest to them. I am fast coming to the conclusion that the days of "mailing lists" and "subscriptions" are numbered, in favor of the user-initiated selection of RSS newsreaders. Do we even need a mailing list these days?

All of these changes are a prelude to what I hope will be an interesting and packed Newsletter within the next month or so (likely in mid-May, after my academic year [and reading two doctoral dissertations!] is completed). As always, I am eager to get news about Thomistic comings-and-goings.

Finally, thank you for visiting the site. Thomistica.net averages more than 250 distinct visitors each day, and I am eager to make the site be as helpful to visitors as possible. Please don't hesitate to contact me with suggestions regarding the site.

Update on 2007-04-06 14:45 by Mark Johnson

Narrowed the main column’s width, because 900 pixels is probably a bit too wide, and the banner graphic “loomed” a bit to large.

"Semana Tomista" in Argentina

The Sociedad Tomista Argentina, founded by the Argentine Thomist Mgr. Octavio Derisi  (1907-2002), holds its annual “Thomist Week” in Buenos Aires from 10-14 September 2007 on the topic “Philosophy of the Body”. Papers can be submitted before May 31, 2007. Here is the PDF with all the information (in Spanish, of course!). In it you can find the info on how to contact the secretary of the Society, Prof. María Célestina Donadío Maggi de Gandolfi!

Summer Latin and Paleography at Notre Dame (June 19-August 3)

Just in, from the people at the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame:

The Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame is pleased to invite applications from undergraduate and graduate students for its two Medieval Academy CARA (Centers and Regional Associates) scholarships in medieval Latin or paleography for Summer 2007.

Two students taking "Medieval Latin" or "Latin Paleography" courses for credit will be awarded full tuition scholarships. (Registration and other fees, books, and housing costs are the responsibility of the students.) 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 2007 is May 1, 2007.

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

Both courses will be taught by Frank A. C. Mantello, professor in the Department of Greek and Latin at The Catholic University of America. All students who wish to take summer classes at Notre Dame, apply for admission the University's Summer Session Office. Details about costs, registration, course offerings, and housing options are available on the Summer Session web site:

http://www.nd.edu/~sumsess/

Or phone 574-631-7282. Questions about the CARA scholarships may be directed to me (see contact info below). Please contact the Summer Session Office for non-scholarship information.

Cordially,

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)

Revue Thomiste: website

The illustrious journal Revue Thomiste is continuing the update of its website. You can find there:

• news on the upcoming conference entitled Antithomisme: histoire, thèmes, figures, which will be held May 11-12 2007.
• information on their book series Bibliothèque de la Revue Thomiste, which consists of a series of manuals, introducing the theological disciplines from a thomistic viewpoint, and a series of dissertations.
• summaries of the articles published since 1998 and a list of authors from 1993-2002.
• information on how to order the volumes of previous conferences easily via PayPal.
• a 6 minute clip in which the director, Fr. S.-Th. Bonino op, presents the journal.