Albert the Great news: Alberti magni e-corpus

Students of Albert the Great now have an on-line resource this is analogous to the enviable Corpusthomisticum.org of Enrique Alarcon; Bruno Tremblay in Canada has sponsored an on-line presence for the writings of St. Albert the Great, using PDF files of the Bourgnet edition from the 1800's. The site is called "Alberti Magni e-corpus" (link). All the texts are PD (public domain) at this point, and can be downloaded. And while these texts do not have the critical standing of the Cologne critical edition, they are nonetheless a solid starting place for researching the saint's teaching. Here's some scraping from ALBERTI MAGNI E-CORPUS site:

Albert the Great (ca. 1200 – 1280) is one of the most important medieval philosophers and theologians, yet his thought remains as a whole relatively understudied. This can be explained by a variety of philosophical and historical reasons, but purely « material » factors are also at play. There is indeed no truly complete edition of his works, and the age and the rarity of the most complete one (Opera omnia, ed. A. Borgnet, 1890-1899) render it hard to access for many scholars. The new critical edition (sometimes called Editio Coloniensis), begun in 1951 and very competently led by the Albertus-Magnus-Institut of Bonn, offers a much more reliable text but will not be completed before many more decades and its high cost means that not all university libraries — including in North America and in Western Europe — can afford a subscription to it. In addition, the impressive number of Albert's works, as well as the huge size of many of them, lead one quickly to dream of the day when the critical edition will be completed and made available electronically. (One can also dream, perhaps unrealistically, that the equivalent of the Corpus Thomisticum will one day exist for Albert the Great, thus enabling anyone with access to the internet to consult the best available editions of his works for free.)

While waiting for this providential day to come, scholars can use the present website in order to :

1) download image files (.pdf) of all of Albert's works which can be found in the Borgnet edition, as well as a few other writings which have been edited individually and which, like the Borgnet edition, are too old to be covered by copyright law;
2) browse more than twenty of those works on line;
3) consult those same works, this time using a search engine endowed with boolean operators.

This site will be updated at irregular intervals, both to fix the inevitable problems occurring in this first version and to add new texts to those that can be electronically searched. A first update is planned for Spring 2009

If you choose to download some of the PDF's, note that some of them are mondo-big; the PDF for Albert's In I Sententiarum is 146 Mb in size.

Thanks, Bruno, for such a wonderful resource!

The Journée saint Thomas d’Aquin you might have seen

I meant to post this, but life got busy.

If you had been in Paris on Saturday, December 6, 2008, at the Saulchoir, you might have gone to the annual "Journée saint Thomas d'Aquin," sponsored by La societe thomist and the Le centre d'etudes du Saulchoir. Here were the papers and presentations:

• John Marenbon (Trinity College, Cambridge): L'epicurisme et le problème du paganisme au Moyen Age et à la Renaissance
• Jean-Baptiste Brenet (Université de Paris X - Nanterre) : Thomas d'Aquin pense-t-il ? (Retours sur Hic homo intelligit)
• Iacopo Costa (Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen): Vertus générales et directives. Quelques problèmes de psychologie morale thomiste
• L. J. Bataillon, G. Berceville, R. Imbach, P. Krupa, A. Oliva : Présentation de quelques ouvrages de philosophie et de théologie médiévales

Mea culpa. I'll do better next time getting this upon the site in timely fashion.

Reading Romans with St. Thomas Aquinas: Conference line-up

Wow. If you are lucky enough to be attending Ave Maria University's upcoming conference, "Reading Romans with St. Thomas Aquinas (February 5-7, 2009)," you are in for a theological (and philosophical) feast. The conference:

…[i]n accord with the current interest in theological exegesis and the history of exegesis…investigates Aquinas's Lectures on Romans in hopes of understanding what Aquinas can teach contemporary Christians about the realities that Paul, and the Holy Spirit, sought to convey.

Here is the speaker and paper line-up for the conference:

• Robert Louis Wilken (University of Virginia): "Origen, Augustine and Thomas: Interpreters of Paul's Letters to the Romans"
• Charles Raith II (Ave Maria University):"Portraits of Paul: Aquinas and Calvin on Romans 7:14-25"
• Hans Boersma (Regent College): "Ressourcement of Mystery: The Ecclesiology of Thomas Aquinas and the Letter to the Romans"
• Matthew Levering (Ave Maria University): "Aquinas on Romans 8: Predestination in Context"
• Holly Taylor Coolman (Boston College): "Romans 9-11: Re-reading Aquinas on the Jews"
• Bruce Marshall (Southern Methodist University): "Beatus vir: The Role of 'Reckoning' in Justification"
• Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford University): "Aquinas on Abraham in Romans 4"
• Patrick Henry Reardon (All Saints Antiochan Orthodox Church): "Romans 11: Hermeneutics and Salvation History"
• Geoffrey Wainwright (Duke University Divinity School:) "Rendering God's Glory: St. Paul and St. Thomas on Worship"
• Michael Sherwin, O.P. (University of Fribourg): "The love poured into our hearts: Aquinas's Interpretation of the Pauline conception of love."
• Edgardo Colón-Emeric (Duke University Divinity School): "Aquinas' Theology of Preaching in the Commentary on Romans: A Lascasian Application"
• Leo Elders, S.V.D. (Rolduc Seminary): "St. Paul on Man's Natural Knowledge of God: Romans 1:18-32 according to the commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas"
• Scott Hahn (Franciscan University of Steubenville): "Sacrifice and the Spirit of Sonship"
• Bernhard Blankenhorn O.P. (University of Fribourg): "St. Paul's Flesh/Spirit Anthropology"
• Mary Healy (Sacred Heart Major Seminary): "Aquinas' use of the Old Testament in the Commentary on Romans"
• Emmanuel Perrier O.P. (Dominican Studium): "The Filial Economy of Grace"
• John Boyle (University of St. Thomas): "The Consideration of Grace in St. Thomas' Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans"
• Michael Root (Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary): "The Christian in Binocular Vision: Aquinas and Melanchthon on Romans."
• Paul Keller O.P. (Franciscan University of Steubenville): "St. Thomas on Sacraments in Romans"
• Adam Cooper (John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family): "Degrading the Body, Suppressing the Truth: Aquinas on Romans 1:18-25"
• David S. Yeago (Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary): "Fides Formata and Pauline Theology in St. Thomas"
• Gregory Vall (Ave Maria University): "Sonship and Glory in Romans"
• Michael Waldstein (Max Seckler Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University): "The Trinitarian, Spousal and Ecclesial Logic of Justification"

James Keating (Providence College), Jeremy Holmes (Wyoming Catholic College), Thomas Joseph White O.P. (Dominican House of Studies), Jörgen Vijgen (Rolduc Seminary), Daria Lucas (University of Notre Dame), Paul Gondreau (Providence College), Mark Johnson (Marquette University), and Robert Barry (Providence College), will serve as moderators of the sessions.

An Albert the Great Bibliography

From Jörgen Vijgen (whose wonderful website see here), a downloadable PDF file containing his personal select-bibliography on Saint Albert the Great. Jörgen says, "I attach a file (the need for an Albertus Magnus bibliography for myself got a bit out of hand); maybe Thomistica-readers can profit from it." Keep letting things get out of hand, J!

Oh, the PDF file is here.

An Aquinas Institute…in the summer…in Wyoming

This in from Jeremy Holmes of Wyoming Catholic College, regarding a new summer Aquinas Institute entitled "Reading St. Paul with St. Thomas":

I thought I should update you on a project undertaken by Peter Kwasniewski, John Mortensen, and myself.  We have founded a non-profit corporation here in Lander called The Aquinas Institute whose main purpose is to offer graduate level summer courses centered on the writings of Aquinas.  We ran classes last summer with great success, so we've made it official and plan to continue.

Our regular curriculum will include three summers of work on the Summa, working through as much of the Summa as possible and treating it as a real theological source rather than as a historical artifact.  We will also offer a one-summer program in Scripture, based as much as possible around Thomas's commentaries; this coming summer, in fact, we are not doing anything with the Summa, instead reading all of Paul's letters with all of Aquinas's commentaries thereupon--probably the first time such a thing has been done since anyone can remember!

The Institute has a fine website that contains all the detailed one could want.

Some Thomism in Spanish

Got a short note from Columbia reminding me of some sites devoted to Aquinas in Spanish:

• Sociedad Internacional Tomás de Aquino
• A blog site devoted to José Luis Osvaldo Lira Pérez SSCC, a 20^th century interpreter of St Thomas

Time to update the links page!

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, dies on December 12, 2008

This has been reported widely, but it is important to note it at least here, since Cardinal Dulles was a champion of serious theology, and he was a serious reader of St. Thomas. See the following:

• A Newsweek magazine appreciation by George Weigel
• The Fordham University page for Cardinal Dulles
• From the Times in London
• The article about him on Wikipedia

He was scheduled to speak a few years back at the Ave Maria conference on the sacraments, but his ill health prevented him from coming—so he read his paper as he was video-recorded, which in turn was played to the conference on a DVD! One comment in the paper—”…what God is willing to accept from us…”—stays with me to this day.

Theology posting at Wyoming Catholic College

The people at the Wyoming Catholic College have a theology posting for someone who knows Aquinas:

Wyoming Catholic College seeks to hire a full-time professor of Theology, to start teaching either September 2009 or September 2010.  The successful applicant will be knowledgeable in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and conversant with Sacred Scripture, capable of teaching the full range of theology courses offered at the College (see Catalog, pp. 56–66), and in possession of a doctorate in theology by the time he or she begins to teach at the College. The applicant should also be conversant with the perennial philosophy (philosophia perennis) and with the Latin language.

Does clean air and an open horizon appeal to you? Consider WCC.

Job Posting: University of St. Thomas (Houston, Texas)

This just in, from the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas:

University of St. Thomas, Houston TX. Assistant professor, tenure-track, beginning August 2009. Five courses/year, undergraduate and graduate.  Usual committee work.  Ph.D. prior to appointment.  AOS: The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas; candidate should understand and be committed to the philosophical vitality of the thought of Aquinas.  AOC: Metaphysics, or Philosophy of Law, or Social & Political Philosophy.  Record of excellent teaching and scholarly involvement appropriate to rank.  Competence in appropriate ancient and modern languages.  Send complete dossier to the Dean of Arts & Sciences:

asdean@stthom.edu
University of St. Thomas
3800 Montrose
Houston, TX 77006

Review of applications will begin December 8th and continue until the position is filled.  UST is a private institution committed to the liberal arts and to the religious, ethical, and intellectual tradition of Catholic higher education.  Applicant should address his/her knowledge of the Thomistic tradition and support of the mission of Catholic higher education.  Examples of how he/she has and will contribute to this mission should be included.  We encourage women and minorities to apply.  This position is contingent upon funding.  EOE.  www.stthom.edu  

It's nice to jobs coming open, even this late in the job season.

Update on 2008-11-20 00:56 by Mark Johnson

Note: updated at the request of the people at St. Thomas (Nov. 19, 2008)

Thomas O’Meara’s Thomistic Bibliography and translation on Albert

Scrounging around the "studies" section of the Dominican Central website (the website of the Central Province of the Dominican Order here in the United State [the Province of St. Albert the Great]), I was also reminded of Fr Thomas O'Meara's informative "Thomistic Bibliography," which was also printed in his book on Aquinas, Thomas Aquinas Theologian (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997). The Bibliography is a great help and a reminder of how much one has to do if one is committed to the study of Aquinas!

Don't miss Fr O'Meara's translation from the German of Rudolf Schieffer's "Albertus Magnus. Mendicancy and Theology in Conflict with Episcopacy." The story of Albert's resignation from the episcopacy of Regensburg is fascinating to me, in large part because it led him to be at the curia in Orvieto in the early 1260's, where Thomas himself was assigned at the time, thus spending up to six months with his former student (of about ten year previous). What I would do to know what the two talked about!

Weisheipl on the Thomistic Revival

It was my pleasure to visit for about five days with Fr Adriano Oliva, OP (Praeses, Leonine Commission), at the beginning of October, while he was here in the United States attending conferences at the University of Notre Dame and then at Marquette University here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We spoke about a million things, mostly concerning the work of the Commission. One of the neat things we did was to tape an interview here at Marquette, in Italian—I hope to post that on the site before the end of this semester. My first question to Fr Oliva was the general "hey-tell-me-about-the-Leonine-Commission-and-its-history" type question, which Fr Oliva answered with clarity. One thing struck me about the beginning of his answer, something I had known forever, but had forgotten—being reminded of it by Fr Oliva had the effect of putting the whole issue into new light for me. At the outset of his answer about the Leonine Commission's origins Fr Oliva mentioned Pope Leo XIII's Aeterni patris and the fact that Leo's intent was to publicize the philosophical teaching of St. Thomas.

Having studied Thomas for two-and-a-half decades now, in a somewhat "integrationist" fashion, I knew and appreciated the presence of philosophical teaching in Thomas's work—Fr Oliva's paper here at Marquette, as it happens, was on precisely that topic—but I've always somewhat chaffed at the bit when Thomas was termed "a philosopher"; Fr Oliva's reminder made me realize that "Thomas-the-philosopher" was at least part of Leo's immediate intention in the Thomistic revival.

I scurried to my offprints to find the article I had first read about the topic of the Thomistic revival, an offprint that my beloved James Weisheipl gave me when I got to Toronto in 1983. Re-reading it was informative, corrective, and heart-warming—it is always an emotional thing for me to re-read Fr Weisheipl's texts, since I can almost detect his spoken cadence as I read. The article, entitled "The Revival of Thomism: An Historical Survey," and dating from 1962, can happily also be found on the web, at the Dominican Central website, by following this link.

ETIENNE GILSON—Three Quests in Philosophy

News from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto that a book of some unpublished lectures from Etienne Gilson has been published. Fr Armand Maurer had been hard at work editing these lectures at the time of his death earlier this year, and Fr James Farge brought the project to completion. Here is some material that Fr Farge sent along:

Etienne Gilson was one of the most influential intellectuals and philosophers of the twentieth century. Some have credited him with expanding the spectrum of philosophical thought that had previously been limited by nineteenth-century analysts and positivists. Gilson devoted six decades to the study of the major philosophical figures of the Middle Ages. His interpretations of them are justly seen as new and insightful, and have exercised enormous influence on research in philosophy and on its presentation in the classroom. A “Gilson Society” has been active for years, and the Institut catholique in Paris has created a Gilson Chair in Metaphysics. A French publisher has announced a multi-volume publication of his complete works.

These seven previously unpublished lectures – Gilson termed them “Quests” – represent his mature thought on three key philosophical questions: the nature of philosophy, “species,” and “matter.” These are issues of perennial and pertinent interest to both philosophers and scientists. Gilson presents them here with his characteristic clarity, sense, and humour.

More about the book, including order forms, can be found on the PIMS website.