A follow-up to the preceding post on the bab.la on-line dictionary portal. If you’re using Firefox as your browser there’s a bab.la toolbar (link), and if you’re using IE there’s also a toolbar (link). These plug-ins also include links to Google and to Wikipedia. Cool.
I’m waiting for them to create an iPhone/iPod Touch app.
Even though I've got some links here on the site to various on-line dictionaries, usually in a one-for-one way, the online language portal bab.la offers 25 dictionaries in 15 languages, all freely available (e.g. German, French, Italian, Spanish, on and on).
The site also features exercises and other activities you can use to improve your knowledge of other languages. A fine, fine resource.
In 2002 Mark Johnson wrote a short article on the “Future of Thomistic Bibliography” in which he expressed the need for a database of Thomistic literature and offered some proposals to implement such a database.
About nine years earlier, the Corpus Thomisticum Project, under the direction of Enrique Alarcón had already begun to publish an updated alphabetical list and in 2007 the first issue of Thomistica: A Yearbook of Thomistic Bibliography was published, which contains summaries and reviews of a large part of the literature, appearing in 2006.
Now, combining many features of both the alphabetical list and the printed Yearbook, a genuine database has been put online. The database currently contains almost 22000 entries, of which some 5000 with summaries and reviews.
While all users have access to the most common types of searches, subscribers of the printed yearbook may login as advanced users, with access to additional types of searches. One can also suggest new publications for inclusion in the database.
In short, the Thomistic community is again indebted to Enrique Alarcon and his team for this wonderful tool!
In from Adriano Oliva, OP, praeses of the Leonine Commission, the announcement for this winter’s “Journée Thomas d’Aquin” in Paris. Dedicated to the memory of Louis-Jacques Bataillon, OP, the program is heavy on medieval preaching and the contributions of Fr Bataillon:
A lovely PDF of the conference program, with details and notification of the new location for the conference, can be found here.
Nova et vetera, the English-language version of the longtime Swiss journal of the same name, has changed its institutional affiliation from the Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University to the Augustine Institute of Denver, Colorado. Here is a scrape from the journal’s new site:
We are pleased to announce that Nova et Vetera, the distinct English edition of the longstanding Swiss journal, is now being published by the Augustine Institute. For the past seven years, the journal was published by Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University. We owe profound thanks to Sapientia Press.
Under the Augustine Institute, the editorial focus of the journal will continue as it has the last seven years. The journal strives to follow the culturally engaged, ecclesial, broadly Thomistic, and dialogical perspective of the founder of the Swiss Nova et Vetera, Charles Journet. Journet worked at the intersection of theology, philosophy, and biblical studies, and we seek to do the same.
As many will tell you, the journal has become to the home for much first-rate Thomistic scholarship. You can get the print version of the journal alone, or can get the print version plus access to PDF files of all articles (particularly handy if you have a bibliography program on your computer, such as Endnote). For more on the journal, its subscription costs and terms, follow the link to the new site.
Courtesy of David Whidden (a PhD candidate a Southern Methodist University), news about an iPhone app that has the Summa on it! He says:
For those of you who have entered the iPhone (and iPod Touch) age, you will be glad to know that you can now carry the Summa with you in your pocket. For just $2.99 you can download ‘ipieta’, which has the full text of the English Dominican translation of the Summa as well as the Latin text. You can read just the English translation, just the Latin, or read the two in parallel (see screenshot of question 1 of the Prima Pars). The software is well organized, so you can get to an exact article in just three touches. You can also do word and Boolean searches on the English translation. There is also the full text of Aquinas’ catechetical lectures.
In addition to the Summa, there are a host of other great documents on ipieta. You can get the full texts of all the ecumenical councils from Nicea to Vatican II (see screenshot of Dei Verbum), papal encyclicals from Pius VI through Benedict XVI, the Douay-Rheims and Vulgate versions of the Bible, the readings for the daily mass, a host of prayers, catechetical materials, and other valuable resources. All of the material is kept on your iPhone, so once you’ve got it you do not need Internet access to view the material. At $2.99 this is a steal.
It seems that there’s an app for everything…
Philosopher Edward Feser, whose Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide has recently been published, has posted a two-part account of the Thomistic Tradition on his blog (part 1/part 2). It's a quick and informative read.
PS: Long live River Forest Thomism!
One of my favorite resources is Medioevo latino, an annual publication of all things medieval thought. The parent company, SISMEL, has now improved on-line access to that annual, as well as other things it publishes:
The important resources constituted by the well-known SISMEL's repertories (Medioevo latino, the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Latinorum Medii recentiorisque Aevi, the Compendium Auctorum Medii Aevi) and by the prestigious journals published by the Edizioni del Galluzzo are available on line. For information: www.mirabileweb.it · info@mirabileweb.it.
Probably mostly academic research institutions will opt to subscribe to this service, but it's nice to know that the service is available.
Nerd alert: ON.
Here in my office I have the beefy printed edition of Paul Oskar Kristeller's Latin Manuscript Books before 1600: A List of the Printed Catalogues and Unpublished Inventories of Extant Collections staring at me, and telling me, "get to work!" If you need access to this work, it's now on-line (link). Happy hunting for the manuscript that breaks your stemma!
Nerd alert: OFF.
The people at Blackfriars aren't sitting still. They've put together a compelling program of studies (link) for their Aquinas Institute. The program is headed by Fr Fergus Kerr, OP. A scrape:
The Aquinas Institute was established in 2004 under the directorship of Fergus Kerr OP. It aims to foster study of St Thomas at Oxford through seminars, occasional conferences, summer schools, and programmes that will bring international research scholars to the university each year.
Make sure to see the cool seminar series that they've put together, too.
From William E. Carroll, of Blackfriars:
Fergus Kerr is now retired and the new director of the Aquinas Institute is Vivian Boland, O.P.
Under the direction of the Sacra Doctrina Project
