Fr. Kurt J. Pritzl, O.P. (February 15, 1952 – February 21, 2011)

With great sadness I relay the passing of Fr. Kurt J. Pritzl, OP, Dean of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. The university announcement can be found here, along with a collection of photographs here and a link of publications here. I’ll post additional notices as they become available.

A specialist in ancient Greek philosophy, Fr. Pritzl received a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and wrote a dissertation on Aristotle’s De anima under the direction of Fr. Joseph Owens, C.Ss.R. Among his publications were several that explored the Aristotelian notion of truth, the last of which appeared in a collection he edited: Truth. Studies of a Robust Presence (The Catholic University of America Press, 2010).

Those of us who were privileged to know him as priest and scholar give thanks for his life in service to the Truth.

Update: Here is a notice from the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. It includes a video of a homily by Fr. Pritzl offered on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2010 in the crypt church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Update: There are obituary notices in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal and The Washington Post with reader comments.

Update: CUA has put online a video of the Mass of Christian Burial here. 

Online Aquinas Lecture from the Center for Thomistic Studies

The good folks at the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston have placed videos online of their annual Aquinas Lecture for the past few years. The most recent installment is last month’s lecture by Peter Kreeft, titled “Thomistic Personalism: A Marriage Made in Heaven, Hell, or Harvard?”

Other available videos of past lectures are:

• Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, “The Church’s ‘Common Doctor’: Thomas Aquinas and the Contemporary Catholic University”
• Kenneth Schmitz, “Paths of Being: Compass of Discourse”
• Germain Grisez, “The Restless Heart Blunder”
• Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, “The Apologetics of Thomas Aquinas”
• John M. Rist, “Practical Reasoning After the ‘Fall’”
• Msgr. John F. Wippel, “Thomas Aquinas and the Controversy Concerning Unity of Substantial Form in Human Beings”

All of the online lectures can be found here.

Thomistic Philosophical Terms (part 3)

In an earlier post, I responded to a reader inquiry concerning a short list of definitions that might help students in an introductory course on Thomistic philosophy. Mark Johnson and Bob Barry also weighed in with more suggestions (here, and here). Today while googling for something else I happened upon A Scholastic List of Definitions for Philosophical Terms and A Scholastic List of Philosophical Axioms. Further searching led me to a MS Word version here.

Two Dominican-sponsored, Thomistic get-togethers in 2011

From Fr Thomas Joseph White, OP, comes news of two, upcoming get-togethers about Aquinas, both sponsored by the Dominicans. He provided PDF files for each: 

1. Thomistic Circles: A Theological Symposium on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Church: A Theo-Centric Ecclesiology, to be held in Washington, DC, April 29-30, 2011 (with Augustine DiNoia, OP, Fr Jonathan Robinson, Guy Mansini, OSB, Benoit-Dominique de La Soujeole, OP, Charles Morerod, OP) (PDF).
2. Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Philosophy, held by the The Catholic and Dominican Institute, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, New York, June 23-26, 2011 (with Charles Morerod, O.P., James Brent, O.P., Lawrence Dewan, O.P., Dr. Alfred J. Freddoso, Dr. Joshua Hochschild, Dr. Gyula Klima, Joseph Koterski, S.J., Dr. John O’Callaghan, Thomas Joseph White, O.P.) (PDF of poster and brochure).

It’s good to be on the East coast!

Discounts on CUA Press books on Aquinas

The people over at Catholic University of America Press have a week-long celebration in honor of St. Thomas’s memorial (January 28 - the day of the translation of his bones). Brand-new and classic studies are discounted. See the list and learn more here.

Religion and Culture Job at St. Thomas More College (Canada)

St. Thomas More College is announcing a job opening for July 2011:

The Department of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College (STM), a Catholic college federated with the University of Saskatchewan, invites applications for a tenure-stream position at the rank of Assistant Professor, commencing July 1, 2011. The Department has teaching needs in the history and teachings of Christianity, and is particularly interested in candidates with expertise in, and a willingness to develop courses in, Christianity and Ecology.

The STM Department of Religion and Culture works in collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan’s Religion and Culture Department in delivering undergraduate and graduate programs. The successful candidate will have a completed PhD in a relevant area of study at the time of appointment. In addition, the ideal candidate should have a broad background in the history and teachings of Christianity. An ability and willingness to teach Introduction to World Religions, Science and Religion, Catholic Studies and/or Eastern Christianity will be considered an asset. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to one or more of STM’s distinctive programs, e.g., Catholic Studies, Social Justice and the Common Good, etc.

The search committee will begin review of applications immediately after February 15. Here are PDF and MS Word versions of the full text of the job posting.

New Book on Aquinas by Carl Still and Peter Eardley

The newest volume in Continuum’s “Guides for the Perplexed” series is a contribution by Carl Still and Peter Eardley on Thomas Aquinas. Here’s a blurb:

Aquinas: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Aquinas’s thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex writings of this key thinker. The book introduces all the key concepts and themes in Aquinas’s thought and examines the ways in which they have influenced philosophical and theological thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Aquinas’s ideas, the book serves as a clear and concise introduction to his philosophy and natural theology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Metaphysics
3. Psychology
4. Epistemology
5. Ethics
6. Politics
/ Notes / Bibliography / Index.

According to the publisher, the series aims at “upper-level undergraduates with some prior knowledge of philosophy.” A preview can be found on amazon.com. 

On-line articles about Natural Law at Witherspoon Institute

The people over at the Princeton’s Witherspoon Institute have a new website, Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism, which houses a number of online articles concerning natural law. Here’s a Thomist-centric culling of some of the articles and authors (many other articles are there as well!):

Aristotle, Natural Law, and the Founders
Michael Pakaluk, Ave Maria University
Aquinas’s Theory of Natural Law
Thomas D. D’Andrea, University of Cambridge
Ockham to Hooker: Late Medieval Transformations of Natural Law
Paul E. Sigmund, Princeton University
New Natural Law Theory
Christopher O. Tollefsen, University of South Carolina

Many of these on-line articles have PDFs as well.

Program for an Ave Maria conference in honor of Ralph McInerny (update)

The kind people at Ave Maria University has passed along a conference program for the upcoming conference, “Philosophy in Theological Education,” to take place at Ave Maria University in early February. The conference is aptly dedicated to Ralph M. McInerny, whom we lost almost exactly a year ago. I wrote about this conference last year, but here is an updated program (in MS Word format).

New book on Aquinas and the Passions: The Logic of Desire by Nicholas Lombardo, O.P.

CUA Press is pleased to announce publication of The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotionby Nicholas Lombardo, O.P.  The book is a critical study of Aquinas’s account of emotion and its enduring relevance. It is also a winner of the 2011 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise. Here’s a scrape:

When Thomas Aquinas completed his Treatise on the Passions, it was likely the longest sustained discussion of the emotions ever written. His influence on medieval and early modern philosophy was enormous, overshadowing every other medieval author on the topic of emotion. Although Aquinas’s account of emotion merits attention for its historical significance and enduring value, it remains neglected by philosophers and theologians.

CUA Press has provided a PDF for your perusal.

Georgetown Undergraduate essay competition in medieval philosophy

In from Robert Matava, fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Medieval Philosophy, comes news of an inaugural competition for the best undergraduate essay in medieval philosophy:

Edward A. Martin Prize for Undergraduate Medieval Philosophy Paper

Prof. Mark Henninger, S.J., Director of the Center for Medieval Philosophy is pleased to announce the establishment of the Edward A. Martin Prize for the Most Outstanding Undergraduate Paper in Medieval Philosophy. The purpose of this prize is to recognize the best work currently being done in undergraduate medieval philosophy.

Criteria: A paper or honors thesis focused on western medieval philosophy from Augustine to Suarez of between 3,000 – 5,000 words, double-spaced, exclusive of bibliography or endnotes. The paper should have been written for an undergraduate course or as an honors thesis during the calendar year 2010 and must not have been published in professional fora or student journals. Papers will be judged based on their quality of research, depth of philosophic inquiry and clarity.

Prize: US$700.00 First Prize and two US$ 150.00 Honorable Mentions

Requirements for submission:

 Cover letter with the name, address, email and phone number of the student and supervising professor.

• The paper
• In addition to the paper, the student must submit a letter of recommendation from the supervising professor attesting to the superior quality of the work as well as its originality.
• Deadline: January 31, 2011.
• Cover letter, paper and letter of recommendation must be submitted together by either .pdf, .doc or .docx to the Center for Medieval Philosophy email address MedPhilGU@gmail.com or by mail to: Prof. Mark Henninger, S.J., Center for Medieval Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., 20057. If mailed the package must be postmarked by January 31, 2011.

Other:

• Winners will be notified on March 31, 2010.
• For administrative purposes this inaugural year, the prize will be limited to US university students.

 For more information please go to Georgetown University’s Center for Medieval Philosophy’s website.

Update on Dewan in Spanish project

Following up on the news from a year or so back, Liliana Irizar provided the following update:

I am writing to you because I would like you to have some news on the Dewan Project in Spanish before 2010 finishes. We are planning to publish Metaphysical Lessons II (Natural Theology). I think that this book will be coming out in mid 2011. We also hope to publish Conversations with Lawrence Dewan. This booklet will content the conversations that we have had (both by e-mail and personally) since January 2008 until now. Besides this, I am attaching the video trailer of the Dewan Seminar which was given in his visit to Colombia (September-October 2008): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViyFZ5ZtQ8o

A Thomist on youtube, in hi-def; does it get any better?