Dr. Jeremy Wilkins Appointed Director of the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College, University of Toronto

While Bernard Lonergan, S.J. may be most commonly known in some circles by his later work, such as his book Method in Theology, students of the thought of Thomas Aquinas only ignore at their peril Lonergan’s reading of Thomas in his earlier works such as Grace and Freedom, Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas and Insight. Lonergan’s work on Thomas will certainly not fade into the background with the appointment of the rather magnanimous Dr. Jeremy Wilkins as the director of the Lonergan Research Institute in Toronto. The University of St. Thomas in Houston’s loss is Regis’ gain:

http://www.regiscollege.ca/regis/news/2011/06/11/lonergan_research_institute_appoints_jeremy_wilkins_new_director

Lonergan Research Institute Appoints Jeremy Wilkins as New Director

Submitted by gordon.rixon on Sat, 2011-06-11 06:14

The Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Jeremy D. Wilkins as the new Director of the Lonergan Research Institute, effective July 2nd, 2012. The Board thanked the current Director Gordon Rixon, S.J. and Associate Director Michael Vertin for their years of capable transitional service, which will continue for the coming year until Professor Wilkins assumes his new role.

Wilkins is currently Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St Thomas School of Theology in Houston, Texas, where he has served since 2004. After completing undergraduate studies at Washington University in St Louis and divinity studies at Regis College, he received his doctorate from Boston College in 2004 with a dissertation on the development of Thomas Aquinas’s trinitarian theology. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Thomist, Theological Studies, Pro Ecclesia, Irish Theological Quarterly, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, and other journals and edited volumes. His current project is a book entitled Order and Analogy in Trinitarian Theology: The Achievement of Thomas Aquinas. He has also served the local church in various capacities.

Wilkins will have an academic appointment at Regis College and teach two courses each year, beginning in the fall of 2012.

Professor Jeremy Wilkins Jeremy and his wife of twelve years, Maureen, have two sons: Abraham (11) and Thomas (8). Hitherto they have home schooled. They enjoy camping, cycling, travel, working on their house, and, of course, books!

Gratian on the Web

Postings here occasionally note Aquinas’s use of Gratian (see here and here). Recently while tracking down some items in the Decretum I was surprised to find a wealth of online Gratian-related canon law resources. The 1582 Editio Romana of Gratian’s Decretum and the Glossa ordinaria are available in a wonderful format at UCLA’s digital canon law collection. (N.B.: the Glossa ordinaria on Gratian should not be confused with the 12^th century commentary on the Latin vulgate with the same name). Emil Friedberg’s edition of Gratian’s work can be found in a variety of formats (e.g., 1, 2, 3). There are also assorted 19^th-century editions of the Decretists on Gratian’s Decretum (e.g., Paucapalea, Rolandus, Rufinus, Stephen of Tournai) on various sites.

What other treasures have I missed?

Cheap Summas!

I recall to this day the moment a fellow student presented to me a fresh set of the 3-volumes of the English Dominican translation of the Summa Theologica (in the boxes!); seems he came across them in the former St. John’s Seminar library on the “overflow” for-sale book shelf for the princely sum of $5/volume, and thought I might make good use of them.

As I look here at volume one, with its worn spine, separating fly-leaf and dirty thumbed pages, my thought turns to the day I might need to replace it with a fresh copy. I also have been looking for an inexpensive version, perhaps of individual parts, that I might assign to my Thomas students.

I have been pleasantly surprised, then, to have discovered that the Summa, while not quite at the $2.50/pars rate that I paid for mine, has never been so inexpensive to acquire. Note that I offer these observations, not as a commercial endorsement, but as useful information for students and teachers of St. Thomas.

Of course, you can’t get much more inexpensive than free; and with the web, there are numerous versions of the English Dominican translation available, with the PDF version on the main website for the Dominican friars being my favorite:

http://www.op.org/summa/

The HTML version hosted by the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. is more web-friendly:

http://dhspriory.org/thomas/

and also contains a number of other translated works, plus a link to the invaluable Latin version of Thomas’ works that has been mentioned in these pages before:

http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/

If you wish to have access to that HTML version even when you are unhooked from the web, you should scroll down to the bottom of the CCEL page of the Summa and download the ZIP archive, unzip it to a folder (directory for us older DOS folks) and open up the “index.html” file as your starting point to having your Summa on your computer:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa/home.html

Finally, manybooks.net has the parts of the Summa available in an assortment of e-reader formats:

http://www.manybooks.net/authors/aquinast.html

While these versions may be great for those comfortable reading from computer-screens, if you go to print them out in order to work from hard-copies, the costs of paper, toner or ink can add up quite quickly, and you’ve still got a pile of loose pages to 3-hole punch or otherwise bind together. In that case, purchasing a printed version may be the most cost-effective way to read the Summa.

This option used to relegate you to the used-book market, which was hit-or-miss in pre-internet days, but these days is far more user-friendly for finding what you want. Unfortunately, used-books tend to command a premium, making freshly-printed editions sometimes less-expensive than used volumes.

If you want a fresh edition of the English Dominican translation, the full set is available through Ave Maria Press in Indiana:

http://www.avemariapress.com/

Summa Theologica, Complete 5-Volume Set

Hardcover: ISBN: 978-0-87061-063-9

Softcover: ISBN: 978-0-87061-069-1

and discount outlets such as Christian Book Distributors can get that set to you for under $170 hardcover or under $140 softcover.

If you want to assign particular parts of the Summa to your students, you can order reprints of the individual volumes from Cosimo books out of New York City:

http://www.cosimobooks.com/cosimo/

which sells their volumes through Amazon:

http://www.cosimobooks.com/search-summa

Softcover (about $25/each):

• ST I: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-553-6

• ST I-II: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-555-0

• ST II-II: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-557-4

• ST III, part 1: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-559-8

• ST III, part 2 & Suppl.: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-561-1

Hardcover (about $35/each):

• ST I: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-554-3

• ST I-II: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-556-7

• ST II-II: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-558-1

• ST III, part 1: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-560-4

• ST III, part 2 & Suppl.: ISBN-13: 978-1-60206-562-8

Finally, an adventurous project from NovAntiqua is the publication of the English Dominican translation with a facing-page Latin version of the Summa in Ten Volumes:

http://novantiqua.com/

Not really a competitor to the Blackfriars edition that as noted on this blog is being reprinted in paperback, with all its notes and accompanying articles:

http://thomistica.net/news/2007/1/25/blackfriars-translation-of-the-summa-to-be-republished.html

this edition seems to be a usable and affordable version from which everyday work can be done, always being prepared to reference the full critical editions when necessary.

They have released the first four volumes in paperback, which covers the Prima Pars and the Prima Secundae, each of which is only about $25:

• ST I, Qq. 1-64: ISBN-13: 978-1440484988

• ST I, Qq. 65-119: ISBN-13: 978-1441438669

• ST I-II, Qq. 1-70: ISBN-13: 978-1450563260

• ST I-II, Qq. 71-114: ISBN-13: 978-1456320188 

If you know of any other affordable editions which I have overlooked, please post a reply.

Reflections on Ralph McInerny

St. Augustine’s Press has published a volume that gathers memorial notices and reflections on the life of Ralph McInerny. Edited by Christopher Kaczor, O Rare Ralph McInerny contains 33 contributions by friends, students, and colleagues. Contributors include Jude Dougherty, John Haldane, Lawrence Dewan OP, John Hittinger, Tony Lisska, Janet Smith, Alasdair MacIntyre, among others.  (I did notice that over a third of the essays in this collection were previously published and are freely available on various online outlets: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and one behind a paywall here). The volume also includes some short pieces by McInerny, including his 2009 ACPQ article “Why I am a Thomist.” The publisher’s blurb notes that proceeds from the volume go to the Women’s Care Center of St. Joseph County, Indiana. A wonderful tribute!

Thomistic Philosophical Terms (part 4)

While looking through the Notre Dame Press catalogue this morning I came across a forthcoming book by John W. (Jack) Carlson titled Words of Wisdom: A Philosophical Dictionary for the Perennial Tradition. Here is part of the publisher’s blurb:

It offers precise, yet clear and understandable accounts of well over a thousand key philosophical terms, richly cross-referenced. It also explains significant terms from other philosophical movements with which Thomism (and the Catholic intellectual tradition more generally) has engaged—either through debate or through judicious and creative incorporation. Moreover, it identifies a number of theological and doctrinal expressions to which perennial philosophy has contributed. Finally, it provides a comprehensive bibliography of works by Aquinas in English, expositions and discussions of perennial themes, and representative examples from the writings of all philosophers and theologians mentioned in dictionary entries.

While the book is not available until December, I thought it could be added to the growing list of resources on Thomistic philosophical terms (see parts 1, 2, 3).

New book on Christian Philosophy debates

Gregory Sadler has published a book with CUA Press presenting English translations of French articles on the contested issue of Christian philosophy. Reason Fulfilled by Revelation: The 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates in France begins with a substantive 96-page introduction and is followed by translations of articles by Etienne Gilson, Maurice Blondel, Gabriel Marcel, Antonin Sertillanges OP, Fernand van Steenberghen, and others, that originally appeared from 1931-1936. The book also contains a generous chronological bibliography of works on the French debates from 1927-2010. On his website, Sadler has posted some introductory videos that present his book.

Philosophy Research Index

Users of The Philosopher’s Index might be interested in a new competing bibliographic tool, the Philosophy Research Index, a venture of the Philosophy Documentation Center. The PRI aims to cover articles in 360 journals, as well as dissertations, books, and reviews in philosophy, from the 15^th century (!) to the present. Journals include The Thomist, Aquinas, Divus Thomas, the ACPQ, and even some series no longer in print. Individuals can sign up for a 1-week free trial to the database here.

A bevy of Thomistic titles at Henry's books

Bookseller Henry Stachyra has released his “catalogue 10” of used and antiquarian books. It’s a list of thomistic titles, both by Thomas (translations, it seems) and interpretive works, all totaling 104 altogether. See the catalog here.

More Online Thomistic Resources

Some previous posts have noted the online presence of scans of important Thomistic texts. I just recently came across the HathiTrust Digital Library, a free repository of online books. A quick search for Thomistic-related items using the “full-view” option revealed a few items, such as the first 28 volumes of Revue thomiste (split up here and here), several classic Marquette Aquinas Lectures (e.g., Owens, Phelan, Maritain, Bourke, Adler, Régis), the occasional Latin text, and most of the Summa contra Gentiles in English.

There are many great texts available in similar repositories like Internet Archive and Google Books. There is some overlap between the three sites, and sometimes one scan will be full view on one site but preview-only on another, so it is best to look around. (With some surprise, I discovered that all of Johannes Capreolus’s Defensiones is available in Google Books – this means the text is searchable!). With just a computer, it seems, one now has more access to books than a certain famous wealthy Renaissance bibliophile.

Might there be other substantive online repositories of scholarly books beyond HathiTrust, Internet Archive, and Google Books that should be mentioned here? Reader comments below are welcome.

Gilles Emery, OP, to speak at Lumen Christi Institute (UChicago)

Fr Gilles Emery, OP, is a guest this spring of the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago, where he will be giving two public talks, listed below: 

Wednesday, April 27, 4:30pm
“The Dignity of Being a Substance”
Swift Hall, Common Room
1025 East 58th Street, Chicago IL (link)

Thursday, April 28, 7:00pm
“A Carnal Love of Concepts or a Work of Mercy? The Intellectual Life and the Dominican Vocation”
Social Sciences 122
1126 East 59th Street, Chicago IL (link)

More on the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, MI May 12-15, 2011)

I previously noted the high number of presentations on Aquinas for this year’s Congress. I should have mentioned also the wide range of Thomistic topics. Here are the papers directly on Aquinas or the history of Thomism:

Thursday, May 12

• Romans and the Summa: Exploring the Scriptural Foundations of Aquinas’s Question on Merit (I–II.114.1–3) (Charles Raith, Honors College, Baylor Univ.)
• The Changing Identification of a Methodological Prius in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae (Richard Nicholas)
• Analogical Science in Aquinas’s Five Ways (Alexander W. Hall, Clayton State Univ.)
• Job in the Sentences Commentaries of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas (Franklin T. Harkins, Fordham Univ.)
• Natural Law and Human Nature from Augustine and Aquinas to Francisco de Vitoria and Villegaignon: Adams Rib, Cannibalism, and Otherness (Toy-Fung Tung, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY)
• Moral Subjectivity as the Basis of Self-Cognition in Thomas Aquinas’s Thought (Magdalena Plotka, Univ. Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie)
• Aquinas on the Role of Bishops in the Mendicant Controversy (Hui Hui, Peking Univ.)
• Aquinas on Natural Law and Virtue Ethics (Melissa Moschella, Princeton Univ.)
• The Distention of “Mens” and the Unity of Consciousness in Augustine and Aquinas (Therese Scarpelli Cory, Seattle Univ.)
• Augustine, Thomas, and the Memory of Things Sensed (Jamie Spiering, Benedictine College)
• Thomistic Self-Knowledge and Avicennian Medicine (Kevin White, Catholic Univ. of America)

Friday, May 13

• The Doctrine of Transcendentals and Aquinas’s De veritate: A Comparative Analysis of Lawrence Dewan and Jan Aertsen (Nathan R. Strunk, Boston Univ.)
• On Aquinas’s Incorporation of Boethius’s Account of Being and Goodness (Tyler D. Huismann, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor)
• Revisiting Owens’s Interpretations of Individuation in Aquinas (Gaston LeNotre, Catholic Univ. of America)
• Exoteric Sexism: Aristotle and Aquinas on Generation and Delayed Hominization (Samuel Condic, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston)
• Love for Animals: Singer and Aquinas (Steve Jensen, Center for Thomistic Studies)
• Modernity, Tradition, and Society: Thomism and the Early Twentieth Century in the United States (Markus Faltermeier, Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. München)
• Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Gregory of Palamas on the Simplicity of God (James Carey, St. John’s College)
• Thomas Aquinas on the Will’s Self-Motion (Thomas M. Osborne, Jr., Center for Thomistic Studies)
• Divine Causality and Human Freedom in Actions Caused by Grace (John Rziha, Benedictine College)

Saturday, May 14

• Aquinas and Rhetoric (Jennifer Constantine-Jackson, Univ. of Toronto)
• Saint Thomas and the Rabbis (Luis Cortest, Univ. of Oklahoma)
• Friar Thomas, the Apostle, and the Philosopher (Eric M. Johnston, Seton Hall Univ.)
• Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and Rational Astrology (Scott Hendrix, Carroll Univ.)
• Divine Predilection and the Hierarchy of Created Natures (Francis Murphy, Univ. of Oxford)
• Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Proofs from Motion in Summa contra gentiles 1.13: Their Nature and the Function of the Nominal Definition (Michael G. Sirilla, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville)
• Analogy and Relation (Steven A. Long, Ave Maria Univ.)
• Of Schoolrooms and Manuscripts: Seeing Aquinas’s Roman Commentary in Its Dominican Context (M. Michele Mulchahey, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies)
• Thomas’s Students and Precursors to His Lectura romana (Robert Barry, Providence College)
• The Holy Spirit as Divine Impulse: Aquinas’s Account of the Eternal Procession of Love in the Lectura romana (Paul Shields, Ave Maria Univ.)

Sunday, May 15

• Truth, Existence, and Aquinas’ Theory of Adequation (R. J. Matava, Georgetown Univ.)
• Thomas Aquinas and Henry of Ghent on a Substance as the Immediate Principle of Its Operations (Simona Vucu, Univ. of Toronto)
• Thomas Aquinas, Godfrey of Fontaines, and Henry of Ghent on the Soul’s Relationship to Its Powers (Adam Wood, Fordham Univ.)

A full schedule of papers is here.

Fordham's upcoming conference: the metaphysics of Aquinas and its modern interpreters

Fordham University’s Center for Medieval Studies is holding its 31st Annual Conference on Saturday, March 26 - Sunday, March 27, 2011, entitled “The Metaphysics of Aquinas and Its Modern Interpreters: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives.” I wrote about this conference and its call for papers last fall. The people already scheduled at the time, and now those who have joined them by having their papers included, form a veritable who’s who of contemporary North-American Thomistic scholarship. Here’s a recent description:

The Conference seeks to capitalize on the pluralism of Thomistic studies by inviting papers from a wide range of areas within the disciplines of philosophy and theology. Conference organizers welcome papers that may approach the topic from various branches of philosophy (such as the philosophy of religion, ontology, or natural theology), or various fields of theology, such as historical, fundamental, or systematic theology (including such areas as Trinitarian theology, Christology, or theological anthropology). Conference organizers also seek a representative variety of approaches to Aquinas and to Thomism, including those of the Dominican commentators, Transcendental Thomism, Existential Thomism, analytic philosophy, and postmodernism.

The Conference will include a special strand of sessions on what many regard as one of the central problems in the contemporary retrieval of Aquinas’s thought, namely, how to account for the mind’s knowledge of being qua being, or as this issue is often referred to, the discovery of the being of metaphysics.

The conference’s website sports more details about lodging and location, plus a listing of all the scheduled papers plus a handy PDF abstract for most of the papers.