New Book: General Principles of Sacramental Theology

Roger W. Nutt has released a new book with The Catholic University of America Press entitled General Principles of Sacramental Theology.

General Principles of Sacramental Theology addresses a current lacuna in English-language theological literature. Bernard Leeming's highly respected book Principles of Sacramental Theology was published more than sixty years ago. Since that time, there has been a noted decrease, especially in English-language sacramental theology, in treatments of the basic topics and principles—such as the nature of the sacraments of signs, sacramental grace, sacramental character, sacramental causality, sacramental intention, the necessity and number of the sacraments, sacramental matter and form, inter alia—which apply to all of the sacraments.

Rather than deconstruct the Church's tradition, as many recent books on the sacraments do, Roger Nutt offers a vibrant presentation of these principles as a sound foundation for a renewed appreciation of each of the seven sacraments in the Christian life as the divinely willed means of communion and friendship between God and humanity. The sacraments bestow and nourish the personal communion with Jesus Christ that is the true source of human happiness. Recourse to the patrimony of Catholic wisdom, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, can help to highlight the sacraments and their significance within the plan of salvation.

This book will be of use in seminary, graduate, and undergraduate courses. It is further offered as a source of hope to all those seeking deeper intimacy with God amidst the confusion, alienation, and disappointment that accompanies life in a fallen world. The sacraments play an irreplaceable role in pursuing a Universal Call to Holiness that is so central to Vatican II's teaching.

Roger W. Nutt is associate professor of theology at Ave Maria University, Florida

“This book will help priests and laity alike to gain a fuller understanding of the worth and power of the sacraments. Prof. Nutt helps to move the conversation about the sacraments forward in a much-needed way in our day.”

— Paul Keller, OP, The Athenaeum of Ohio

Thomism in Czech Journal of Philosophy Available Online

The editors have decided to make available online a recent issue of the Czech Journalof Philosophy devoted to Late Scholasticism. It is a "Festschrift" for Prof. Stanislav Sousedik.  You can find interesting articles on Thomism as well as on other schools.

http://filcasop.flu.cas.cz/index.php?page=mimoradna-cisla&subpage=explorations-in-late-scholasticism

S.M.A.R.T. Call for Papers at ACPA

S.M.A.R.T. Call for Papers

The Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism (S.M.A.R.T.) is planning a session for the 2017 meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, Dallas, TX, 16-19 November 2017. It is accepting papers on all aspects of Thomism from 1274 to the publication of the Carmelite Cursus Theologiae (1631-1701).

Please send papers and direct enquiries to Domenic D’Ettore at ddettore[at]marian[dot]edu. Papers and abstracts received by 15 May will receive full consideration. Selection preference will be given to complete papers. The submission of an abstract alone should be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae. A final version of the paper will be required by 1 September 2017 in order to facilitate a response paper which will be given during the conference session.

New Book on Sacraments as Instrumental Causes

The Catholic University Press has brought out Father Reginald Lynch's The Cleansing of the Heart:  The Sacraments as Instrumental Causes in the Thomistic Tradition.  He addresses a distinctive part of the Thomistic tradition.  Fr. Lynch received an STL from the Dominican House of Studies and the University of Notre Dame.  He has participated in sessions of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism (S.M.A.R.T.).  The link is here: http://cuapress.cua.edu/books/viewbook.cfm?book=LYCH

New Book: Thomism and Predestination

A new book entitled Thomism and Predestination: Principles and Disputations is now available from The Catholic University of America Press. See below for more details. 

"There is perhaps no aspect of traditional Thomistic thought so contested in modern Catholic theology as the notion of predestination as presented by the classical Thomist school. What is that doctrine, and why is it so controversial? Has it been rightly understood in the context of modern debates? At the same time, the Church's traditional affirmation of a mystery of predestination is largely ignored in modern Catholic theology more generally. Why is this the case? Can a theology that emphasizes the Augustinian notion of the primacy of salvation by grace alone also forego a theology of predestination?

Thomism and Predestination: Principles and Disputations considers these topics from various angles: the principles of the classical Thomistic treatment of predestination, their contested interpretation among modern theologians, examples of the doctrine as illustrated by the spiritual writings of the saints, and the challenges to Catholic theology that the Thomistic tradition continues to pose. This volume initiates readers―especially future theologians and Catholic intellectuals―to a central theme of theology that is speculatively challenging and deeply interconnected to many other elements of the faith.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Steven A. Long is a professor of Theology at Ave Maria University and author of Teleological Grammar of the Moral Act (Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University Publications). Roger W. Nutt is an associate professor of Theology, codirector of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal, and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University. Thomas Joseph White, OP, is the director of the Thomistic Institute at the Domincan House of Studies. He is the author of several books including The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology (CUA Press), and coeditor of the theological journal Nova et Vetera."

Person, Soul, & Consciousness - Berkeley Dominicans, Summer 2017

The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology is hosting its 2nd Triennial Dominican Colloquium in Berkeley on the intersection between Philosophy & Theology July 12-15, 2017; the theme will be Person, Soul and Consciousness. Philosophers and Theologians will engage this topic exploring questions of contemporary importance. The event will involve a significant engagement with the thought of St. Thomas, as the list of plenary-session speakers suggests: Lawrence Feingold, Thomas Hünefeldt, Steven Long, Nancey Murphy, David Oderberg, Ted Peters, Markus Rothhaar, Richard Schenk, OP, D.C. Schindler, Michael Sherwin, OP, Eleonore Stump, and Thomas Weinandy, OFM. Cap. The deadline for the Call for Papers is in March, 2017. A $500 award is available to the best graduate student submission. More information is available at www.dspt.edu/conversation2017. Sponsored by the DSPT and the Friars of the Dominican Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Western USA).

New Book: John of St. Thomas' The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

A new edition of John of St. Thomas' The Gifts of the Holy Spirit is now available from Cluny Media with an introduction by Cajetan Cuddy, O.P. See below for details.

Paper on Aquinas earns Brandon Wanless ACPA Young Scholar's Award

This is coming a little late but better late than never.

This year's winner of the American Catholic Philosophical Association's Young Scholar's award is Brandon Wanless. The award is given to the best paper submitted for the ACPA's annual conference by a scholar 35 years old or younger.

Mr. Wanless's paper is entitled “St. Thomas Aquinas on Original Justice and the Justice of Christ: A Case Study in Christological Soteriology and Catholic Moral Theology.” Here's the abstract from the ACPA conference program:

This paper discusses the theme of “personal justice” in the Summa theologiae, a concept inherited from the Nicomachean Ethics wherein Aristotle says that a man is just toward himself only metaphorically, insofar as the parts of man are appropriately ordered with the higher ruling the lower and the body subjugated to the soul. This paper demonstrates how Aquinas extensively utilizes this concept of metaphorical justice across the tripartite division of the Summa in his accounts of original justice in the prima pars, the humanity of Christ in the tertia pars, and justification of the sinner in the secunda pars. As a response to critiques that Thomistic moral theology is not properly centered in the person of Christ, I will show that, for Aquinas, Christ’s personal justice both fulfills the right ordering of humanity lost through sin and restores that integrity to mankind in the grace of justification—the root of the Christian’s entire moral life.

There are two things worth noting. First, the Young Scholar's Award is a philosophy award and the paper is, as you see, on a theological topic. Second, Mr. Wanless is completing his PhD in theology at Ave Maria University. (Full disclosure: I teach at AMU. But I teach philosophy, not theology.)

But these two things, in a way, shouldn't be surprising. After all, there's an awful lot of philosophy in Aquinas's theology (materially speaking). And there's a significant amount of philosophy in Mr. Wanless's paper (materially speaking). It should also be noted that justice was the theme of this year's conference.

Mr. Wanless received the award last month in San Francisco, where this year's ACPA conference was held. His paper will be published in the next issue of the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Call for papers: Neo-Thomism in Action

From the Documentation and Research Center for Religion, Culture and Society at the Catholic University of Louvain comes this Call for Papers for an International Workshop entitled: "Neo-Thomism in Action. Law and society reshaped by neo-scholastic philosophy, 1880-1960" to be held October 8-10, 2017 at the Irish College in Louvain (Belgium). Abstracts of maximum 500 words should be submitted by February 1, 2017.

For further information check out the webpage or download the CFP.

Call for papers: Conference on biblical Thomism in Poland

Our distinguished contributor Jörgen Vijgen has informed us of a call for papers for an upcoming conference entitled: "Towards a Biblical Thomism: Thomas Aquinas and the Renewal of a Biblical Theology." The conference will take place April 24-26, 2017 at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. Abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted by January 31, 2017 to Piotr Roszak at piotrroszak@umk.pl. It is preferred that papers be in English.

The conference's keynote and other main lectures will be given by Michael Sherwin OP (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), Matthew Levering (Mundelein Seminary, United States), Enrique Alarcon (University of Pamplona, Spain), Giuseppe De Virgilio (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome), Stefano Zamboni SCJ (Alphonsianum, Rome) and Michele Mazzeo OFM (Antonianum, Rome).

For further information check out the conference blog or download the CFP flyer.