Thomistic News

Even though St. Thomas Aquinas is often considered to be an embodiment of western theological tradition, already in centuries immediately after his death his thought influenced some theologians of the eastern Christianity. Some contemporary academics tend even to speak of “Byzantine Thomism”, although Christopher Upham notices that: […] this is certainly too triumphalist, since those who appropriated Aquinas in the Eastern Church were rarely, if ever, unequivocal proponents of his theological doctrines. With this caveat in mind, however, it is …

Registration is opened for an international conference “Initiation and Mystagogy in Thomas Aquinas: Theological, Philosophical, Liturgical and Pedagogical Perspectives”, organized by Thomas Instituut te Utrecht on December 13-15, 2018. It will be devoted to various aspects – moral, cognitive, dogmatic and liturgical – of Christian intitiation and mystagogy, as seen by Thomas Aquinas. The main speakers are: Bernhard Blankenhorn O.P. (PUST Angelicum), Matthew Levering (Mundelein Seminary), Daria Spezzano (Providence College) oraz William C. Mattison III (University of Notre Dame). More …

A book by John M. Meinert, The Love of God Poured Out: Grace and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in St. Thomas Aquinas (Emmaus 2018) has been published not long before. It concerns Aquinas’ approach to the relations between the gifts of the Holys Spirit and the action of grace, placing them within more general context of moral theology and Christian life (more information on the publisher’s website). John M. Meinert is a theologian, an assistant professor at the …

A new book by Édouard-Henri Wéber O.P., Nature, singularité et devenir de la personne humaine chez Thomas d’Aquin (Vrin 2018; more information on the publisher’s website) has been most recently published. It is a 66th volume of a Bibliotheque Thomiste collection, started in 1921, presently edited by Adriano Oliva O.P. and belonging to the Société Thomiste. Among the collection’s volumes there were works by e.g. Jean-Pierre Torrell O.P. (part 1 and part 2), Henri Dondaine O.P., Marie-Dominique Chenu O.P. or …

A book by Wayne J. Hankey, Aquinas’s Neoplatonism in the Summa Theologiae on God. A Short Introduction (St. Augustine’s Press 2018) has just been published. It is based on a lecture given by Hankey as  Aquinas Lecture at Dallas University in 2015 and is devoted to potential neoplatonic motives in Thomas’ treatise on God in Summa Theologiae. More information may be found on the publisher’s website, while table of contents, summary of chapters and bibliography may be read at Academia.edu. …

Recently papers on Aquinas’ thought were published also in numerous journals usually not concerned with Thomistic philosophy and theology (and in some cases specialized in completely different fields of research). Some of these are: 1. Francis Caponi O.S.A., „But mercy is above this sceptred swayˮ: Mercy and Justice in Thomas Aquinas, „The Journal of Religion”, no. 98/3 (2018), p. 327-347. 2. Francis Caponi O.S.A., Thomas Aquinas on the Parable of the Late-Coming Workers (Matthew 20,1-16), „Journal of Theological Interpretation”, no. 12/1, …

Thomistica.net has taken notice of a recently published book by Anton ten Klooster, Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes. Reading Matthew, Disputing Grace and Virtue, Preaching Happiness (Thomas Instituut Utrecht – Peeters Leuven 2018). It is devoted to Aquinas’ understanding of happiness and significance of beatitudes as they are discussed especially in Thomas’ commentary on Matthew, but also e.g. in Summa Theologiae and Sermons (table of contents and an introduction to the book may be found at Academia.edu). This publication is a …

Already for some time in Western theology one may observe a movement described as „Thomistic Ressourcement”. Its essence consists in the attempt to fuse Thomism with at least some elements of 20th-century “New Theology”, especially with its return to research on the Scripture and the Church Fathers. The aim is to enable Thomistic thought to answer the challenges of modernity (undertaken e.g. by the “New Theology”), in the same time taking into consideration the outcomes of the Second Vatican Council. …

On the SoundCloud of the Thomistic Institute you may find the recordings from the Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science symposium, that took place on June 5th-8th at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington. The event was organized by the Thomistic Institute and the Society of Catholic Scientists. Among the lecturers there were: Michael Dodds O.P. (Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology), Brian Carl (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception), Karin Öberg  (Harvard University), Stephen Barr (University of Delaware) and …

Early in 2018 a book Aristote et Thomas d’Aquin: les commentaires sur les œuvres majeures d’Aristote (Les Presses Universitaires de l’IPC 2018; publication is available also at Amazon), by Leo Elders (whose other publication, Thomas Aquinas and His Predecessors, was recently discussed at our website). This book is devoted to Aquinas’ twelve commentaries on Aristotle’s works. Elders strives to determine whether St. Thomas reported Aristotle’s thought faithfully or whether his interpretations were permeated by his own theological approach and influenced by …