Where the Middle Ages Begin
From Creation to Providence Kretzmann, Norman Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Volume 9, Number 2, September 2000 Abstract 1. The Aims of the Book This book is the third in a series of three volumes. In 1997 and 1999, Oxford’s Clarendon Press published my books The Metaphysics of Theism and The Metaphysics of Creation, which are […]
Happiness and Freedom in Aquinas’s Theory of Action McCluskey, Colleen (Saint Louis University) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 9 (2000) Abstract Thomas Aquinas is commonly thought to hold that human beings will happiness and do so necessarily. This is taken to mean first that human beings are not able to will misery for the sake of […]
The Discovery of a Normative Theory of Justice in Medieval Philosophy: On the Reception and Further Development of Aristotle’s Theory of Justice by St. Thomas Aquinas Lutz-Bachmann, Matthias (Institute for Philosophy of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt) Translated from the German by John D. Cochrane Medieval Philosophy and Theology 9 (2000) Abstract Aristotle earns […]
The Interpretation of Tongues in the Middle Ages By Francis X. Gumerlock Antiphon, Vol. 10.2 (2006) Introduction: Many Christians today, especially those familiar with the charismatic movement, understand “the gift of tongues” as ecstatic speech: sounds and syllables believed to be uttered by a Christian under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of […]
Aquinas on Our Responsibility for Our Emotions Murphy, Claudia Eisen (University of Toronto) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 8 (1999) Abstract Philosophical investigations of the concept of responsibility, mirroring its most common function in ordinary language and thought, have been geared for the most part to clarifying intuitions concerning moral and legal accountability for actions. But […]
Psychology and Theodicy in Aquinas Bowlin, John R. (University of Tulsa) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 7 (1998) Abstract Throughout much of this century the most prominent exegetes maintained that Aquinas’s mature moral psychology is fundamentally voluntarist, that he considers the will an independent cause of action, most conspicuously in his later works. Disagreement over the […]
“Truth” is a Divine Name: Hitherto Unpublished Papers of Edward A. Synan, 1918-1997 Edited by Janice L. Schultz-Aldrich Rodopi, 2010 ISBN: 978-90-420-3154-8 This volume contains essays on an array of topics originally presented orally by a master teacher and scholar. With characteristic rhetorical elegance, Msgr. Synan, late professor at the Pontifical Institute in Toronto, delivered […]
Creation as Existential Contingency: A Response Muller, S.J., Earl (Sacred Heart Seminary (Detroit) ) The Saint Anselm Journal 1.1 (Fall 2003) Abstract Donald Keefe has consistently provided a trenchant critique of traditional Thomism. His paper for this conference focuses this critique on the question of contingency in Thomas’s thought and the necessity ingredient in the […]
Creation as Existential Contingency Keefe, S.J., Donald J. (Fordham University (Emeritus) ) The Saint Anselm Journal 1.1 (Fall 2003) Abstract This article criticizes St. Thomas’ reliance upon “contingency” as the basis for his postulate of the prior possibility of a natural creation, whether creation be understood actively as a divine action independent of the Father’s […]
Aquinas on Continuity and Identity Hughes, Christopher Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 6, no. 1 (1997) Abstract In what follows, I shall argue that there is a difficulty in fitting together Aquinas’s general account of the individuation of substances and their forms with his account of identity through time. Aquinas’s account of individuation entails that […]
As It Is, It Is an Ax: Some Medieval Reflections on De Anima II Sirridge, Mary Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 6, no. 1 (1997) Abstract If an instrument, e.g., an ax, were a natural body, then its substance would be being ax,l and this would be its soul; if this were removed, it would […]
Back to Nature in Aquinas Twetten, David B. (Marquette University) Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 2 (1996) Abstract Perhaps the most famous achievement of Thomas Aquinas lies in his robust conception of nature and the natural world in the face of an uncompromising theology of grace and divine operation. As is well known, […]
The Second Way Cartwright, Richard L. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 2 (1996) Abstract My title refers to the second of the arguments for the existence of God commonly called Aquinas’s “Five Ways.” The conclusion is that there exists “some first efficient cause” {aliquant causam efficientem pήmam). Now, anything that is a first […]
The Semantic Principles Underlying St. Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Being Klima, Gyula Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 1 (1996) Abstract As I hope the title clearly indicates, this article is not intended to contribute its ounces to the tons of literature on Aquinas’s metaphysics of being. On the contrary, its primary motivation is […]
Expositions of the Text: Aquinas’s Aristotelian Commentaries Jenkins, John Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 1 (1996) Abstract A slow but steady swing of a pendulum has been discernible during the second half of the twentieth century in an old debate on the nature of the Aristotelian commentaries of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 1950, […]
The Competition of Authoritative Languages and Aquinas’s Theological Rhetoric Jordan, Mark D. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 4 (1994) Abstract One cliche in the iconography of Thomas Aquinas shows the saint, abstracted, counting off arguments on his fingers. The image is quite clearly of an effort of memory, but we moderns are liable to mistake […]
Natural Reason in the Summa contra Gentiles te Velde, Rudi A. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 4 (1994) Abstract A distinctive feature of Aquinas’s Summa contra Gentiles is the central role the author assigns to natural reason in his project of manifesting the truth of Christian faith. Reason is supposed to give a rational account […]
Good and the Object of Natural Inclinations in St. Thomas Aquinas Jenkins, John I. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 3 (1993) Abstract What is the relationship between what we, in our most reflective and circumspect moments, desire or approve of and what is our good? In this essay I will explore the views of St. […]
Another Look at St. Thomas and the Plurality of the Literal Sense of Scripture Johnson, Mark F. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 2 (1992) Abstract There has been no unanimity among interpreters of St. Thomas Aquinas as to whether he held a doctrine of the plurality of the literal sense of Scripture, and the chief […]
On the Purpose of “Merit” in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas Wawrykow, Joseph Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 2 (1992) Abstract I aim in this essay chiefly to provide an adequate answer to the following question: why does Thomas Aquinas affirm the theological notion of ‘merit’ ? On the face of it, the answer to […]
Towards a Narrative Understanding of Thomistic Natural Law Hall, Pamela M. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 2 (1992) Abstract I wish to discuss Thomistic ethics in this essay in a way that seeks to integrate Aquinas’s natural law teaching with his treatment of the virtues, most particularly with the virtue of prudentia or practical wisdom. […]
St. Albert on the Subject of Metaphysics and Demonstrating the Existence of God Noone, Timothy B. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 2 (1992) Abstract In his comprehensive study of Thomas Aquinas’s Sen* tentia super Metaphysicam, James Doig introduces Albert the Great as one of the commentators whose interpretation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics Thomas intended to challenge. […]
Aquinas’s Parasitic Cosmological Argument MacDonald, Scott Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 1 (1991) Abstract In Summa theobgiae (ST) 1.2.3 Aquinas says that his first way of proving the existence of God is clearer (manifestior), seemingly meaning that it is the clearest of the five ways he will offer. Most philosophers who have considered the matter, […]
Aquinas on Aristotle on Happiness Adams, Don Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 1 (1991) Abstract The first nine books of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (EN) seem to present a complex theory of happiness. In them, it seems that happiness is a good that is composed of several goods, e.g., friends, wealth, political and social honors, and […]
Beauty in the Middle Ages: A Forgotten Transcendental? Aertsen, Jan A. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 1 (1991) Abstract Ήabent sua fata libelli” (Books have their own fates). This saying is especially applicable to the scholarly work of Umberto Eco. In the fifties he published in Italian studies of Thomas Aquinas’s aesthetics and of beauty […]
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