Thomistica has published recently my review of Prof. Andrew Davison’s Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine. An excerpt: Davison’s book is divided into five parts: on creation, revelation and theological knowledge, the imago Dei, soteriology, and eschatology. Part I discusses the possibility of life—intelligent or otherwise—on worlds other than our own, all within the modality of the … Continue reading Review of Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine
Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P., has recently written “Losing the Forest for the Tree: Why All Thomists Should (Not) Be River Forest Thomists,” an open-access article in the journal Religions. Here is the abstract: One of the most influential and controversial schools of 20th century Thomism—especially in North America—is the “River Forest School” or “River Forest … Continue reading The Natural Path to Saving the Old River Forest “Tree”
The following remarks are a slightly updated and revised version of a talk given at the Thomistic Institute at Clemson University on April 18, 2024. Derby, An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump (1768; Wikimedia Commons) Atoms Neither Fast Nor Feast: Reflections on Scientific Inquiry and the Good Life When we think about … Continue reading Atoms Neither Fast Nor Feast: Reflections on Scientific Inquiry and the Good Life
Recently, I was asked to join The Boethius Institute as an associate fellow. From their website: The Boethius Institute helps scholars and leaders to grow in their understanding and practice of the traditional liberal arts and sciences, forming a fellowship that unites those passionate about liberal education in a bond of friendship and common effort … Continue reading Boethius Institute
Over at Thomistica, I have reviewed Daniel Shields’s book Nature and Nature’s God. It is highly recommended. An excerpt from the review: For too long has Aquinas’s motion proof languished in the gaol of a contemporary Thomistic metaphysics unwilling to fully countenance the debt which Aquinas’s metaphysics owes to Aristotelian natural philosophy and unable to … Continue reading Review of new book of the First Way
Below are the links to all of my posts this semester on St. Thomas’s Summa contra Gentiles, based upon course and lecture notes for an upper-division medieval philosophy seminar. The Sapiential Cosmology of St. Thomas Aquinas (introductory overview of ScG) The Polyvalent Hierarchy of Wisdoms (introductory chapters of ScG) God’s Power and Creative Act (ScG, … Continue reading Series on the Summa contra Gentiles
We conclude our examination of Summa contra Gentiles with an overview of ScG, III.114–146 and the surrounding chapters; a consideration of why Aquinas talks about law, and what topics are omitted in our course; on the legal and religious nature of the human person; in light of providence, on the possibility of a philosophy of … Continue reading The Theocentric Drama of History
We now begin our study of God’s providence, which will occupy our attention for the remaining two posts of this series. In this post, we discuss ScG, III.64–113 as follows: an overview of ScG, III.64–77; some details from the above chapters; an overview of ScG, III.78–97; look at some aspects of the governance of creation … Continue reading God’s Providence, Governance, and the Stewardship of Creation
We now reflect briefly upon ScG, III.37–63. We consider: the lay of the land, an outline of topics; the principal arguments in these chapters, a higher via negativa regarding human felicity; some concluding reflections on the result of this argumentation. consider the nature of the beatific vision; the relationship of nature and grace to man’s … Continue reading The Heavenly Vision of Love Itself
Over the next several months, based on rereading it for a reading group with fellow interested philosophers and scientists, I hope to post some reflections on Rob Koons’s new book, Is St. Thomas’s Aristotelian Philosophy of Nature Obsolete? The book is a summative presentation of an ongoing research project into hylomorphism and modern science which … Continue reading De Koninck’s “philosophical species”
John G. Brungardt 