Papers presented at an international conference held in early 2018 on the campus of Ave Maria University in Florida.

In his richly documented and still valuable study of Aquinas and the Church Fathers, published in 1946, Gottfried Geenen, O.P. noted that the study of this aspect of Thomas Aquinas's thought was just beginning to take place. More than seventy years later considerable progress has been made, both historically and doctrinally, not at least due to the technological advances in the area of the study of Aquinas' writings. It has been argued both that Aquinas had a remarkable knowledge of a wide range of the Church Fathers and that he was actively engaged in acquiring new material from hitherto unknown Fathers. Due to Thomas' profound commitment to both Latin and Greek patristic sources he was not only able to draw on the rich tradition of the past but also explore new possibilities and solutions. This commitment and interaction between tradition and speculative reason has led some to claim tentatively that one might characterize Thomas Aquinas' theology as being ad mentem patrum. The goal of this volume is to explore ways to corroborate this claim. In order to do so, the contributions investigate the presence and use of the Church Fathers in Aquinas' thought both historically and systematically.

The foremost Roman Catholic theologian of the middle ages, Thomas Aquinas, was hugely popular in the last days of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, in contrast to his largely negative reception by later Orthodox commentators.This book is the first to explore the long history of Orthodox fascination with Aquinas.

There is much debate over the errors of the Orthodox churches. Saint Thomas Aquinas sheds much light on these important questions. I have studied carefully and have found expressed in it much that is useful to the affirmation of our faith. I believe, however, its fruitfulness for many persons could be considerably diminished because of some perplexing statements contained in texts of the holy Fathers, and so could provide the quarrelsome with the material and occasion for calumny. And so, after eliminating all ambiguity from the authorities found in the aforesaid book so that the purest fruit of the faith might be harvested, I have proposed first to explain what seems perplexing in the abovementioned authorities, and then to show how by means of them the truth of the Catholic faith may be taught and defended. There are, in my opinion, two reasons why some of the statements of the ancient Greek Fathers strike our contemporaries as dubious. First, because once errors regarding the faith arose, the holy Doctors of the Church became more circumspect in the way they expounded points of faith, so as to exclude these errors. It is clear, for example, that the Doctors who lived before the error of Arius did not speak so expressly about the unity of the divine essence as the Doctors who came afterwards. And the same happened in the case of other errors. This is quite evident not only in regard to Doctors in general, but in respect to one particularly distinguished Doctor, Augustine. For in the books he published after the rise of the Pelagian heresy he spoke more cautiously about the freedom of the human will than he had done in his books published before the rise of said heresy. In these earlier works, while defending the will against the Manichees, he made certain statements which the Pelagians, who rejected divine grace, used in support of their error. It is, therefore, no wonder if after the appearance of various errors, present day teachers of the faith speak more cautiously and more selectively so as to steer clear of any kind of heresy. Hence, if there are found some points in statements of the ancient Fathers not expressed with the caution moderns find appropriate to observe, their statements are not to be ridiculed or rejected; on the other hand neither are they to be overextended, but reverently interpreted. "Second, because many things which sound well enough in Greek do not perhaps, sound well in Latin. Hence, Latins and Greeks professing the same faith do so using different words. For among the Greeks it is said, correctly, and in a Catholic way, that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three hypostases. But with the Latins it does not sound right to say that there are three substantiae, even though on a purely verbal basis the term hypostasis in Greek means the same as the term substantia in Latin. The fact is, substantia in Latin is more frequently used to signify essence. And both we and the Greeks hold that in God there is but one essence. So where the Greeks speak of three hypostases, we Latins speak of three personae, as Augustine in the seventh book on the Trinity also teaches. And, doubtless, there are many similar instances. It is, therefore, the task of the good translator, when translating material dealing with the Catholic faith, to preserve the meaning, but to adapt the mode of expression so that it is in harmony with the idiom of the language into which he is translating. For obviously, when anything spoken in a literary fashion in Latin is explained in common parlance, the explanation will be inept if it is simply word for word. All the more so, when anything expressed in one language is translated merely word for word into another, it will be no surprise if perplexity concerning the meaning of the original sometimes occurs.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... 202 CHAPTER VII ST JOHN OF DAMASCUS (f c. 754) JOHN of Damascus, surnamed Chrysorroas,1 monk and priest near Jerusalem, is in most ways unlike any other father of the Church. Unless we count St Bernard (f 1153) one, John is the last of the fathers. In any case, he is the last Greek father, coming long after the others, alone in a very different age. He spent all his life under the government of a Mohammedan khalifah. His work as a writer was rather to compile and arrange what the older fathers had said than to add to it. He is the first of the long line of Christian Aristotelians, and one of the two greatest poets of the eastern Church.2 He was (with St Theodore of Studion) the chief defender of images during the Iconoclast troubles, and he is more than any other author the theologian studied in Orthodox colleges. His treatise Of the orthodox faith is the standard text book in their schools still, as St Thomas Aquinas' Summa theologica is in ours. And he is to them the last court of appeal in theological questions. No Orthodox Christian would dare contradict St John Damascene, though occasionally they have to explain what he really meant--as when he writes of the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father through the Son. We know too little of his life; but to us also he is a very interesting and sympathetic person whose life and times form a singularly picturesque chapter of eastern Church history. 1Xpv

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book "Readers will be grateful for this excellent comprehensive survey of Aquinas' theology. It is a compendium in the best sense of the word, both introduction for beginners and a reliable source of information for advanced scholars. Even experts in Thomist thought will highly appreciate the great number of original and stimulating essays which provide new views and interpretations of seemingly well known texts." --Ulrich Horst, O.P., Ludwig Maximilian University This comprehensive volume provides an in-depth overview of every major aspect of Thomas Aquinas's theology. Contributors offer fresh and compelling readings of Aquinas on the Trinity, creation theology, theory of analogy, anthropology, predestination and human freedom, evil and original sin, Christology and grace, soteriology, eschatology, sacramentology, ecclesiology, moral theology, the relation between theology and philosophy, and scriptural exegesis. Contributors to The Theology of Thomas Aquinas come from seven different countries and a variety of specialties within the discipline of theology. Their diverse perspectives add considerable merit to the depth and breadth of this project. Contributors both outline the thought of Aquinas in its own right and bring it into dialogue with present theological concerns. The high quality of these essays make this volume a valuable reference tool.

This second volume of the series Mariological Studies in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe treats the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, hidden in plain sight for nearly a thousand years prior to Bl. John Duns Scotus and his later influence at the Council of Florence. Until now, practically nothing was known of this history. Key to the present study is St. Gregory Nazianzen, whose Marian doctrine inspired Benedict XVI at a 2007 public audience: "Mary, who gave human nature to Christ, is true Mother of God and, in view of her highest mission, was 'prepurified,' as if a distant prelude of the Immaculate Conception." Fr. Kappes' groundbreaking thesis confirms Benedict's insight beyond anything previously imaginable. The person and mystery of Mary in Christ and the Church unfolds as indispensable for ecumenical theology. Greco-Latin agreement on the Immaculate Conception at Florence was itself a portent to subsequent harmony on other doctrinal questions, then, as now. As Pope Francis intensifies efforts to resolve differences between Orthodox and Catholics, Fr. Kappes' research clarifies Our Lady's central role in these efforts.