Denys Turner identifies what he labels an “Augustinian principle” governing Milbank’s reading of St. Thomas-a principle that Turner believes leads Milbank astray in his interpretation of Aquinas’ five ways.  According to Turner, Milbank sees the Summa Theologiae as reflecting Thomas’ shift to a more mature theological strategy in comparison to the more overtly philosophical approach of [...]

Guest Lecturer
Alain de Libera  (Lecture title:  “When did the ‘Modern Subject’ Emerge?”)
Full Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland
Senior Fellow at the École pratique des hautes études
Department of Religious Studies, Paris, France
Response by Philipp Rosemann, University of Dallas
Dates/Times/Events
Aquinas Lecture:
Monday, January 28, 2008
7:30 p.m. Lynch Auditorium
Reception to follow
Gorman Faculty Lounge
Student Discussion:
Tuesday, January 29, 5:00 p.m., Braniff [...]

In the opening chapter of his book, Peregrinations of the Word:  Essays in Medieval Philosophy, Louis Mackey presents a dense and rather original reading of Augustine’s Confessions.  One, in my opinion rather brilliant, interpretation that Mackey proffers concerns a passage from book VII-a passage that has for some time now left me slightly puzzled.  Speaking [...]

[I recommend reading part III or you might find yourself wondering what this post has to do with Denys Turner].
By “primary adequate object” (PAO), Scotus means that our intellect is proportionate to and commensurate with the object in question (being) and has the ability to actualize the potencies involved.  Being as being as the PAO [...]

[Part II]
In this section Turner engages Scotus’s critique of Henry of Ghent’s teaching on analogy and claims contra Richard Cross that Henry’s doctrine of analogy must be distinguished from St. Thomas’s.  Moreover, according to Turner, though it is the case that Scotus shows Henry’s position to be seriously flawed and even incoherent, St. Thomas’s doctrine [...]

[Part I]
Continuing his elucidation of Scotus’s teaching on univocity, Turner again turns to the Ordinatio (1 d3, q1-2) and summarizes Scotus’s claim that one can be certain that God exists but at the same time doubt whether He is finite or infinite.  For example, it is possible for both a Christian and an idolater to [...]

In chapter seven of his book Faith, Reason and the Existence of God, Turner begins by giving of brief summary of Radical Orthodoxy’s critique of Scotus.  According to Radical Orthodoxy, Scotus’ onto-theological downfall involves the following:  (1) Scotus believes that it is possible to demonstrate God’s existence by natural reason apart from appeal to the [...]

In Michael Krausz’s article, The Tonal and The Foundational:  Ansermet on Stravinsky, Krausz argues against Ansermet’s claim that Stravinsky’s atonal music is both sub-standard and unnatural.  Krausz approaches the issue from a non-foundationalist epistemology, “which assumes that there are no uninterpreted facts of the matter and no single ahistorical Archimedean interpretive framework from which we [...]

 
[Part I]
Turner acknowledges that surface level analyses of both the stylistic and temperamental contrasts between St. Thomas and Eckhart cannot be denied.  For example, it is certainly the case that Thomas’s theological discourses emphasize clarity,[1] understatement and sobriety in contrast with Eckhart’s “hyperactively paradoxical extravagance.”  Likewise, one might rightly conclude that these stylistic differences are [...]

 
In chapter 5, “Reason and Rhetoric,” of his book, Faith, Reason and the Existence of God, Turner engages in a fascinating discussion of Meister Eckhart’s theological rhetoric.  By the terms “rhetoric” and “rhetorical,” Turner has in mind, not some sophistic mode of communication, nor a derogatory label, but rather all the ways in which human [...]

 
Apparently Peter Martyr Vermigli had quite an influence on Thomas Cranmer’s Eucharistic theology.  In the translator’s introduction to Vermigli’s Oxford Treatise and Disputation on the Eucharist, 1549, he notes that Cranmer and Vermigli shared research during 1547-1551 and that “Cranmer’s collection De re sacramentaria resembles Martyr’s biblical and patristic sources in the Treatise” (p. xxxii). Vermigli, [...]

Below are the most popular posts of 2007, that is, the most frequently visited posts in 2007.  If there are others that you think should have made the top ten list, let me know.

Zanchi on the Use of Philosophy in Theology
Part I:  Luther, Via Moderna and the Two Power Dialectic
Part IV:  The Perplexing Role of Virgil [...]

My friends at the Church and Postmodern Culture Blog recently posted my short and very reader-friendly article entitled, “Embodied Human Beings and Our Gravitation Towards Ceremony and Ritual.”  Please join the conversation if you are so inclined.