Reading Romans With St Thomas Aquinas

This volume fits within the contemporary reappropriation of St. Thomas Aquinas, which emphasizes his use of Scripture and the teachings of the church fathers without neglecting his philosophical insight.

This volume fits within the contemporary reappropriation of St. Thomas Aquinas, which emphasizes his use of Scripture and the teachings of the church fathers without neglecting his philosophical insight.

Steven Boguslawski maintains in this provocative book that Thomas Aquinas in his Commentary on Romans uses predestination and election as hermeneutical keys to understand Romans 9-11 and to sustain a positive theological view of the Jewish people. Thomas' positions in the Summa Theologiae on significant policy questions of his time regarding the Jews are set against the socio-historical context in which Thomas wrote. He integrates predestination and election, as treated in the Summa, with their use in the Commentary on Romans. Then he draws a comparison between Thomas's position and that of Augustine. In conclusion he asserts that Thomas's way of reading Romans 9-11 not only corrects and develops the received tradition but also sustains a positive theology of Judaism.

Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas is a scholarly contribution to Thomistic studies, specifically to the study of Aquinas’s biblical exegesis in relation to his philosophy and theology. Each of the thirteen chapters has a different focus, within the shared concentration of the book on Aquinas’s Literal Exposition on Job. The essays are arranged in three Parts: “Job and Sacra Doctrina”; “Providence and Suffering”; and “Job and the Moral Life”. Boyle’s opening essay argues that Aquinas’s commentary seeks to show what is required in the “Magister” (namely, Job and God) for the effective communication of wisdom. Mansini’s essay argues that by speaking, God reveals the virtue of Job and its value in God’s providence; without the personal revelation or speech of God, Job could not have known the value of his suffering. Vijgen’s essay explores the commentary’s use of Aristotle for reflecting upon divine providence, sorrow and anger, resurrection, and the new heavens and new earth. Levering’s essay explores the commentary’s citations of the Gospel of John and argues that these pertain especially to divine speech and to light/darkness. Bonino’s essay explains why divine incomprehensibility does not mean that Job is wrong to seek to understand God’s ways. Te Velde’s essay explores how Aquinas’s commentary draws upon the reasoning of his Summa contra gentiles with regard to the good order of the universe. Goris’s essay reflects upon how, according to Aquinas’s commentary, sin is and is not related to suffering. Knasas’s essay argues that Aquinas does not hold that the resurrection of the body is a necessary philosophical corollary of the human desire for happiness. Wawrykow’s essay explores merit, in relation to the connection between sin and punishment/affliction as well as to the connection between good actions and flourishing. Spezzano’s essay shows that Job’s hope and filial fear transform his suffering, making him an exemplar of the consolation they provide to the just. Mullady’s essay reflects upon the moral problems and opportunities posed by the passions, along with the ordering of the virtues to the reward of human happiness. Flood’s essay shows how Aquinas defends Job’s possession of the qualities needed for true friendship (including friendship with God), such as patience, delight in the presence of the friend, and compassion. Lastly, Kromholtz’s essay argues that although Aquinas’s Literal Exposition on Job never extensively engages eschatology, Aquinas depends throughout upon the reasonableness of hoping for the resurrection of the body and the final judgment.

St. Thomas Aquinas never commented on the Song of Songs. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate, however, that he meditated on it and absorbed it, so that the words of the Song are for him a familiar repertoire and a theological source. His work contains numerous citations of the Song, not counting his borrowings of vocabulary and images from it. In total, there are 312 citations of the Song in Aquinas’s corpus, along with citations of the Song that are found in citations that Aquinas makes of other authors (as for example in the Catena aurea). Understanding the purpose and placement of these citations significantly enriches our understanding of Aquinas as a theologian, biblical exegete, and spiritual master. The book contains an Appendix listing and contextualizing each citation. The study of the citations of the Song especially illuminates Aquinas’s spiritual doctrine. By citing the Song, Aquinas emphasizes the spiritual life’s path of dynamic ascent, through an ever increasing participation in the mystery of the nuptial union of Christ and the Church through love. The Song also highlights the eschatological tension or yearning present in the spiritual life, which is ordered to the fullness of beatific vision. Although Aquinas’s theology is highly “intellectual,” by citing the Song he brings out the affective character of the spiritual life and conveys the centrality of love in the soul’s journey toward Christ. He also draws together contemplation and preaching through his use of the Song.

The Letter to the Romans has fascinated and perplexed readers ever since antiquity, when the Church Fathers commented extensively on it. St. Thomas’s Commentary on Romans, the first in his series of majestic commentaries on Paul’s letters, stands out among commentaries on Paul’s letters, both ancient and modern, as uniquely ample and refined. Expansive in its broad theological concerns, incisive in its attention to the nuances of Paul’s elaborate and complex argument, the Commentary on Romans shows the Angelic Doctor to be a singularly perceptive and insightful reader of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Inheritor of the great centuries of Patristic exegesis, tranquilly free from assumptions of later doctrinal disputes, and bringing to bear a mind saturated with Scripture, St. Thomas was able to lecture on Romans with an accuracy and thoroughness of interpretation that has never been equaled.

The influence of Thomas Aquinas on Western theology is beyond dispute, yet his is a contested legacy. In current evangelical studies, there is an emerging infatuation with Thomas, especially as far as his theological metaphysics is concerned. On the occasion of the eighth centenary of Thomas Aquinas, Engaging with Thomas Aquinas is a thoughtful introduction aimed at presenting the main contours of the doctor's complex legacy and critically evaluating it, especially in areas where the "Roman Catholic" Thomas eclipses the "classical" theology which is attracting renewed attention in evangelical circles. Engaging with Thomas Aquinas contributes a thoughtful analysis from an evangelical viewpoint, offering answers to complex questions such as: - Is the thought of Thomas and Thomism(s) the same? - What strengths and dangers does the legacy of Thomas Aquinas present to evangelical thought? - How can Rome's chief doctor be, at the same time, a reference point for evangelical theology? In this book, De Chirico offers an evangelical a framework to think through this contested thinker's legacy, as well as an invitation to the inquiring reader to consider an alternative.