Occasional Papers

Paper Number 1
"AMERICAN CATHOLICS AND THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE"
Benedict T. Vivano, O.P. - 1996
This paper identifies positive ingredients vital to discussion of the relation of Catholicism to the wider culture of America. Vivano uses John Tracey Ellis's lecture "American Catholics and the Intellectual Life" (1955) as a starting point to investigate subsequent developments in the American Church in relation to the wider Catholic tradition and the activity of the mind as a means of sanctification. Ellis's high standards exclude some Catholic authors but Vivano argues here for inclusion. He also uses Etienne Gilson's distinctions about three "simultaneously existing traditions" to argue there is good evidence for Catholic engagement with traditions of Protestantism and the Enlightenment. (VK)

Paper Number 2
"NEWMAN AND THE IDEA OF A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY"
Peter C. Erb - 1997
Erb's work makes Newman's investigation applicable to today's complex society. Newman's classic Catholic argument about a liberal arts education systematically shows it to be of value for today's university "Knowledge as 'an end', not 'the end'" is at the core: basic is a university's treatment of its students as whole persons. Also fundamental is an understanding of the need for contemplative truth in community -- both in the temporal and eternal senses. This paper places knowledge of Newman in the ecumenical setting of the 1990's as fundamental precisely because Catholics live in a secular setting. (VK)

Paper Number 3
"SEEKING GOD' IN THE JOURNALS OF THOMAS MERTON"
Jonathan Montaldo - 1998
Merton's Journals are a model of, and for, the universal spiritual journey. Montaldo, one of the editors of Merton's complete journals, offers a sensitive reading of the methodology which undergirds Merton's Journal project. Montaldo does not seek to provide an overview of the Journals (1939 - 1968) but instead focuses on the "daily struggles" and salvation in "the present moment." Merton is drawn "inexorably" toward a presence which was only partially disclosed to him but which serves as a paradigm for others. (VK)

Thomas Merton spent years as a Trappist monk before he was able to embrace the dynamic nature of his spirituality. Such willingness required immeasurable growth and maturation including an openness to risk and vulnerability. Jonathan Montaldo's "'Seeking God' in the Journals of Thomas Merton: Loving Winter When the Plant Says Nothing" offers a seductive glimpse into the paradoxical nature of Merton's desert spirituality and his uncanny role as spiritual guide. Key to Montaldo's discussion is Merton's increasing awareness of "emptiness" as a sign of hope and fulfillment. While disclosing critical moments in his own spiritual journey, Montaldo suggests that Merton's journals serve as an invaluable source for better understanding one's search for personal transcendence. (WC)

Paper Number 4
"ORDERING DIFFERENCES IN NATURE AND SOCIETY: THOMAS AQUINAS VS. THE MODERNS
EILEEN C. SWEENEY - 2001
This paper is an expanded lecture from the Center's co-sponsored Series on Philosophy which demonstrates that Thomas was not just a student of Aristotle but someone whose wisdom is appreciated today. He was quite aware of differences of degree which can be "more beautiful, strong, intelligent, etc." Aquinas's reflection contrasts with that of Rousseau. Comparison with Hobbes allows readers to see that there is no temporal ideal order, yet Aquinas was no naive "supporter of a power structure," rather he argued that "subjective natural rights" are important. (VK)

Sweeney asserts the Thomistic account of unfallen and resurrected humanity is a precursor to modern notions of the state of nature and a model against which they were constructed. In his exposition difference in terms of the "state of nature," we find a concrete version of Aquinas's anthropology. Hobbes and Rousseau, in contrast, assert an erasure of difference. As in the account of order and government in the Summa theologicae, Aquinas's treatise on kingship asserts a call to virtuous leadership despite difference. Sweeney suggests Aquinas's perspective can help us to recognize limitations of modernity and possible affinities between Aquinas and post-modern thought. (LB)

Paper Number 5
"ANTHROPOLOGY AND MORAL VISION: AQUINAS'S FUSION OF AUTONOMY AND THEONOMY"
PAUL J. PHILIBERT - 2003

After establishing that autonomy is an important and neglected consideration in contemporary conversations, this paper contrasts the modern, Kantian ideal of autonomy with the “theonomy” of Thomas Aquinas. Philibert argues that the autonomy of Kant and his followers can too quickly become radically individualistic, denying the social and natural roots of human independence. The Thomistic view articulated in this paper stresses instead that autonomy is most possible when we act from God’s law within us, in concert with our natural tendencies. This paper offers insight not only into the nature of autonomy and theonomy, but also into the ways in which Aquinas’s worldview and anthropology remain relevant and challenging in today’s world. (KO)

OCCASIONAL PAPERS May be ordered by sending a check made payable to The Aquinas Center for $7.00 per paper. Be sure to state the number of the paper you are requesting and your mailing address.

"Someday, after mastering
the winds, the waves,
the tides and gravity,
we shall harness for
God the energies of
love, and then for a
second time in history of
the world, man will have
discovered fire."

-Pierre Teilhard
de Chardin, S.J.