Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest Western philosphers and one of the greatest theologians of the Christian church. In this book we at last have a modern, comprehensive presentation of the total thought of Aquinas. Books on Aquinas invariably deal with either his philosophy or his theology. But Aquinas himself made no arbitrary division between his philosophical and his theological thought, and this book allows readers to see him as a whole. It introduces the full range of Aquinas' thinking; (...) and it relates his thinking to writers both earlier and later than Aquinas himself. (shrink)

Identifies what is most radically distinctive about Christian belief. Addressed to a non-technical audience, the book helps the reader examine the most basic questions concerning Christian faith.

For Heidegger, onto-theology is the use of abstract, impersonal categories under the principle of sufficient reason that has one goal and two results. The goal is to make God fully intelligible to human understanding. The results are the disappearance of mystery from our understanding of God and the loss of any religious significance for the “God” that results. I argue that Aquinas is not guilty of onto-theology because his use of abstract, impersonal categories is subsumed (aufgehoben, teleologically suspended) in his (...) use of personal categories and because his doctrine of analogy retains mystery in our understanding of God. (shrink)

In this paper I consider how Aquinas has been interpreted by continental philosophers of religion and particularly in relation to the problem of ontotheology. A patient examination of the texts of those who have dealt with Aquinas reveals two basic problems. First, there is an underestimation of the radicality of Aquinas’s negative theology. Second, no account is taken of the way Aquinas understands the relationship between reason and revelation. Aquinas’s position on this relationship is even more crucial for the overcoming (...) of onto-theology than is his negative theology. From a Christian perspective, what is at stake in overcoming onto-theology is the issue of keeping philosophical theology from overstepping its bounds and intruding on the domain of revelation. Revelation is the final standard when it comes to God-talk. If negative theology is to be done properly, it must be integrated into a theological position like Aquinas’s that, while granting reason and revelation each their legitimate “autonomy,” gives priority to the latter in questions of theology. (shrink)

The purpose of the present study is to undertake a confrontation of the thought of Martin Heidegger and Thomas Aquinas on the question of Being and the problem ...

Gregory Rocca's nuanced discussion prevents Aquinas's thought from being capsulized in familiar slogans and is an antidote to unilateralist or monochrome views about God-talk.

v. 1. Die Geburt der Tragödie. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 1-4.--v. 2-3. Menschliches, allzumenschliches.--v. 4. Morgenrothe.--v. 5. Die fröhliche Wissenschaft.--v. 6. Also sprach Zarathustra.--v. 7. Jenseits von gut und böse. Zur Genealogie der Moral.--v. 8. Der Fall Wagner. Götzen Dämmerung. Nietzsche contra Wagner. Umwerthung alle Werthe. Dichtungen.

Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of his doctrine of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, showing the fundamental character of the notions of being, one, true and good for his thought. The book inquires into the beginnings of the doctrine in the thirteenth century and explains the relation of the transcendental way of thought to Aquinas's conception of metaphysics. It analyzes 'Being', 'One', 'True', 'Good' and 'Beautiful' individually and discusses their importance for the (...) philosophical knowledge of God. Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: The Case of Thomas Aquinas is intended as a contribution to the question 'What is philosophy in the Middle Ages?' It argues that the doctrine of the transcendentals is essential for understanding medieval philosophy. (shrink)

This book provides an introduction to the emerging field of Continental philosophy of religion by treating the philosophical thought of its most important representatives, including its appropriations by several thinkers in the US. Part I provides a context to the field by looking at the religious aspects of the thought of Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Lévinas, and Jacques Derrida. It contends that although the work of these thinkers is not apologetic in nature, it prepares the ground for the more religiously motivated (...) work of more recent thinkers by giving religious language and ideas some legitimacy in philosophical discussions. Part II devotes a chapter to each of the contemporary French thinkers who articulate a phenomenology of religious experience: Paul Ricoeur, Jean-Luc Marion, Michel Henry, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Emmanuel Falque. This part argues that their respective philosophies can be read as an apologetics of sort, namely as making arguments for the coherence of thought about God and the viability of religious experience, though each does so in a different fashion and to a different degree. Part III considers the three major thinkers who have popularized and extended this phenomenology in the US context: Merold Westphal, John D. Caputo, and Richard Kearney. The book thus both provides an introduction to important contemporary thinkers many of whom have not yet received much treatment in English and also argues that their philosophies can be read as providing an argument for Christian faith. (shrink)

In this paper I consider how Aquinas has been interpreted by continental philosophers of religion and particularly in relation to the problem of ontotheology. A patient examination of the texts of those who have dealt with Aquinas reveals two basic problems. First, there is an underestimation of the radicality of Aquinas’s negative theology. Second, no account is taken of the way Aquinas understands the relationship between reason and revelation. Aquinas’s position on this relationship is even more crucial for the overcoming (...) of onto-theology than is his negative theology. From a Christian perspective, what is at stake in overcoming onto-theology is the issue of keeping philosophical theology from overstepping its bounds and intruding on the domain of revelation. Revelation is the final standard when it comes to God-talk. If negative theology is to be done properly, it must be integrated into a theological position like Aquinas’s that, while granting reason and revelation each their legitimate “autonomy,” gives priority to the latter in questions of theology. (shrink)