Wisdom in the Face of Modernity: A Study in Thomistic Natural Theology (Faith and Reason: Studies in Catholic Theology and Philosophy) Faith and Reason: Studies in Catholic Theology and Philosophy

This book considers the merits of Thomas Aquinas's arguments for the existence of God. Aquinas portrays philosophical reason as a form of wisdom that can attain to true knowledge of God. Should his views matter for contemporary Christian theology? What are the Aristotelian presuppositions required for these arguments to make sense, and are such presuppositions rationally defensible today? Particularly, should the modern Kantian and Heideggerian objections to any possible philosophical approach to God (as onto-theology) apply to the arguments of Aquinas? The author argues robustly in favor of the recovery of a sapiential conception of Thomistic philosophy. Review: A restatement of Aquinas s natural theology that takes account of the controversies in which Maritain, Gilson, and Rahner engaged has been badly needed for quite some time. So has an extended and creative reply to Heidegger s accusations of ontotheology. To have met both needs in one book is an impressive and unexpected achievement. This book should become a focus for discussions within and about Thomism from now on. --Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame Scientism and fideism share the conviction that there is no path leading from human experience to God. By way of contrast, models of wisdom have defined themselves from antiquity on by their abilities to show the transcendent significance of the ordinary. T.J. White s Wisdom in the Face of Modernity looks at several of the leading attempts to discern in the human experience of our self-doubting times reasons for the affirmation of God: which is, at the same time, an affirmation of human dignity. Metaphysics is a privileged space where mercy and truth come together again. --Richard Schenk, O.P. Few Thomists since Maritain and Journet have been ready to accept the challenges of philosophical modernity head on. Fr. Thomas Joseph White refuses to concede the philosophical battle to the spirit of the times; still less does he allow himself to become a Thomist fellow traveler of Kant or Heidegger. Instead he offers a spirited and stimulating argument against the secular tilt of modern philosophy, in defense of St. Thomas on the natural knowledge of God. --Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University About the Author: Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. earned his D.Phil. from Oxford University in 2003. He is an Instructor in Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, in Washington, D.C. He is the co-editor, with James F. Keating, of Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering (Eerdmans Press, 2009). Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations of Works by St. Thomas Aquinas Translations Preface Introduction PART I 1. Identifying the Challenge: The Problem of Ontotheology and the Via Inventionis for a Modern Thomistic Natural Theology Natural Theology as a Problem in Modernity Vatican I and Aeterni Patris Challenges for Post-Kantian Thomism Heideggerian Ontotheology and Thomistic Analogy The Metaphysical Problem of the Person Via Invenfionis for a Thomistic Theological Metaphysics PART II 2. Knowledge of God as Wisdom according to Aristotle The Platonic Background of Aristotle's Protreptic Aspirations Aristotelian Rearticulation of the Platonic Aspirations Wisdom in the Metaphysics Aristotelian Theology and Ontotheology 3. Context and Elements of Aquinas's Natural Theology The Christian Theological Context of Aquinas's Natural Theological Reflections Aquinas's Christian Reinterpretation of Aristotelian Physics and Metaphysics The Esse/Essence Distinction and the Metaphysics of Creation The Perfection of the Primary Cause Analogical Predication of Names to God Personal Operations Attributed to God Aquinas and Ontotheology A Restatement of the Problems PART III 4. Exodus 3: 14, the Real Distinction, and Theo-ontology: The Case of Étienne Gilson Existence and the Critique of Essentialist Metaphysics The Judgment of Existence and the Esse/Essence Distinction An Existential Interpretation of the Five Ways Problems with the Esse/Essence Distinction Exodus 3:14 and Theo-ontology Critical Reflections The Judgment of Existence and Realistic Knowing Existence and Essence in Aristotle and Aquinas Theo-ontology and Specifically Philosophical Wisdom Conclusion 5. The Transcendentals and the Analogy of Being: The Case of Jacques Maritain Diverse Philosophical Approaches to Reality: The Degrees of Abstraction The Judgment of Existence and the Intuition of Being The Transcendentals, Intellectus, and Resolutio The Analogy of Being: Proper Proportionality The Being of the Human Person Intuitions of a Primary Being and the Five Ways Critical Reflections Resolution and Causality Analogical Study of the Causes of Being Personalist Metaphysics and Natural Theology Conclusion 6. The Human Person as a Being-toward-Truth: The Case of Karl Rahner Analogia Entis in Maréchal Rahnerian Method Presence in the World, Doubt, and Human Sensibility Abstraction within the Judgment of Existence Pre-apprehension, Natural Theology, and the Analogia Entis Spirit in the World. and Theological Reflections on the Person Critical Reflections Realist Presuppositions within a Transcendental Deduction Causal Analysis and Secondary Acts Conclusion PART IV 7. From Omega to Alpha: Toward a General Order of Metaphysical Inquiry Points of Departure: Physics, Metaphysics, and the Proper Object of Metaphysics Analogical and Causal Study of Being: Substance and Accidents, Actuality and Potentiality Ways toward God: A Posteriori Demonstrations The Human Person as Being toward Ontological Truth and Goodness Conclusion 8. Analogia Sapientiae Negative Theology, and the Real Distinction between Essence and Existence Causality, Apophaticism, and Analogy Analogia Sapientiae: God as the Subsistent Wisdom That Is the Origin of the World Sapientia and the Final End of Man Bibliography Works by Thomas Aquinas Translations of Works by Thomas Aquinas Classical and Medieval Works Modern Works Reference Works Index