1. THOMAS AQUINAS: STUDIES

 

Brian Davies, The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) paperback, $20.  A superb in-depth introduction to the intricacies of Thomas’ Summa.  Davies has the ability to put Thomas’ views in ordinary English with a clarity and precision that is a marvel to behold.  This study gives his theological, moral, sacramental concerns equal weight.  If you read nothing else on Thomas, read this.

 

Thomas F. O’Meara, Thomas Aquinas Theologian (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997) paperback, $20.  Too many studies of Thomas focus only his more philosophical ideas and ignore Thomas the theologian.  This new survey attempts to redress the balance.  It also includes a valuable history of Thomism from the 14th century to the present.

 

David Burrell, Aquinas: God and Action (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985)

David Burrell, Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn Sina, Maimondies, Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986).

Marie-Dominique Chenu, Toward Understanding St. Thomas, trans. A.M. Landry & D. Hughes (Chicago: H. Regnery, 1964).  Masterful treatment of Thomas’ academic world, the University of Paris.

Marie-Dominique Chenu, Aquinas and His Role in Theology, trans., Paul Philibert (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002) paperback, $16.

Richard Cross, The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover, $90.

Brian Davies, Aquinas, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (New York: Continuum, 2002) paperback, $20. 

Brian Davies, ed., Thomas Aquinas: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) paperback, $30. 

Leo Elders, The Philosophical Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Leiden: Brill, 1990).

Giles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Murphy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) hardcover, $120.  NEW.

John Finnis, Aquinas: Moral, Legal, and Political Theory, Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback, $19.

Anthony Kenny, Aquinas on Mind (London: Routledge, 1993).

Anthony Kenny, Aquinas on Being (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) paperback, $25.

Anthony Kenny, The Five Ways: St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proofs of God’s Existence (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980).

Fergus Kerr, ed., Contemplating Aquinas: On the Varieties of Interpretation (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007) paperback, $35.  NEW.

Norman Kretzmann & Elenore Stump, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, Cambridge Companions to Philosophy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993) paperback, $18.

Norman Kretzmann, The Metaphysics of Theism: Aquinas’s Natural Theology in Summa Contra Gentiles (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) paperback, $25.

Norman Kretzmann, The Metaphysics of Creation: Aquinas’s Natural Theology in Summa Contra Gentiles II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) paperback, $25.

Anthony J. Lisska, Aquinas’ Theory of Natural Law: An Analytical Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) hardcover, $60.

Elizabeth Lowe, The Contested Theological Authority of Thomas Aquinas: The Controversies Between Hervaeus Natalis and Durandus of St. Pourcain, 1307-1323, Studies in Medieval History and Culture (New York: Routledge, 2003) hardcover, $75.

Ralph McInerny, A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Press, 1990).

John Milbank & Catherine Pickstock, Truth in Aquinas, Radical Orthodoxy (Routledge, 2000) paperback, $20.

Rik Van Nieuwenhove & Joseph Wawrykow, eds., The Theology of Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) hardcover, $38.

Fran O'Rourke, Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005) paperback, $28. 

Robert Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologica, Ia 75-89 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) paperback, $28. 

Joseph Pilsner, The Specifications of Human Actions in St. Thomas Aquinas, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 2006) hardcover, $99.  NEW.

Stephen J. Pope, ed., The Ethics of Thomas Aquinas, Moral Tradition Series (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2002) paperback, $40.

Rory Fox, Time and Eternity in Mid-Thirteenth Century Thought, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) hardcover, $115.  NEW.

Eleonore Stump, Aquinas, Argument of the Philosophers, (New York: Routledge, 2003) paperback, $44.  A massive thorough survey.

Jean-Pierre Torrell, Saint Thomas Aquinas: Vol. 1: The Person and His Work, trans. Robert Royal (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1996) paperback, $20.

Jean-Pierre Torrell, Saint Thomas Aquinas: Vol. 2: Spiritual Master (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2003) paperback, $29.

Jean-Pierre Torrell, Aquinas’s Summa: Background, Structure, and Reception , trans. Benedict M. Guevin (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2005) paperback, $18.

Joseph P. Wawrykow, ed., The Westminster Handbook to Thomas Aquinas (Westminster John Knox, 2005) paperback, $30.

J.A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas D’Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Work (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1984 / original, 1974) paperback, $18.

John F. Wippel, The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being, Monographs of the Society for Medieval and Renassance Philosophy, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000) paperback, $40.

 

 2. SCHOLASTIC THEOLOGIANS & SCHOLASTIC THEOLOGY

 

G.R. Evans, ed., The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001) hardcover, $40.  An excellent, up-to-date one-volume introduction to medieval theology, which includes chapters on leading scholastic theogians: Peter Abelard, Peter Lombard, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham.

 

M.D. Chenu, Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century: Essays on New Theological Perspectives in the Latin West, Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching (reprint: Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998) paperback, $17.

Marcia L. Colish, The Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400, The Yale Intellectual History of the West (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997) paperback, $20.

Marcia L. Colish, Peter Lombard, 2 vol., Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, vol. 41 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994).

Richard Cross, Duns Scotus, Great Medieval Thinkers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $25. 

Heinrich Fichetenau, Heretics and Scholars in the High Middle Ages, 1000-1200 (Penn. State University Press, 1998) hardcover, $45.

Jacques LeGoff, Intellectuals in the Middle Ages (New York: Blackwell, 1992) paperback, $20.

John Marenbon, Later Medieval Philosophy (1150-1350) (Cambridge, MA: Routledge, 1991) paperback, $29.

John Marenbon, The Philosophy of Peter Abelard (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) paperback, $26.

John Marenbon, Boethius, Great Medieval Thinkers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $20.  Not a scholastic, of course, but one of great authorities in medieval theology.

Armand A. Mauer, Philosophy of William of Ockham in the Light of Its Principles (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2000) hardcover, $45.

M.T. Clanchy, Abelard: A Medieval Life (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1999).

James McEvoy, Robert Grosseteste, Great Medieval Thinkers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $20

Heiko Oberman, The Harvest of Medieval Theology: Gabriel Biel and Late Medieval Nominalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963) paperback, $25.

Kenan B. Osborne, ed., The History of Franciscan Theology (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1994) paperback, $25. 

Philipp W. Rosemann, Peter Lombard, Great Medieval Thinkers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $20.

Jay Rubenstein, Guibert of Nogent: Portrait of a Medieval Mind (New York: Routledge, 2002) hardcover, $75. 

Thomas Williams, ed., Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) paperback, $25.

Anders Winroth, The Making of Gratian’s Decretum, Cambridge Studies in Medeival Life and Thought, 4th Series 49 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) hardcover, $65.

R.W. Southern, Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe, 2 vol. (New York: Blackwell, 1997-2000)

 

 3. THOMAS AQUINAS & OTHER SCHOLASTICS: TEXTS

 

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (Cambridge: Blackfriars, 1963-1975).  This 60 volume edition contains the complete Latin text of the Summa with an English translation on facing pages.  Generally excellent.

Thomas Aquinas, An Exposition of the On the Hebdomads of Boethius, trans. Janice L. Schultz and Edward A Synan (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press of America, 2001) hardcover, $30.

Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Book of Causes, trans. Vincent A. Guagliardo, Charles R.Hess, and Richard C.Taylor (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press of America, 1996) paperback, $17.

Thomas Aquinas, On Evil: Disputed Questions, trans. John A. Osterle and Jean T. Osterle (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002) paperback, $28. 

Bonaventure, The Works of Bonaventure, 5 volumes, trans. J. de Vinck (Patterson, NJ: St. Antony Guild Press, 1960-1970).  The only complete translation of Bonaventure in English.

Hugh of St. Victor, On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith, trans. Roy J. Deferrari (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1951).  Hugh pioneered sacramental theology—carefully linking sacraments to their Christological foundation.  The first great systematic treatise on the sacraments.

Stephen J. Pope, ed., The Ethics of Aquinas (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2002) paperback, $40.

Brian Davies, ed., The De Malo of Thomas Aquinas (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover, $150. 

William A. Frank, ed., Duns Scotus Metaphysician, Purdue University Press Series in Western Philosophy (Purdue University Press, 1995) paperback, $22.

Robert Pasnau, ed., Mind and Knowledge, Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical Texts (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $35.

Simon Tugwell, ed., Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality,  (New York: Paulist Press, 1988) paperback, $28.

Rega Wood, ed., Ockham on the Virtues, Purdue University Press Series in Western Philosophy (Purdue University Press, 1997) hardcover, $42.

 

 4. MEDIEVAL LITURGY & SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY

 

Gary Macy, The Theologies of the Eucharist in the Early Scholastic Period (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984).  A valuable in-depth study of the development of the doctrine of real presence.  It covers the period from Berengar to the eve of Lateran IV.

 

David Aers, Sanctifying Signs: Making Christian Tradition in Late Medieval England (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) paperback, $25.

Margot E. Fassler & Rebecca A. Baltzer, eds., The Divine Office in the Latin Middle Ages: Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) hardcover, $65. 

Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, Paul Bradshaw, eds. The Study of Liturgy, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) paperback, $20.

Joseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, 2 vol.(Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1986; reprint of 1955 edition) paperback, $40.  A classic.

Theodor Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy, revised ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979).

Lizette Larson-Miller, ed., Medieval Liturgy: A Book of Essays (New York: Garland, 1997).

Karin Maag & John D. Witvliet, eds., Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change & Continuity in Religious Practice (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) paperback, $30.

Gary Macy, Treasures from the Storeroom: Medieval Religion and the Eucharist (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999) paperback.

Nathan Mitchell, Cult and Controversy: the Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass (Collegeville, MI: Liturgical Press, 1982) paperback.

Elizabeth F. Rogers, Peter Lombard and the Sacramental System (Merrick, NY: Richwood Publishing, 1976).

Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: the Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) paperback, $22.

Cyrille Vogel, Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to the Sources, trans. William Storey & Niels K. Rasmussen (Washington: Pastoral Press, 1986).

 

 5. MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

 

John W. Baldwin, The Scholastic Culture of the Middle Ages, 1000-1300 (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Co, 1971) paperback, $12.  A good brief introduction to the social world of the medieval schools.

Gordon Leff, Paris and Oxford Universities in the 13th and 14th Centuries: An Institutional and Intellectual History (New York: Wiley, 1968).

Hastings Rashdall, The University of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F.M. Powicke and A.B. Emden, 3 vol. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936).  A classic, massive, but dated.

J.M.M.H. Thijssen, Censure and Heresy at the University of Paris, 1200-1400 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998).

 

 6. DANTE: TEXTS & STUDIES

 

Robert Pinsky, trans. The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation (New York: Noonday Press, 1996) paperback, $9.  Robert Pinsky, the recent poet laureate of the United States, offers here a fascinating example of what happens when a top-notch poet rather a scholar does the translating.  Even more interesting is the version edited by Daniel Halpern, Dante’s Inferno: Translations by Twenty Contemporary Poets (Ecco Press). 

 

W.S. Merwin, trans. Purgatorio: A New Verse Translation (New York: Knopf, 2001) paperback, $20.  Merwin, like Pinsky, is one of the leading contemporary American poets, who happens to have spent much of his career translating works from the romance languages.  This edition, like Pinsky’s translation of the Inferno, shows what happens when translation is done by a skilled poet.

 

Rachel Jacoff, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Dante (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) paperback, $23.  A valuable set of introductory essays by leading contemporary specialists on Dante.  A good place to start.

 

Theodore J. Cachy, ed., Dante Now: Current Trends in Dante Studies (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995). 

John Freccero, Dante: The Poetics of Conversion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986) paperback, $18.

Manuele Gragnolati, Experiencing the Afterlife: Soul and Body in Dante and Medieval Culture, William and Katherine Devers Series in Dante Studies (Notre Dame: University of Notre Press, 2005) paperback, $25.

Nick Havely, Dante and the Franciscans: Poverty and the Papacy in the Commedia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) hardcover, $75.

R.W.B. Lewis, Dante, Penguin Lives (New York: Penguin Books, 2001) hardcover, $20.

Franco Masciandaro, Dante as Dramatist: The Myth of the Earthly Paradise and Tragic Vision in the Divine Comedy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991).

Allen Mandelbaum, trans. Dante: The Divine Comedy, 3 volumes (New York: Bantam Classics, 1984) $7 per volume.  Mandelbaum’s translation uses a fluent unrhymed free verse; English & Italian on facing pages.

John A. Scott, Understanding Dante (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) paperback, $35.

Charles H. Taylor & Patricia Finely, Images of the Journey in Dante’s Divine Comedy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997) hardcover, $55.

 

 

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Revised: March 1, 2008

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