DOCSLIB.ORG

An Examination of the Thomistic Metaphysics of the Eucharistic Presence

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Examination of the Thomistic Metaphysics of the Eucharistic Presence 1 PRAESENTIA SUBSTANTIALIS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE THOMISTIC METAPHYSICS OF THE EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE Submitted by Colin Robert Goodwin, Ph. L. (Univ. of St Thomas, Rome), M. Ed. (Univ. of Melbourne), M. Phil. (Aust. Cath. Univ.) A thesis submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Sciences Australian Catholic University Research Services Locked Bag 4115 Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 Australia 21st October 2006 2 Statement of Sources This thesis contains no material published elsewhere by me, or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for, or been awarded, another degree or diploma. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. No research procedures involved in preparing the thesis required the approval of an Ethics or Safety Committee. Signed……………………. Colin Goodwin Dated…………………… 3 Abstract 1. Aim of the Thesis This thesis is concerned to investigate the schemata of metaphysical concepts, and the lines of philosophical argument, used by Thomas Aquinas in reaching conclusions about the nature of the change through which Christ becomes present in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and about the nature of this continuing presence. Although the object to which the thesis relates is provided by doctrinal and theological affirmations, the perspec- tive within which the investigation takes place is that of the reflective rationality distinc- tive of philosophy. Put differently, the aim of the thesis is to examine the speculative rational work under- taken by Thomas Aquinas in the course of his discussion of issues relating to the change of bread and of wine into the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist - a discussion that Thomas introduces by first arguing to traditional Catholic belief about the outcome of this change. The examination engages with the reasonable explanatory power of the conceptual resources and the philosophical arguments drawn upon by the Angelic Doctor in his systematic study of the Eucharistic change, and of the implications of this change relative to the continuing presence of Christ in the Eucharist. 2. Scope of the Thesis The parameters of the thesis are set by St Thomas’s discussions of Eucharistic change and presence that take place in part three, questions 75-77, of his Summa Theologiae, book four, chapters 60-68, of his Summa contra Gentiles, and book four, distinctions 10- 11, of his Scriptum super Libris Sententiarum Petri Lombardi. Within these parameters are to be included contributions to the issues discussed by St Thomas made by Thomas de Vio Cajetan, Domingo Banez, and Silvester of Ferrara (Ferrariensis), major commen- tators on the work of Thomas. Extensive presentation, and scrutiny, of opposing argu- ments from Duns Scotus are also included. 4 Following an introductory chapter concerned to situate, summarise, and indicate its prin- cipal assumptions, the thesis explores what is, for St Thomas, a major objection to affirm- ing the substantially real presence of Christ in the Eucharist: such an affirmation is said to imply the ontological impossibility that Christ’s bodily reality is simultaneously pre- sent in more than one place. The response to this objection involves an analysis of the distinction between the primary and the secondary formal effects of dimensive quantity, and the use of this distinction to argue at some length that one and the same material thing may be simultaneously present in more than one place if the secondary formal effects of dimensive quantity that would spatially situate this thing in relation to its im- mediate surroundings are suspended. The thesis then considers three issues dealing with what becomes of the substance of the bread and of the wine at the Eucharistic consecration. In the first of these, Thomas re- jects the claim that the substance of the bread and of the wine remains in existence on the altar, affirming that the bread and wine are changed at the level of substance into the body and blood of Christ. This position requires, and receives, sustained treatment of philosophical questions concerning ‘substance’, and change affecting the whole sub- stance of a thing (within a hylomorphic understanding of material realities). Related problems of individuation, causal agency, and the logic of language that both signifies, and brings about, change, are considered. The second issue investigates the claim that the substance of the bread and of the wine is not changed after all into the body and blood of Christ but is either annihilated or chang- ed into matter-in-an-earlier-state. This claim is rejected by St Thomas on philosophical grounds, and this section of the thesis engages critically with Cajetan on several points connected with Thomas’s arguments The third issue concerns, and affirms, the capacity of bread and wine to be changed sub- stantially into the body and blood of Christ, at which point the thesis widens out to con- 5 trast a hylomorphic with a hylomeric account of matter, and to consider at some length Duns Scotus’s metaphysics of the Eucharist which oppose those of St Thomas. Chapter six of the thesis explores in some detail the responses of Cajetan and Ferrariensis to the challenges issued by Scotus, and the concluding chapter (chapter seven) provides an analysis of Thomistic ideas regarding three modes of the emergence of being: creation, natural change, transubstantiation. 3. Conclusions The title asserts that the thesis is “an examination of the Thomistic metaphysics of the Eucharistic presence”. This examination endorses the following conclusions: 3.1 The schemata of metaphysical concepts employed by St Thomas (e.g. the concepts of substance, accident, esse, primary matter, substantial form, creation, natural change, obediential potentiality, primary/secondary formal effects of dimensive quantity), and his lines of philosophical argument, provide a clearly valid response to “the exigencies of the inquiring mind at work” in relation to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, their reasonable explanatory power is evidently to be affirmed. 3.2 Pari passu the thesis indicates something of what could be called ‘the mystery of matter’ – the inexhaustible depths and potentialities of matter that the inquiring mind confronts when exploring matter in the distinctive situation that is matter’s special depen- dence on the First Cause in the Eucharistic change (transubstantiation). 3.3 The thesis is an instance of philosophical work undertaken in the first decade of the 21st century, and within the socio-cultural context of this time. This socio-cultural ‘situatedness’, although vastly different from the socio-cultural ‘situatedness’ of Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Cajetan, Ferrariensis, and Banez, has created no culturally relative barrier - no ‘incommensurability’ - such as to prevent an understanding of the concep- 6 tual/argumentative activity in which these thinkers engaged some centuries ago. Human beings always and everwhere ‘fit into’ the same Universe through their abiding and ine- luctably shared openness to being and its first principles. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 The Reality of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist - Solving 15 a Problem (3. 75. 1) Chapter 3 Eucharistic Consecration and the Substance of Bread and Wine 86 - First Issue (3. 75. 2) Chapter 4 The Substance of the Bread after the Eucharistic Consecration 133 - Second Issue (3. 75. 3) Chapter 5 The Substance of the Bread after the Eucharistic Consecration 165 - Third Issue (3. 75. 4) Chapter 6 “Respondeo dicendum quod…”: Some Thomistic Responses to 225 Duns Scotus Chapter 7 Some Distinctions and Contrasts: Transubstantiation, Creation, 263 and Natural Change (3. 75. 8) Bibliography l-Xlll 8 Chapter 1 Introduction Content: An Overview This thesis will be a sustained investigation of the schemata of metaphysical concepts and arguments used by Thomas Aquinas in exploring a range of issues that bear on the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Given that Thomas engages in first- order philosophical and theological reflection on the nature of this presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the concern of the thesis becomes that of second-order philosophical reflection on the first-order reflection of St Thomas. In this sense it is an instance of what Bernard Lonergan has called “reaching up to the mind of Aquinas”. [1] The central axis of the thesis will be a systematically reflective engagement with the philosophical aspects of what St Thomas has to say in the eight articles that make up question 75 of the third part of his Summa Theologiae [2] These articles themselves deal successively with the following topics: the reality of the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the altar (article 1); the cessation of the substance of bread and wine in this sacrament after the words of consecration have been pronounced (article 2); the non- annihilation, and non-reduction to an earlier state of matter of the substance of the bread (and of the wine) at the consecration (article 3); the capacity of bread to be changed into the body of Christ (and of wine to be changed into his blood) (article 4); the continuance of the accidents of bread and wine in this sacrament (article 5); the non-continuance of the substantial form of the bread (and of the wine) after the consecration (article 6); the instantaneous character of the Eucharistic change or conversion (article 7); the truth of the proposition ‘from bread comes the body of Christ’ (article 8). The main focus of discussion aligned with the eight articles of question 75 of this part of the Summa Theologiae will be importantly supported in three ways in the thesis.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • One Hundred Years of Thomism Aeterni Patris and Afterwards a Symposium
    One Hundred Years of Thomism Aeterni Patris and Afterwards A Symposium Edited By Victor B. Brezik, C.S.B, CENTER FOR THOMISTIC STUDIES University of St. Thomas Houston, Texas 77006 ~ NIHIL OBSTAT: ReverendJamesK. Contents Farge, C.S.B. Censor Deputatus INTRODUCTION . 1 IMPRIMATUR: LOOKING AT THE PAST . 5 Most Reverend John L. Morkovsky, S.T.D. A Remembrance Of Pope Leo XIII: The Encyclical Aeterni Patris, Leonard E. Boyle,O.P. 7 Bishop of Galveston-Houston Commentary, James A. Weisheipl, O.P. ..23 January 6, 1981 The Legacy Of Etienne Gilson, Armand A. Maurer,C.S.B . .28 The Legacy Of Jacques Maritain, Christian Philosopher, First Printing: April 1981 Donald A. Gallagher. .45 LOOKING AT THE PRESENT. .61 Copyright©1981 by The Center For Thomistic Studies Reflections On Christian Philosophy, All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or Ralph McInerny . .63 reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written Thomism And Today's Crisis In Moral Values, Michael permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in Bertram Crowe . .74 critical articles and reviews. For information, write to The Transcendental Thomism, A Critical Assessment, Center For Thomistic Studies, 3812 Montrose Boulevard, Robert J. Henle, S.J. 90 Houston, Texas 77006. LOOKING AT THE FUTURE. .117 Library of Congress catalog card number: 80-70377 Can St. Thomas Speak To The Modem World?, Leo Sweeney, S.J. .119 The Future Of Thomistic Metaphysics, ISBN 0-9605456-0-3 Joseph Owens, C.Ss.R. .142 EPILOGUE. .163 The New Center And The Intellectualism Of St. Thomas, Printed in the United States of America Vernon J.
    [Show full text]
  • Divine Causality and Created Freedom: a Thomistic Personalist View
    Nova et Vetera, English Edition, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2016): 919–963 919 Divine Causality and Created Freedom: A Thomistic Personalist View Mark K. Spencer University of St. Thomas Saint Paul, Minnesota Thomas Aquinas argues that God causes all beings other than himself and moves all of them to all their acts, including causing us and moving us to our free acts.1 This claim is connected to the set of issues surrounding the relation between created freedom and divine providence, predestination, and grace. A strong defender of the free- dom of created persons, such as a Thomistic personalist, might reject this aspect of Aquinas’s account and contend that to be free is to be “lord of one’s acts” (dominus sui actus).2 By this, the personalist would understand that the created free person is the ultimate determinant3 of whether he or she acts (I refer to this, following the Thomistic tradition, as the “exercise” of the act) and of what he or she does in those acts (the “content” or “specification” of the act). Throughout this article, I shall refer to the last sentence as the “personalist thesis” 1 Aquinas, Expositio libri Peryermeneias (hereafter, In Ph) I, lec. 14; Quaestiones disputatae de malo (hereafter, DM), q. 3, aa. 1–2; q. 6, a. un.; Quaestiones disputatae de potentia Dei (hereafter, DP), q. 3, aa. 5 and 7; Summa contra gentiles (hereafter, SCG) III, chs. 65 and 67; Summa Theologiae (hereafter, ST) I, q. 22, a. 2, ad 2; q. 104, a. 1; q. 105, aa. 4–5; I-II, q.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcendental Thomism: Realism Rejected
    Transcendental Thomism: Realism Rejected Christopher M. Cullen, S.J. In his book The Peasant of the Garonne Maritain speaks of what has been one of the central tenets of the realist tradition from the beginning of philosophy­ that the mind attains reality: Greek reason was able to become aware of that glory of the mind which is knowing and of the authentic relation between the mind and the extra-mental being of things ... It was able to see that the human intellect, in identifying itself immaterially, intentionaliter, with the being of things, truly reaches that which exists outside our minds ... 1 Transcendental Thornism in some profoundly significant ways abandons this tenet. The adherents of this branch of the Neo-scholastic movement, begun by the Belgian Jesuit, Joseph Marechal (1878-1944), nobly attempt to beat Kant at his own game; for they seek to establish an apodictic metaphysics of being by using a subjective starting point. But they have, in fact, read Thomas with the eyes of German idealists, and in so doing they have introduced first principles within the Thomistic synthesis that fundamentally alter and transform it in idealist and subjectivist directions. Hence, it is the argument of this paper that a metaphysics of being cannot be based on a transcendental, subjective starting point. The work of the Transcendental Thomists constitutes a latter-day verification of the validity of Gilson's comment in The Unity of Philosophical Experience: "In the first place, philosophers are free to lay down their own set of principles, but once this is done, they no longer think as they wish-they think as they can."2 1 Jacques Maritain, The Peasant of the Garonne, trans.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Marian Doctrine As
    INTERNATIONAL MARIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON, OHIO in affiliation with the PONTIFICAL THEOLOGICAL FACULTY MARIANUM ROME, ITALY By: Elizabeth Marie Farley The Development of Marian Doctrine as Reflected in the Commentaries on the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-5) by the Latin Fathers and Pastoral Theologians of the Church From the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Sacred Theology with specialization in Marian Studies Director: Rev. Bertrand Buby, S.M. Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-1390 2013 i Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth M. Farley All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Nihil obstat: François Rossier, S.M., STD Vidimus et approbamus: Bertrand A. Buby S.M., STD – Director François Rossier, S.M., STD – Examinator Johann G. Roten S.M., PhD, STD – Examinator Thomas A. Thompson S.M., PhD – Examinator Elio M. Peretto, O.S.M. – Revisor Aristide M. Serra, O.S.M. – Revisor Daytonesis (USA), ex aedibus International Marian Research Institute, et Romae, ex aedibus Pontificiae Facultatis Theologicae Marianum, die 22 Augusti 2013. ii Dedication This Dissertation is Dedicated to: Father Bertrand Buby, S.M., The Faculty and Staff at The International Marian Research Institute, Father Jerome Young, O.S.B., Father Rory Pitstick, Joseph Sprug, Jerome Farley, my beloved husband, and All my family and friends iii Table of Contents Prėcis.................................................................................. xvii Guidelines........................................................................... xxiii Abbreviations...................................................................... xxv Chapter One: Purpose, Scope, Structure and Method 1.1 Introduction...................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Solidarity and Mediation in the French Stream Of
    SOLIDARITY AND MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Timothy R. Gabrielli Dayton, Ohio December 2014 SOLIDARITY AND MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Name: Gabrielli, Timothy R. APPROVED BY: _________________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor _________________________________________ Dennis M. Doyle, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Anthony J. Godzieba, Ph.D. Outside Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Vincent J. Miller, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Daniel S. Thompson, Ph.D. Chairperson ii © Copyright by Timothy R. Gabrielli All rights reserved 2014 iii ABSTRACT SOLIDARITY MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Name: Gabrielli, Timothy R. University of Dayton Advisor: William L. Portier, Ph.D. In its analysis of mystical body of Christ theology in the twentieth century, this dissertation identifies three major streams of mystical body theology operative in the early part of the century: the Roman, the German-Romantic, and the French-Social- Liturgical. Delineating these three streams of mystical body theology sheds light on the diversity of scholarly positions concerning the heritage of mystical body theology, on its mid twentieth-century recession, as well as on Pope Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical, Mystici Corporis Christi, which enshrined “mystical body of Christ” in Catholic magisterial teaching. Further, it links the work of Virgil Michel and Louis-Marie Chauvet, two scholars remote from each other on several fronts, in the long, winding French stream.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES and the ANGLICAN COMMUNION. by W
    ORTHODOX CHURCHES & ANGLICAN COMMUNION 193 THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION. By W. GUY JoHNsoN. TN June, 1935, a Conference to which reference has been made in ~ previous issues of THE CHURCHMAN, was held at Bucarest between a Delegation appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a Commission appointed by the Rumanian Church, in order to discuss points of agreement and of difference between the two Churches with a view to the possibility of arranging for intercommunion. There can be no valid objection to such approaches, and though their practical utility for English Churchpeople may not be very obvious, it is some­ what different for members of the " Orthodox " Churches of which the Rumanian is now the second largest. There are considerable numbers of these scattered throughout England and America in places where they have no access to their own clergy. It would naturally, therefore, be an advantage to those who desire to have the ministrations of clergy of the Anglican Communion, if they might do so with the full approval of their own Church. A converse arrangement would be, of course, contained in such an approval by both sides ; and such inter­ communion between all who profess and call themselves Christians is greatly to be desired. It should, however, be on a basis which does not jeopardize truth ; and it should not be so narrowed as to include only a particular group of unreformed Churches to the exclusion of others but should extend to those Protestant Churches wruch, like the Church of England, derive their distinctive teaching mediately from the Reformation of the sixteenth century and ultimately from Holy Scripture alone.
    [Show full text]
  • Johann Tetzel in Order to Pay for Expanding His Authority to the Electorate of Mainz
    THE IMAGE OF A FRACTURED CHURCH AT 500 YEARS CURATED BY DR. ARMIN SIEDLECKI FEB 24 - JULY 7, 2017 THE IMAGE OF A FRACTURED CHURCH AT 500 YEARS Five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses, a series of statements and proposals about the power of indulgences and the nature of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. Originally intended for academic debate, the document quickly gained popularity, garnering praise and condemnation alike, and is generally seen as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. This exhibit presents the context of Martin Luther’s Theses, the role of indulgences in sixteenth century religious life and the use of disputations in theological education. Shown also are the early responses to Luther’s theses by both his supporters and his opponents, the impact of Luther’s Reformation, including the iconic legacy of Luther’s actions as well as current attempts by Catholics and Protestants to find common ground. Case 1: Indulgences In Catholic teaching, indulgences do not effect the forgiveness of sins but rather serve to reduce the punishment for sins that have already been forgiven. The sale of indulgences was initially intended to defray the cost of building the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome and was understood as a work of charity, because it provided monetary support for the church. Problems arose when Albert of Brandenburg – a cardinal and archbishop of Magdeburg – began selling indulgences aggressively with the help of Johann Tetzel in order to pay for expanding his authority to the Electorate of Mainz. 2 Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz Unused Indulgence (Leipzig: Melchior Lotter, 1515?) 1 sheet ; 30.2 x 21 cm.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Indira Gandhi National Open University MPYE – 008 School Of
    1 Indira Gandhi National Open University MPYE – 008 School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Studies Metaphysics Block 1 INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS UNIT 1 Etymology, Definition and Scope UNIT 2 Fundamental Notions and Principles UNIT 3 Brief History of Western Metaphysics UNIT 4 Brief History of Indian Metaphysics 2 Expert Committee Dr. Jose Kuruvachira Prof. Gracious Thomas Salesian College & Director, School of IGNOU Study Centre Social Work Dimapur, Nagaland IGNOU Prof. Renu Bharadwaj School of Humanities Dr. Sathya Sundar IGNOU Sethy Dept of Humanities Prof. George IIT, Chennai. Panthanmackel, Senior Consultant, Dr. Joseph Martis IGNOU St. Joseph’s College Jeppu, Mangalore – 2 Dr. M. R. Nandan Govt. College for Dr. Jaswinder Kaur Women Dhillon Mandya - Mysore 147, Kabir park Opp. GND University Dr. Kuruvila Amristar – 143 002 Pandikattu Jnana-deepa Prof. Y.S. Gowramma Vidyapeeth Principal, Ramwadi, College of Fine Arts, Pune Manasagangotri Mysore – 570 001 Dr Babu Joseph CBCI Centre New Delhi Prof. Tasadduq Husain Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Dr. Bhuvaneswari Lavanya Flats Gangai Amman Koil St. Thiruvanmiyur Chennai – 600 041 Dr. Alok Nag Vishwa Jyoti Gurukul Varanasi 3 Block Preparation Units 1-4 Prof. George Panthanmackel Suvidya College, Electronic City, Bangalore. Content Editor Dr. V. John Peter IGNOU, New Delhi. Format Editor Prof. Gracious Thomas IGNOU, New Delhi. Programme Coordinator Prof. Gracious Thomas IGNOU, New Delhi. 4 BLOCK INTRODUCTION Metaphysics which is the science of being as being, is the most suitable designation of the first philosophy, a concept presumably based on the orthodox tradition from Aristotle and his immediate followers. Metaphysics is a science, since it is a systematic body of knowledge with its own certain and definite starting point that ‘there is something’ which is indubitably and immediately known.
    [Show full text]
  • The Panoplia Dogmatike by Euthymios Zygadenos Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity
    The Panoplia Dogmatike by Euthymios Zygadenos Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity Chief Editor Ken Parry (Macquarie University) Editorial Board Alessandro Bausi (University of Hamburg) – Monica Blanchard (Catholic University of America) – Malcolm Choat (Macquarie University) Peter Galadza (Saint Paul University) – Victor Ghica (Macquarie University) Emma Loosley University of Exeter) – Basil Lourié (St Petersburg) John McGuckin (Columbia University) – Stephen Rapp (Sam Houston State University) – Dietmar Winkler (University of Salzburg) volume 4 Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity is intended to advance the field of Eastern Christian Studies by publishing translations of ancient texts, individual monographs, thematic collections, and translations into English of significant volumes in modern languages. It will cover the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions from the early through to the contemporary period. The series will make a valuable contribution to the study of Eastern Christianity by publishing research by scholars from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. The different traditions that make up the world of Eastern Christianity have not always received the attention they deserve, so this series will provide a platform for deepening our knowledge of them as well as bringing them to a wider audience. The need for such a series has been felt for sometime by the scholarly community in view of the increasing interest in the Christian East. The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/tsec The Panoplia Dogmatike by Euthymios Zygadenos A Study on the First Edition Published in Greek in 1710 By Nadia Miladinova leiden | boston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miladinova, Nadia.
    [Show full text]
  • Cajetan's Economic Treatises
    Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 18, Number 2 (Fall 2015): 349–371 Copyright © 2015 Cajetan’s Economic Treatises A Critique of Rothbard’s Philip Neri Reese Proto-Austrian Portrayal Providence College Although Murray Rothbard gave high praise to the economic teachings of Thomas de Vio Cardinal Cajetan, portraying him as proto-Austrian, this article argues that the reality is more complicated. Examining Cajetan’s three major economic works, On Monetary Exchange, On Charitable Pawnshops, and On Usury, it demonstrates that he could be in turn liberal, moderate, and conservative, depending on the particular context and question. It concludes that read within his own scholastic and pastoral approach, Cajetan may still have insights and contributions to offer the history of economics, but of a more mixed character than Rothbard’s portrayal. Introduction In his 1995 Economic Thought Before Adam Smith, Murray Rothbard was not shy about praising the economic teachings of Thomas de Vio Cardinal Cajetan, who lived from 1468 to 1534. Rothbard titled the second section of chapter 4 “Cardinal Cajetan: Liberal Thomist,” and thereby gave de Vio the laurel of being “the founder of expectations theory in economics.” Twice Rothbard referred to the cardinal as “the great Cajetan,” and he insisted that Cajetan’s “candid endorsement of upward mobility in a free market was the broadest attempt yet to rid scholasticism of all traces of the ancient contempt for trade and economic gain.”1 When reading such descriptions, it is difficult to avoid forming an image of Cardinal Cajetan as a sort of proto-Austrian, and we have every reason to think that this was the impression Rothbard strove to give.
    [Show full text]
  • German Inter-Monastic Politics and the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century 115
    German inter-monastic politics and the Reformation of the sixteenth century 115 German inter-monastic politics and the Reformation of the sixteenth century Rev Dr Mark W Worthing Mark Worthing, Dr Phil, Dr Theol, is a pastor of the LCA. After parish ministry in Adelaide, he taught in the field of historical and systematic theology at the former Luther Seminary, Adelaide, then at Tabor-Adelaide, and now serves as senior researcher with the research arm of Australian Lutheran College, the Australian Lutheran Institute for Theology and Ethics (ALITE). The story is well known among Protestants. When Pope Leo X learned of the dispute surrounding Luther’s 95 theses he mistakenly dismissed it as a monastic squabble.1 There is strong evidence, however, that while the Reformation of the sixteenth century proved to be ultimately much more than a monastic dispute, in its earliest phases much of what occurred can best be understood in light of the complexities of the inter-monastic rivalry between the Augustinians and Dominicans. The Augustinian movement Two types of Augustinians emerged during the medieval period: the Order of Canons Regular, who were largely clergy connected to specific churches or cathedrals; and the Augustinian hermits, who were a true monastic order.2 In the fifteenth century a split occurred within the Hermit tradition between ‘observant’ congregations that sought reform through strict adherence to the Rule, and the ‘conventuals’, who sought to interpret the Rule more flexibly.3 The monastery Luther entered was the Erfurt Observant Congregation of Augustinian Hermits.4 The philosophical and theological gulf between Augustinians and Dominicans The rediscovery of Aristotle in the West prompted the two greatest theologians of the Dominican Order, Albertus Magnus and his student Thomas Aquinas, to develop an 1 Cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography on the History of the Society of Jesus 20191
    Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu vol. lxxxviii, fasc. 176 (2019-II) Bibliography on the History of the Society of Jesus 20191 Wenceslao Soto Artuñedo SJ A collaboration between Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies (Boston College) and Jesuitica Project (KU Leuven) The “Bibliography on the History of the Society of Jesus” was first produced for AHSI by László Polgár SJ, spanning fifty issues of the journal, between 1952 and 2001. The Bibliography was resumed in 2006 by Paul Begheyn SJ, who was its author until 2018. With appreciation and esteem for Fr Begheyn’s significant contribution to this enterprise, the collaborators on the “Bibliography on the History of the Society of Jesus 2019” enter a new phase of the Bibliography’s production, incorporating for the first time three distinct and interconnected outlets for exploring the bibliographical riches of Jesuit history: -Bibliography on the History of the Society of Jesus, by Wenceslao Soto Artuñedo SJ, in print and online annually, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu: http://www.sjweb.info/arsi/en/publications/ahsi/ bibliography/ -Jesuit Online Bibliography, a free, searchable collection of Jesuit Studies Scholarship through the Portal to Jesuit Studies: https:// jesuitonlinebibliography.bc.edu/ -Jesuitica, a collaborative initiative from KU Leuven and the Jesuit Region ELC to facilitate academic research on the Maurits Sabbe Library’s Jesuitica book collections: https://www.jesuitica.be/ The 2019 Bibliography introduces some changes to the bibliographical styling and criteria for inclusion of works. As in previous years, in order to provide continuity with Fr Polgár’s work, it incorporates titles dated from 2000.
    [Show full text]