The Order and Division of Divine Truth
St. Thomas Aquinas as Scholastic Master of the Sacred Page
JOHN F. BOYLE
Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville, Ohio
A Division of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
Editor-in-Chief: Scott Hahn
1468 Parkview Circle
Steubenville, Ohio 43952
© 2021 John F. Boyle
All rights reserved. Published 2021.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN: 978-1-64585-173-8 hardcover / 978-1-64585-174-5 paperback / 978-1-64585-175-2 ebook
Unless otherwise noted, the translations from St. Thomas Aquinas are the author’s own translation. The Scripture passages directly taken from St. Thomas’s Latin have also been translated by the author. In most cases the translations from Scripture follow the Douay-Rheims.
Cover design by Emily Demary
Cover image: The lunette of one of the side doors depicting St. Thomas Aquinas, Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy. Photo by Zatletic, Adobe Stock Photos.
RENEWAL WITHIN TRADITION
Series editor: Matthew Levering
About the series
Catholic theology reflects upon the content of divine revelation as interpreted and handed down in the Church, but today Catholic theologians often find the scriptural and dogmatic past to be alien territory. The Renewal within Tradition Series undertakes to reform and reinvigorate contemporary theology from within the tradition, with St. Thomas Aquinas as a central exemplar. As part of its purpose, the series reunites the streams of Catholic theology that, prior to the Council, separated into neo-scholastic and nouvelle theologie modes. The biblical, historical-critical, patristic, liturgical, and ecumenical emphases of the Ressourcement movement need the dogmatic, philosophical, scientific, and traditioned enquiries of Thomism, and vice versa. Renewal within Tradition challenges the regnant forms of theological liberalism that, by dissolving the cognitive content of the gospel, impede believers from knowing the love of Christ.
These essays have appeared in a number of venues over the course of more than twenty years. I have resisted the temptation to update them for this volume. Typographical errors have been corrected and the texts and notes conformed to the style of Emmaus Academic. “Hope in St. Thomas’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans and the Relationship of Scripture Commentary to Summa” appears here for the first time.
Unless otherwise noted, the translations from St. Thomas are my own. I have as well usually translated the passages of Scripture directly from St. Thomas’s Latin.
I am so very grateful to Dr. Scott Hahn and Dr. Matthew Levering for the opportunity to bring these essays together under a single cover.
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About The Order and Division of Divine Truth: St. Thomas Aquinas as Scholastic Master of the Sacred PageSt. Thomas Aquinas is best known for his Summa Theologiae and is regarded as the great exemplar of systematic theology. Yet St. Thomas himself might be surprised at this legacy. He may well have saw himself principally as a commentator and teacher of Sacred Scripture. When it comes to engaging St. Thomas’ scriptural work, readers are at a significant disadvantage. They are arguably more foreign and more dense than his Summa yet have been scarcely studied. This book by one of the foremost experts on St. Thomas’ use of Scripture is a significant and much needed contribution. In The Order and Division of Divine Truth: St. Thomas Aquinas as Scholastic Master of the Sacred Page, John Boyle opens up the riches of St. Thomas as a master of the Sacred page. Readers will find explorations not just of the style of Aquinas’ commentaries, which differs from that of the modern biblical commentary, but also the overarching theological and methodological perspective that shapes his approach to Scripture. Boyle gives insight into how Aquinas would have understood the task of biblical commentary as a university lecturer, how Scripture is ordered to divine revelation, how medieval masters divided up the text, and how Aquinas’ biblical commentaries relate to his theological summaries. This book will be important for anyone seeking to better understand St. Thomas’ theology and the often-overlooked role that Scripture plays in his work. |
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