New book on Aquinas, predestination, grace, and free will

RJ Matava just brought my attention to a new book by Basile Valuet, OSB on St. Thomas's teaching on predestination, grace, and free will. It's the second volume of a projected four volume series that, according to a blurb from its publicity flyer, "cherche à déterminer quelle est l’authentique doctrine de l’Église catholique sur les rapports entre Dieu et la liberté humaine, essentielle quant à l’intelligence de notre destinée." The series title is Dieu joueur d’échecs? Prédestination, grâce et libre arbitre and the title of this second volume is Relecture de saint Thomas d’Aquin.

Fr. Basile is the prefect of studies at the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux. He was also recently appointed to the scientific committee of the Revue Thomiste. His series is published by the abbey's Éditions Sainte-Madeleine. You can purchase the second volume from the abbey bookstore here.

New Book: Thomism and Predestination

A new book entitled Thomism and Predestination: Principles and Disputations is now available from The Catholic University of America Press. See below for more details. 

 

"There is perhaps no aspect of traditional Thomistic thought so contested in modern Catholic theology as the notion of predestination as presented by the classical Thomist school. What is that doctrine, and why is it so controversial? Has it been rightly understood in the context of modern debates? At the same time, the Church's traditional affirmation of a mystery of predestination is largely ignored in modern Catholic theology more generally. Why is this the case? Can a theology that emphasizes the Augustinian notion of the primacy of salvation by grace alone also forego a theology of predestination?

Thomism and Predestination: Principles and Disputations considers these topics from various angles: the principles of the classical Thomistic treatment of predestination, their contested interpretation among modern theologians, examples of the doctrine as illustrated by the spiritual writings of the saints, and the challenges to Catholic theology that the Thomistic tradition continues to pose. This volume initiates readers―especially future theologians and Catholic intellectuals―to a central theme of theology that is speculatively challenging and deeply interconnected to many other elements of the faith.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Steven A. Long is a professor of Theology at Ave Maria University and author of Teleological Grammar of the Moral Act (Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University Publications). Roger W. Nutt is an associate professor of Theology, codirector of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal, and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University. Thomas Joseph White, OP, is the director of the Thomistic Institute at the Domincan House of Studies. He is the author of several books including The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology (CUA Press), and coeditor of the theological journal Nova et Vetera."