After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism

Rating:
Summary: A rare gem
Review: Kerr, a Dominican, is Regent of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and editor of "New Blackfriars," the periodical of the English Dominicans. This book is one of the most fascinating and informative books on Thomas to come along in some time. Kerr focuses on the period beginning with Pope Leo XIII's endorsement of Thomism as a bulwark against post-Cartesian modernism and subjectivism, and the division of Thomism into Transcendental (essentially Kantian-informed) and Existential (anti-Kantian and anti-modern) factions. He shows how modern Thomism has been shaped by, and is thus largely a product of, reactions to modern thinkers, such as Descartes, Kant, Heidegger and other thinkers. He successfully destabilizes the conventional view of Thomas as important mainly for his theistic proofs (the "five ways") and natural law theory, not only by arguing that Thomas's arguments are essentially unintelligible apart from his larger theological purposes, but that these purposes change the way we understand even his philosophical importance. The Thomas that emerges in Kerr's account makes an interesting dialogue partner with contemporary thinkers such as Martin Heidegger and Karl Barth. Furthermore, he holds his own against Barth's misguided claims that Thomas's concept of "nature" doesn't take sin seriously, or that his notion of divine "simplicity" is idolatrous, or that his concept of "analogia entis" is the invention of Antichrist! The Thomism that emerges is strikingly at odds with that which we often encounter in the secular or Protestant "textbook traditions," where Thomas's God is a barren "First Cause" or abstract "immutable substance," for example. Once we understand what Thomas means, Kerr argues, we see that his God is so dynamic that He is more accurately defined by verbs than by nouns! Kerr offers chatty, and sometimes wickedly naughty behind-the-scene peeks into controversies that have shaped modern Thomism, such as the very personal controversy between Garrigou-Lagrange and de Lubac. He also apprears to be thoroughly conversant with recent non-Catholic theology (for example, such as the work of the Lutheran theologian, Robert Jensen, or the New Finnish interpretation of Luther's notion of justification as close to the Greek idea of "theosis"-- an idea for which Kerr finds some parallel in Thomas's view of sanctification). He is, of course, intimately familiar with the usual suspects--the Catholic standards (Gilson, Chenu, Maritain, Von Balthasar). Very highly recommended.