The Thomist Tradition: Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis
by Dr. Donald G Boland
As with every great philosopher and theologian, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, though perhaps the clearest expressed of all, has inevitably been subject to a variety of interpretations. There is one interpretation that leans to a naturalist/rationalist (secularist) interpretation of his thought. That one is well-recognized today. There is, however, another interpretation so strongly opposed to this extreme that it tends to fall into the other error of supernaturalism/ fideism. In this book, hopefully following not only the thought of St. Thomas but also his method, I have tried only to draw particular attention to this latter error.
Paperback: $34.95 | Kindle: $9.99
OTHER TITLES BY DONALD G. BOLAND
- Logic, Science, and St. Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Natural Philosophy, Modern Science and Saint Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Science, Psychology and Saint Thomas Aquinas by Donald G. Boland | En Route Books and Media
- Ethics Today and Saint Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Natural Law – Australian Style | En Route Books and Media
- Political Science and Saint Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Economic Science and St. Thomas Aquinas: On Justice in the Distribution and Exchange of Wealth | En Route Books and Media
- The Social Encyclicals and Saint Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Metaphysics, Truth and St. Thomas Aquinas | En Route Books and Media
- Metaphysics/Ontology and St. Thomas Aquinas (Twenty Readings in Wisdom Forsaken) | En Route Books and Media
- Thomas of the Creator | En Route Books and Media
- The Thomist Tradition: Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis | En Route Books and Media
REVIEWS
Thomas Storck, The Chesterton Review (Vol. XLIX, Nos. 1 & 2, Spring | Summer 2023). To access the review, click here.
TESTIMONIALS
“In his work On the Veiling of Virgins, Tertullian asserts that “Christ called Himself Truth, not Custom.” Consistent with this centrality of Christ, and hence of uncreated truth over ever-changing customs, Dr. Donald Boland helps us to navigate through this world of change by affirming truth obtained through reason and truth given to us by Revelation, both of which are in harmony with one another. The reader will not only be challenged intellectually by this work but also will be given multiple opportunities to refine one’s understanding of what and who is truth as a consistent reality. As a stable reality, truth gives ultimate meaning and purpose in life by providing a standard to determine what and how to prioritize among the many goods we encounter.” – Very Rev. Peter Samuel Kucer, MSA, President-Rector of Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, CT, and author of God as Father and Priests as Fathers, Brothers, Bridegrooms, and Disciples and Catholic Church History: Pre-Christian to Modern Times
“Dr. Donald Boland offers us a penetrating critical reading of Tracey Rowland’s Culture and Thomist Tradition after Vatican II (2003), showing us that Thomism today is faced with an equal and opposite danger to the well-known error of a naturalist, rationalist or secularist interpretation of the Angelic Doctor’s thought. Today’s danger is closer to being a sort of muddled fideist or supernaturalist interpretation influenced by the confusing ideas of nouvelle theologians such as Henri de Lubac. Boland offers a wide-ranging and well-informed assessment.” – Dr. Philip Blosser, Professor of Philosophy, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
“In this engaging polemic, Donald Boland effectively reminds us that, as St. Thomas keenly understood, faith has no greater friend than reason. This reminder is sorely needed as some Thomists today have lurched to fideism (even supernaturalism) in their zeal to avert rationalism. Written in an idiom that suits the here and now, Boland shows how the perennial philosophy lives to instruct another generation.” – Dr. Curtis Hancock, Professor of Philosophy, Rockhurst University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald G Boland Ll. B. Ph. D. is a founding member of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc. in Sydney Australia and is one of its former Presidents. He practiced for a number of years as a lawyer having a degree in law from the University of Sydney. Over much the same time, having obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Rome, he has taught philosophy and law in both Catholic and secular educational institutions, such as the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Newcastle, the Aquinas Academy, the Centre for Thomistic Studies Inc., now operating under the name of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc., and various Catholic seminaries, such as those of the Marists and the Vincentians. His doctoral thesis was on the concepts of utility and value in economics as found in the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.
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