Doubting Thomas presents a deep analysis of four key debates between Aquinas and his contemporaries, offering a fresh perspective on behalf of the saint's major critics.While Thomas Aquinas remains by far the most influential philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, many of his contemporaries considered him a dangerous innovator whose enthusiasm for the newly rediscovered Aristotle at points led him astray. Some theologians of the Franciscan Order, especially, were vocal critics of his thought.In Doubting Thomas, Brendan W. Case examines four interrelated critiques of Aquinas leveled by Franciscan theologians Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and his student Peter John Olivi over the nature of human knowledge, the proper way to understand how unity and trinity relate in God, the nature of time, and the nature of matter and its relation to spiritual beings. By arguing that the Franciscans had the better of Aquinas in each of these debates, Case offers a much-needed corrective to the one-sided focus on Aquinas's thought in recent theology and philosophy.

Least of the Apostles is a study of Paul''s relation, both in his ministry and through his epistles, to the rest of apostolic Christianity. Studies relating Paul to Judaism, the Roman empire, or Greco-Roman philosophy abound; we adopt the comparatively neglected approach of relating Paul specifically to his fellow apostles. The first three chapters explore the influence on Paul of sources from the earliest church (James and his circle, the "apostolic decree," and proto-Synoptic traditions), while the final three explore Paul''s influence on Hebrews, Luke and John, and the Petrine Epistles. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for New Testament theology.

Doubting Thomas presents a deep analysis of four key debates between Aquinas and his contemporaries, offering a fresh perspective on behalf of the saint's major critics.While Thomas Aquinas remains by far the most influential philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, many of his contemporaries considered him a dangerous innovator whose enthusiasm for the newly rediscovered Aristotle at points led him astray. Some theologians of the Franciscan Order, especially, were vocal critics of his thought.In Doubting Thomas, Brendan W. Case examines four interrelated critiques of Aquinas leveled by Franciscan theologians Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and his student Peter John Olivi over the nature of human knowledge, the proper way to understand how unity and trinity relate in God, the nature of time, and the nature of matter and its relation to spiritual beings. By arguing that the Franciscans had the better of Aquinas in each of these debates, Case offers a much-needed corrective to the one-sided focus on Aquinas's thought in recent theology and philosophy.

Least of the Apostles is a study of Paul''s relation, both in his ministry and through his epistles, to the rest of apostolic Christianity. Studies relating Paul to Judaism, the Roman empire, or Greco-Roman philosophy abound; we adopt the comparatively neglected approach of relating Paul specifically to his fellow apostles. The first three chapters explore the influence on Paul of sources from the earliest church (James and his circle, the "apostolic decree," and proto-Synoptic traditions), while the final three explore Paul''s influence on Hebrews, Luke and John, and the Petrine Epistles. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for New Testament theology.