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In follow-up to her acclaimed Privilege of Being a Woman, Dr. von Hildebrand expands the discussion to explore how the fullness of human nature is found in the perfect union between man and woman. God chose to create man doubly complex. He made man of both soul and body a spiritual reality and a material reality. To crown this complexity, He created them male and female. Dr. von Hildebrand elucidates the tragic separation that happened with original sin and the consequences of this brokenness in the world today: the distortion of the male and female genius, supernatural blindness, and the triumph of secularism. She explores how this brokenness can be healed by following God's Divine plan for man and woman. We see this first and foremost in our Blessed Mother, exemplar of the path to holiness. This is also seen in the characteristics of saintly male / female relationships between husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, and holy friendships. It is only by coming to more fully understand the Divine plan for man and woman, and submitting ourselves to His plan, that true complementarity harmony of body and soul, male and female can be accomplished.

Women historically have been denigrated as lower than men or viewed as privileged. Dr. Alice von Hildebrand characterises the difference between such views as based on whether man's vision is secularistic or steeped in the supernatural. She shows that feminism's attempts to gain equality with men by imitation of men is unnatural, foolish, destructive, and self-defeating. The Blessed Mother's role in the Incarnation points to the true privilege of being a woman. Both virginity and maternity meet in Mary who exhibits the feminine gifts of purity, receptivity to God's word, and life-giving nurturance at their highest.

The roles of the Holy See and papal diplomacy vis-à-vis international organisations have a long and intricate story that spans centuries. Papal Diplomacy and the Quest for Peace explores the encounter between the Holy See and the international order, from the establishment of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 through the pontificate of Pope Paul VI (1963-78). Both Araujo and Lucal have worked for and represented the Holy See in the environment of the UN and, to a lesser extent, other international organisations. Consequently, their investigation is based on not only academic study of papal diplomacy and its relations with international organisations, but also participation in the activities of the Holy See within some of these organisations. They contend that while the Church and international organisations have distinctive goals and interests which can introduce strong differences on particular issues, they nonetheless share other perspectives such as the maintenance of international peace and security. The Holy See has expressed general approval of the UN, especially its initiatives aimed at ""peaceful coexistence and collaboration between nations."" At the same time the Holy See has not hesitated to state its morally grounded positions on pressing contemporary issues (e.g., family planning, abortion, human embryonic cloning, and family life) that have not always been congruent with those of temporal sovereigns and international organisations, including the UN. To date, Pope Pius XII's initial aspiration to join the UN has not been fulfilled, but the Holy See formalised its participation in the General Assembly of the United Nations in summer of 2004. In spite of occasional criticism by some segments of secular society, the interaction between the Holy See and the UN continues to exist and to be fruitful in a variety of contexts. Papal Diplomacy and the Quest for Peace seeks to elucidate this encounter and dynamic by examining congruence and divergence on vital issues of great importance to both institutions, most especially the quest for peace and the protection of the dignity and legitimate interests of humanity.

“This excellent work is written not just for experts, but for the average Christian who wants to know how his faith has to do with modern cosmological and atomic theories.

Shakespeare, who wrote at the beginning of the long period in which the Catholic faith as violently suppressed in the British Isles, has long enjoyed an iconic status. Some readers have interpreted him as an early agnostic, expressing modern angst about whether anything exists besides ""this mortal coil"" that seems to be merely ""full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."" In recent years, however, thanks largely to the work of Peter Milward, close study of Shakespeare's plays has raised the question: Was Shakespeare in fact a believing Catholic? To this question, which radically changes the way that Shakespeare's plays should be read, Milward here offers, in his definitive study of the topic, a resounding ""Yes.

That ours is a time of intellectual, cultural, moral, and religious turmoil does not need to be argued. What does need to be argued, and what Glendon argues with force and freshness, is that our response to turmoil requires a greater honesty in coming to terms with tradition, and with traditions in conflict. That is little understood by many on both the political left and right. Quoting one of her favourite thinkers, theologian Bernard Lonergan, she urges us to be “big enough to be at home in the both and old and new; and painstaking enough to work out one at a time the transitions to be made.” Working within the capacious structure of the Christian intellectual tradition, most reflectively and generously articulated in Catholic teaching, Glendon constructively engages alternative ways of thinking about what it means to be human and what is required to nurture a society worthy of human beings. As the reader will see, her work ranges far and wide, and it goes deep. There is hardly a subject she addresses that does not change the way we think about it.

As one of the leading Catholic thinkers of our day, Benedict Ashley collects some of his most important and influential essays tackling such issues as human personhood, the nature of metaphysics, man’s ultimate end, Jesus’ knowledge of the Father, John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, the hierarchical structure of the Church, Humanae Vitae and much more. This is a treasure trove for those seeking sound instruction in philosophy and Theology.

The doctrine of deification came under challenge during the Reformation. Likewise, Orthodox Christians have sometimes charged that Roman Catholic teachings on deification lack coherence.

In his Foreword to this Festschrift presented to Father Matthew L. Lamb on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Archbishop Charles Chaput comments, ""It is a privilege to call him my friend, and to wish on the bishops of the century ahead the good counsel of men like Father Lamb."" The fifteen contributors to this volume include Don Briel, Romanus Cessario, OP, Michael Dauphinais, Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, Paul Gondreau, Jeremy Holmes, Matthew Levering, Guy Mansini, OSB, Francis Martin, Charles Morerod, OP, Edward T. Oakes, SJ, Giovanni B. Sala, SJ, Michele M. Schumacher, Lawrence J. Welch, and Jeremy D. Wilkins. These eminent contributors, among whom are long-time friends, colleagues, and students of Father Lamb, offer fascinating scholarly treatments of a variety of themes, from ""The Idea of a University"" to ""The Coming Middle Ages.

This insightful collection of essays focuses on Christ’s saving work and presence in the Church through the sacrament of Orders. The essays on Christ and his work draw creatively upon the Christology of St. Thomas and the soteriology of St. Anselm. The essays on Orders range from a treatment of the priestly representation of Christ to the nature of the ""character"" imparted by the sacrament of Orders. The last essay, with Professor Lawrence Welch, explains the coherence and integrity of the teaching of Presbyterorum ordinis.

What kind of natural desire is this? How can there be a natural desire for what can only be supernaturally obtained? How can such a desire be reconciled with the gratuitousness of grace and glory? What are its implications for apologetics? These and similar questions have caused a debate to rage for centuries over the proper interpretation of the natural desire to see God. This work seeks to determine the nature of this desire and its relationship with the supernatural order through an examination of the thought of St. Thomas and some of his most prominent interpreters, including Scotus, Cajetan, Suárez, and Henri de Lubac.

John Paul II's works repeatedly emphasise the truth about the good . Truth and goodness constitute the philosophical core of John Paul II's thought. This work examines the interaction of these concepts from his early philosophical works through his encyclical on morality, Veritatis Spendor.

Acknowledged as one of the leading contemporary Catholic Christologists, Thomas G. Weinandy has collected in one volume his most important contributions to our understanding of Jesus as the incarnate Son of God and Saviour of the world. In four distinct sections he examines some of the biblical revelation concerning Jesus, historical and systematic issues in Christology, contemporary Christological questions and concerns, and the importance of Jesus within our Christian life.These essays manifest Weinandy's considerable biblical knowledge, extensive understanding of the historical and doctrinal Christological tradition, judicious discernment of current Christological debates, and fresh, innovative analysis of today's pressing Christological concerns. All of this is achieved within, and so advances, the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith. Jesus: Essays in Christology confirms Weinandy's prominent place in the Catholic academic community.

Saint Thomas Aquinas showed the world that Catholic theology is not just something meant to stimulate the mind. Indeed, the authentic study of the sacra doctrina exercises a shaping influence on the whole of the Christian life. In this volume, Dominican theologian Father Romanus Cessario, OP, follows this precedent by considering the integration of theology and Christian living. Focusing on various aspects of Catholic theology and spirituality, the essays in this volume explore the essential relationship between truth and grace. With characteristic wisdom and insight, Father Cessario reveals how theology and sanctity share a common origin and end. Here the doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas and his exponents emerges as something eminently relevant to Christian living in the twenty-first century. Written for all those who take the theological life seriously, Theology and Sanctity explains how - and why - only the truth has grace.

On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, friends and colleagues of Michael Novak assembled at Ave Maria University for a conference honouring his life's work. The essays in this collection are the fruits of that event, and together they demonstrate the unity of Novak's career. As Novak expounds in his masterpiece The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982), the free society requires robust interplay of three systems: political, economic, and moral/cultural.The political system is the democratic republic that guards the liberties of citizens and upholds the rule of law. The economic system of markets and free enterprise is one fuelled by the ""human capital"" of ideas, creativity, and hard work. Finally, the moral/cultural system instils crucial virtues such as courage, honesty, and nobility of soul. An American and Catholic Life reflects on a variety of issues and themes germane to these three systems, which constitute the life of the free society.

The Glory of God's Grace offers the first full-length comprehensive study of Thomas's teaching on deification in its scriptural, patristic, philosophical, developmental, and systematic context. Daria Spezzano traces Thomas's theology of deification throughout the Summa, exploring in depth how the notion of deification links his treatments of the divine missions and image, the journey to beatitude through the moral life, adopted sonship through Christ and his sacraments, and the deiform worship of the beatific vision.Also examined are Thomas's other works, in particular his Scripture commentaries, as well as the evolution of his thought. Spezzano argues that Thomas's theology of deification in the Summa theologiae demonstrates his mature vision of God's loving and sapiential ordering of predestined human persons to communion with himself by a progressive participation in the divine likeness and activity, accounting for both the primacy of divine causality in all its modes and the fullness of graced human freedom.The fruit of this theology is ultimately doxological: the deification of adopted sons gives praise to God's glory by fully manifesting God's gracious plan to share the divine life with rational creatures.

In 1989, in response to Richard Schenk’s doctoral dissertation, Josef Ratzinger wrote that “the only way to bring fresh wind into systematic theology is to connect looking back at the great masters in the history of the faith with questioning anew and more profoundly in the horizon of our times.”Soundings in the History of a Hope offers Schenk’s experimental attempts to meet these requirements for the renewal of systematics, looking above all to St. Thomas Aquinas and some of his patristic sources,contemporary critics, and later readers in order to retrieve seminal ideas for addressing issues that would continue to develop after Thomas’s time. The essays in this volume examine interreligious relationality, hope and doubt, human labor and mortality, structures of nature, movements of history, and events of grace and failure—between the gaudium et spes of today’s world and its many “sorrows and worries.”

In Glory of the Logos in the Flesh, Michael Waldstein helps readers of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body enter this masterwork with clearer understanding. Part One, designed for entry-level readers, is a map of John Paul’s text, a summary of each paragraph with an explanation of the order of the argument. Part Two reflects on the breadth of reason (logos) in Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Physics, and the Gospel of John, in contrast to the narrowing of reason in Luther, Bacon, and Descartes. Part Three shows how this breadth of reason is at work in John Paul’s dialogue with Thomas Aquinas, John of the Cross, Kant, and Scheler.

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.

In calling for a renewal of moral theology, the Second Vatican Council also charted a course for the Church’s future. The Decree on Priestly Formation specified the need for “livelier contact with the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation” and called for the discipline to be “more thoroughly nourished by scriptural teaching.” To this can be added the teaching of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church, which found the mystery of the human person disclosed in the person of Christ, and the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church’s recovery of the universal call to holiness. The essays in this volume reflect an effort to explore and respond to these hallmarks of renewal indicated by the Council fathers. They therefore treat topics of theological anthropology, the use of Scripture, and growth in holiness through the pursuit of virtue, and also engage the increasingly important question of the role of Scripture in moral theology. These sources of Catholic moral teaching are brought to bear on a variety of pressing contemporary issues: sexual difference, the relationship of sexual expression to marital commitment, methods of family planning, reproductive technologies, and public moral discussion of abortion. Important figures of this postconciliar renewal—such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Servais Pinckaers, OP, Benedict XVI, and particularly John Paul II—figure prominently in this volume. Drawing on these outstanding thinkers, these essays seek to follow the course of renewal illumined by the Council so as, in the words of Optatum totius, no. 16, “to shed light on the loftiness of the calling of the faithful in Christ and the obligation that is theirs of bearing fruit in charity for the life of the world.”

Scholars have often been quick to acknowledge Thomas Aquinas's distinctive retrieval of Aristotle's Greek philosophical heritage. Often lagging, however, has been a proper appreciation of both his originality and indebtedness in appropriating the great theological insights of the Greek Fathers of the Church. In a similar way to his integration of the Aristotelian philosophical corpus, Aquinas successfully interwove the often newly received and translated Greek patristic sources into a thirteenth-century theological framework, one dominated by the Latin Fathers. His use of the Greek Fathers definitively shaped his exposition of sacra doctrina in the fundamental areas of God and creation, Trinitarian theology, the moral life, and Christ and the Sacraments.For the sake of filling this lacuna and of piquing scholarly interest in Aquinas's relation to the Fathers of the Christian East, the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University and the Thomistic Institute of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies co-sponsored an international gathering of scholars that took place at Ave Maria University under the title Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. Sensitive to the commonalities and the differences between Aquinas and the Greek Fathers, the essays in this volume have sprung from the theme of this conference and offer a harvest of some of the conference's fruits. At long last, scholars have a rich volume of diverse, penetrating essays that both underscore Aquinas's unique standing among the Latin scholastics in relationship to the Greek Fathers and point the way toward avenues of further study.

In light of the shock and confusion caused by the clerical scandals of the summer of 2018, Ave Maria University organized a conference offering a response to the crisis. Its aim would be to use Ave Maria University's commitment to serving the Church through faithful scholarship as a platform to offer helpful reflections on what had taken place and how the Church might move forward. As a mission-driven institution, Ave Maria University wanted to offer its fidelity to truth as a Catholic university; its Marian identity as ""Ave Maria"" University, and the learned wisdom of its own professors and scholarly friends as a resource for the faithful and Church leaders to turn to during this time of crisis. The conference, ""Crisis in the Church: On the Faith of Mary as the Pathway to Peace,"" took place on the Ave Maria University campus on January 11-12, 2019. The quality of the papers and the fellowship enjoyed by the participans and attendees exceeded expectations. Sapienta Press of Ave Maria University hopes that by disseminating these conference proceedings in book form, many others will also benefit from the wisdom, fidelity, and learning offered by each of the contributors.

The Mystical Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite is one of the greatest classical texts ever written on prayer. The mysterious author, living during the fifth and sixth centuries, most likely in Syria, has been recognized both in the East and the West as a consummate theologian. This volume provides the finest available Greek text along with a facing-page translation as well as an introduction with historical background on Dionysius the Areopagite. Also given is an extended, concise commentary on the text.This will be an essential volume for readers who wish to engage one of the finest writers of Christian Tradition in his classic work on prayer. This would include not only scholars but others who may seek a deeper understanding of and love for God.

St. Thomas Aquinas's theology has served as a touchstone for the Church's magisterial teaching on the Eucharist over the centuries, and the Church gives him an unparalleled position in eucharistic theology and worship. His work appears in the Church's Liturgy of the Hours and Mass Sequence on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and we sing his eucharistic hymns at many other times of celebration and adoration. In St. Thomas, we find the finest expressions of truth, beauty, and love to move our hearts for Christ's presence in the Eucharist.The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University and the Thomistic Institute of the Dominican House of Studies co-sponsored an international conference on "Thomas Aquinas and the Eucharist: Pathways to Revival" in 2024 during the US Eucharistic Revival and the 750th anniversary year of St. Thomas Aquinas's passing from this earth. This conference volume offers original contributions on Thomas Aquinas and the Eucharist with focus on Sacred Scripture, sacramental signification, Transubstantiation, sacrifice, and much more.

Unmasking the Devil is the first in the Sapientia Gateway to Literature Series. Dr. Martin's keen analysis, informed by a life's work as literary critic and theologian, reveals the central action of O'Connor's stunning fiction - the violent breaking-in of grace into lives barren of the awareness of God. He links this consistent theme of her work to the shape of her ownn faithful and cross-filled life. Usually seen as a preeminent Catholic fiction writer of the twentieth century, O'Connor's work has set the standard for how serious writers must address God's salvific actions while maintaining the highest standards for literature. A kind of faithful Catholic counterpoint to James Joyce, O'Connor's work is of enduring even classic value. Dr. Martin's larger argument points out that only fiction with a passionate religious vision has a chance of enduring, thus consigning, as Lionel Trilling once did, most liberal fiction to the remainders table.

Catholic Social Teaching has been described as the best kept secret of the Church. This is particularly regrettable now that the Catholic Church is one of the few global voices to uphold the ‘primacy of labour over capital’. Rapid transformations in the world economy mean that growth, productivity, and profitability are no longer closely associated with increases in employment. In Work and Human Fulfillment, members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and their colleagues explore the recent changes in the world of work. The book includes a summary of the key positions taken by the Church on work and employment, and extracts of the papers presented and discussed at the three plenary sessions of the Pontifical Academy in 1996, 1997, and 1999 focusing on the following areas: Present situation and current trends of work across the world, globalised economy, contemporary institutions and their response to unemployment, capital labour, analysis of policy options, and culture of work.

Ecology is too important to be left to self-appointed ""environmentalists."" Drawing together the wisdom of the Bible with his vast knowledge of the Western literary tradition (Shakespeare, Hopkins, Eliot and many others) and his experience of nature as a longtime resident of Japan, Fr. Milward conveys the beauty that those attentive to God's creation discover. He reawakens us to the sense of contemplative wonder and delight that children experience but that adults, in the busy hubbub of urban and suburban life, so easily forget. Each short chapter is a conversation with a spiritual master, guiding us toward the pearls of God's glory imprinted in the delicate patterns of the world.

This reprint of Michael Novak’s first novel is an intriguing story about a young man preparing for priesthood in Rome and studying theology at the Gregorianum, and his struggles with whether he is truly called to the priesthood. It takes place in the 1950’s, a time of the Hungarian Revolution, the launching of the Sputnik, when Kennedy succeeded Eisenhower, just before Pope John XXIII would take the place of Pope Pius XII, and when there were evident stirrings within the Church that would ultimately result in Vatican II. The Tiber Was Silver provides a unique view of the pre-conciliar Church through the eyes of a young seminarian and draws the reader into his momentous decision.

In these brief, readable, and insightful essays, Fr. Milward delves into the poetry of Hopkins and his central ideas on God the Trinity, the self, nature and people.