Re-thinking the Angelic Doctor : W. Norris Clarke and the Concept of Person in Thomas Aquinas

Re-thinking the Angelic Doctor is a major new reassessment of the reception of Thomas Aquinas in the work of the twentieth-century American philosopher W. Norris Clarke. Author Aloysius N. Ezeoba explores the question of whether Clarke was engaged in a "creative retrieval" of Aquinas’ system of thought – with a focus on the human person – or whether Clarke was forging his own path in attemptting to provide a "creative completion". Shedding new light on the workings of two great minds separated by eight centuries, Re-thinking the Angelic Doctor will be of interest to readers who are looking for a timely re-examination of the Aristotelian arguments, especially as they are appropriated by template religious thinkers such as Aquinas. It will also be a valuable resource in graduate courses in medieval and modern philosophy and theology.

Readers concerned with understanding how to appropriate St. Thomas Aquinas’s thinking for the twenty-first century will be greatly assisted in this task by reflecting upon this volume. They will learn much about the last century’s attempts to rethink St. Thomas from the varied positions of neo-Thomists in movements such as Transcendental and Existential Thomism. They will understand the ways in which thinkers such as Marechal and Phelan, were recrafting or, perhaps, abandoning classical Thomism, and how contemporary thinkers, such as Rev. Christopher Cullen, S.J. were countering with arguments defending traditional Thomism. And, importantly, they will confront the thought of one important figure connected with this appropriation: Rev. Norris W. Clarke, S.J., with whom I had contact in many ways as a fellow faculty member and as a popular lecturer. This book is an analytically precise, thoughtful, fruitful exercise in philosophy. It renders appropriate homage to that important twentieth-century Jesuit philosopher and teacher, and prepares the ground for critical appraisal of other various creative appropriations of St. Thomas Aquinas in the past century.

—William P. Baumgarth, Sr., PhD, Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, Fordham University.