Table Of ContentTHE THOMIST TRADITION
HANDBOOK OF CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Volume 2
Series Editor
EUGENE THOMAS LONG
A list of titles in this series can be found at the end of this volume.
BRIAN J. SHANLEY, a.p.
The Catholic University ofA merica, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
The Thomist Tradition
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-90-481-5849-2 ISBN 978-94-015-9916-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-9916-0
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2002.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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To My Parents,
Joseph and Elaine Shanley
Table of Contents
Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion: Series Outline viii
Acknowledgments IX
Introduction Xl
l. Twentieth-Century Thomisms 1
2. Religious Knowledge: The Relationship between Faith and Reason 21
3. Religious Language 44
4. Religion and Science 67
5. Evil and Suffering 92
6. Religion and Morality 128
7. Human Nature and Destiny 151
8. Conception of the Absolute 179
9. Religious Pluralism 208
Conclusion 232
Name Index 235
Subject Index 237
VB
Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion
Series Outline
At mid-century western philosophy of religion appeared to be gasping for
breath. The logical positivists and the positivists of revelation cooperated in
challenging the legitimacy of natural theology and the philosophy of religion. Soon
after mid-century, however, new approaches to philosophy with roots in the early
twentieth century began to flourish leading to renewed interest in the philosophy of
religion. N eo-Thomists and process philosophers breathed new life into
metaphysics, and analytic and existential philosophers opened up new avenues for
philosophical reflection on the meaning and truth of God-talk. These discussions
often reflected an empirical and historical mindedness that was quietly calling into
question the classical foundations of western philosophy and philosophy of
religion. The last quarter of the century has seen the blossoming of this empirical
and historical mindedness leading to an enormous change of climate in
philosophical reflection on religion. This is an era characterized by pluralism in
human experience and diversity in philosophical method. It is an era in which
many of the traditional foundations and methods of philosophical reflection on
religion are being called into question. The Handbook of Contemporary
Philosophy of Religion explores developments in contemporary philosophy of
religion in its many forms. Volume one provides an historical map of twentieth
century western philosophy of religion and serves as an introduction to other
volumes in the Handbook. Among the early volumes will come studies of
contemporary Thomistic, analytic, comparative and process philosophy of religion.
Additional volumes are being planned covering other philosophical approaches and
selected issues. Each volume will introduce the subject in its recent and current
state and provide an analysis in light of contemporary debates and the author's own
position.
Eugene Thomas Long
Editor
VIJI
Acknowledgments
This book has been shaped by several distinct contexts. I began work during the
academic year 1998-99, while I was fortunate to be on a fellowship at the
University of Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion. I am deeply grateful
to the Center, and its hospitable director Alvin Plantinga, for providing me with a
friendly and stimulating environment for writing and reflection. The congenial and
heterogeneous community of scholars gathered together that year were particularly
helpful in improving Chapter Two of this work, which was refined in the fires of
our weekly seminar. I am especially grateful to Jeffrey Brower, Jennifer Herdt, and
Mark Murphy for feedback above and beyond the normal call of seminar duty. I
owe a debt of gratitude as well to my confrere Paul Philibert, O.P., who sustained
me with fraternal support and hospitality during that year.
I am grateful to The Catholic University of America for granting me a leave of
absence in order to go to Notre Dame and for providing the support and
encouragement to bring this project to completion after I resumed full-time
teaching. I began my study of philosophy in general and Thomas Aquinas in
particular at The Catholic University of America, so it is fitting that I bring this
project to completion under its auspices. I am grateful especially to my colleagues
John F. Wippel, who provided me with my initial grounding in the metaphysics of
Aquinas; Jean De Groot, who gave me helpful advice on one chapter; Jude P.
Dougherty, Dean Emeritus, who introduced me to Eugene Long; and Kurt Pritzl,
O.P., current Dean of the School of Philosophy, who encouraged and supported me
throughout the long process.
The more proximate context of this book is the very same Dominican life that
originally sustained and nurtured Thomas Aquinas. This book is an act of pietas for
me, a chance to give back what I have received from a long line of Dominican
students and teachers of Thomas Aquinas. I want to acknowledge especially the
intellectual debts that lowe to Thomas C. O'Brien and William J. Hill, O.P .. It was
from the late Thomas O'Brien, who received his intellectual formation in the
Dominican life, that I learned how to read St. Thomas as a whole. It was from the
teaching and example of William Hill that I learned how to read St. Thomas in
dialogue with others. Those confreres whom I live with at the Dominican House of
Studies have been a great support to me through our common endeavor to live the
religious life that sustains and supports the study of divine truth. I am especially
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