Thomas Instituut te Utrecht (Tilburg University)

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Research

The research of the Thomas Instituut is part of one of the two research programs of Tilburg School of CatholicTheology: Initiation and mystagogy in the Christian tradition.

The main research topic of the Thomas Instituut during the past years, within the broader scope of ‘initiation and mystagogy’, has been the theme of Religious and moral formation. Two international conferences were organized (2013, 2015), which resulted in two major publications on virtues: Faith, Hope and Love (2015) and The Virtuous Life (2017). These books are not proceedings, but coherent collections of contributions on the topics mentioned, published in the Institute’s Series of Publications with Peeters Publishers, Louvain. Several other publications of the members are also related to moral formation (Te Velde 2017 on obedience; Sarot 2014 on infused love; Schoot 2016 on eucharistic transformation; Schoot 2017 on the teacher).

Several studies were devoted to issues related to religious formation (O’Reilly, dissertation 2013, on human knowing and willing; Goris and Sarot 2017 on Christ’s descent into hell; Vijgen, Goris, Schoot 2013 Dutch translation of the sermons on the creed; Hoogland, Goris and Schoot 2015 Dutch translation of Aquinas’ academic sermons) .

Partly related to this line of research on religious and moral formation is a long standing research line which focuses on the Biblical commentaries of Aquinas. A dissertation on the beatitudes in Aquinas, basic law of moral formation, is ready and approved of, and prepared for with several publications (Ten Klooster, 2014, 2016, 2017). Schoot (invited lecture, 2015), Ten Klooster and Mangnus visited two international conferences on Biblical Thomism in Torun, Poland. A dissertation on Aquinas’ commentary on John (Mangnus) is underway, and a dissertation on the anti-Jewish writings of Aquinas’ contemporary Raymundo Martini o.p. finished (Wiersma, 2015).

Antropology and metaphysics undergird Aquinas’ discourse on religious and moral formation. Concerning antropology a collection of essays was published in 2017 (Te Velde, Goris, Schoot 2017: Homo sapiens). Metaphysics is the subject of a book project of Te Velde, which was prepared for by publications in 2014, 2015, and 2017, one being devoted to the metaphysical position of the theological virtues.

In recent years two chairs were (re-)established within the Thomas Institute: a chair on the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and its contemporary relevance (Te Velde, 2017) and a chair on the theology of Thomas Aquinas (Schoot, 2006, 2017). Members regularly convene for (inter)national days of study. They publish yearly a Yearbook with contributions mostly in English (Schoot 2013, 2014/15, 2016, 2017).

The international conference of 2013 mentioned indirectly led to the awarding in 2017 of a honorary doctorate to one of its distinguished participants: Eleonore Stump (Saint Louis University, acceptance speech on ‘The good life’).

In 2018 the Thomas Instituut will organize its sixth international conference on “Initiation and Mystagogy in Thomas Aquinas.”


Key Participants
Seniors
Juniors (PhD-students)
  • Anton ten Klooster: "Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes. Reading Matthew, Disputing Grace and Virtue, Preaching Happiness" (defense June 6, 2018).
  • Stefan Mangnus: Thomas Aquinas' In Ioannem, chapter 1

    Publications mentioned

  • Harm Goris, Herwi Rikhof, Henk Schoot (eds.), Divine Transcendence and Immanence in the Work of Thomas Aquinas, Louvain etc.: Peeters Publishers, 2009.
  • Harm Goris, Lambert Hendriks, Henk Schoot (eds.), Faith, Hope and Love. Thomas Aquinas on Living by the Theological Virtues, Louvain etc.: Peeters Publishers, 2015.
  • Harm Goris, Henk Schoot (eds.), The Virtuous Life. Thomas Aquinas on the Theological Nature of Moral Virtues, Louvain etc.: Peeters Publishers, 2017.
  • Harm Goris, “De bijna-doodervaring en Thomas' visie op de onsterfelijke ziel”, in: Homo sapiens: Thomas van Aquino en de vraag naar de mens, Rudi te Velde (ed.), Valkhof Pers, 2017, 122-138 (Annalen van het Thijmgenootschap; vol. 105, no. 1).
  • Harm Goris, “Thomas Aquinas on Christ’s Descent into Hell”, in: The Apostles' Creed: ‘He Descended into Hell’, Sarot, M. & van Wieringen, A. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 93-114 (Studies in Theology and Religion; vol. 24; in press).
  • Mark-Robin Hoogland, Harm Goris, Henk Schoot, Thomas van Aquino. De Academische Preken: Ingeleid, vertaald en van aantekeningen voorzien, Almere: Parthenon, 2015.
  • Anton ten Klooster, “The Two Hands of Thomas Aquinas: The Reportationes of the Commentary on Matthew”, Angelicum 91, 4 (2014) 855-879.
  • Anton ten Klooster, “The Beatitudes as Acts of the Virtues in Aquinas' Lectura on Matthew”, Jaarboek Thomas-Instituut te Utrecht, 35 (2016) 75-91.
  • Anton ten Klooster, “Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes: Edition of the Basel Manuscript”, Jaarboek Thomas-Instituut te Utrecht, 36 (2017) 41-87.
  • Kevin O’Reilly o.p., The Hermeneutics of Knowing and Loving in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas, Leuven: Peeters, 2013.
  • Marcel Sarot, “The Value of Infused Love”, Jaarboek Thomas-Instituut te Utrecht 32, 2014, 111-123.
  • Marcel Sarot, “The Scope of Redemption: On Finding Meaning on Christ's Descent into Hell”, The Apostles's Creed: He Descended into Hell, Sarot, M. & Van Wieringen, A. (eds.), 185-206, (Studies in Theology and Religion; vol. 24; in press).
  • Henk Schoot, “Eucharistic Transformation: Thomas Aquinas' Adoro te devote”, Perichoresis 14, 2, (2016) 67-79.
  • Henk Schoot, “Thomas van Aquino over de mens als beeld van God”, Homo sapiens: Thomas van Aquino en de vraag naar de mens, Rudi te Velde (ed.), Valkhof Pers, 2017, 139-159 (Annalen van het Thijmgenootschap; vol. 105, no. 1).
  • Henk Schoot, “Magistraal: Thomas van Aquino en het leraarschap”, Modellen van Leraarschap: van Jesaja tot Bioshock, Bart Koet & Archibald van Wieringen (eds.). Almere: Parthenon, 189-207 (Utrechtse Studies; vol. XXI) .
  • Rudi te Velde, “Obedience as a Religious Virtue: An essay on the Binding of Isaac from the Perspective of Thomas Aquinas”, Jaarboek Thomas-Instituut te Utrecht 36, 2017, 165-180.
  • Rudi te Velde (red.), Homo sapiens: Thomas van Aquino en de vraag naar de mens, Nijmegen: Valkhof Pers, 2017 (Annalen van het Thijmgenootschap; vol. jrg. 105, no. no.1).
  • Rudi te Velde, “Aquinas's Aristotelian Science of Metaphysics and its Revised Platonism”, Nova et Vetera 13, 3, (2015) 743-764.
  • Rudi te Velde, “Een metafysische positionering van de theologale deugden: Aristoteles en Thomas”, Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 106, 2, (2014) 127-132
  • Jörgen Vijgen, Jacco Verburgt, Eric Luijten, Harm Goris, Henk Schoot, Thomas van Aquino. Preken over de geloofsbelijdenis. Over de geloofsartikelen en de sacramenten, Almere: Parthenon, 2013.
  • Syds Wiersma, Pearls in a dunghill: The anti-Jewish writings of Raymond Martin O.P. (ca. 1220 - ca. 1285), 2015 (pro manuscripto).