Principles of Catholic Theology, Book 1: On the Nature of Theology

by Thomas Joseph White Op, Thomas Joseph White

Catholic theology has to face a certain number of fundamental what is the nature and content of Christian revelation, what are the sources of revelation, how are the mysteries of the faith to be understood in relation of one to another, and how do the truths of the Catholic faith relate to the acquisitions of natural reason. In the contemporary context, Catholic theology is marked by a diversity of approaches, many of which are seemingly incompatible or estranged from one another. How might we think about the unity of Catholic theology over and above the diversity of forms? What role, if any, can Aquinas play as a common doctor in facilitating exchanges between theological traditions in the Church?

Principles of Catholic Theology seeks to address directly the nature of Catholic theology and the challenge of its contemporary articulation with an eye towards its articulation in its Thomistic key. This book is also the first of a series of collections of essays by Thomas Joseph White, OP, extending over a range of fundamental topics in Catholic dogmatic theology.

Genres: Theology

200 pages, Paperback

Published June 16, 2023

Reviews

[L. M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine introduction to Thomas Joseph White's series on Catholic theology, written in his characteristically lucid and inviting style. I found it particularly helpful for outlining the relationship between Thomas Aquinas' thought, the various modern schools of Thomism and wider Christian theology, and authentic Catholic teaching. Fr. White demonstrates how to treat one's intellectual adversaries in a just and gentle manner worthy of the Angelic Doctor himself.

[Vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say this slim volume of Fundamental Theology is excellent would be a severe understatement. White, in unassuming calmness and lucidity, manages to distill the essence of Catholic Theology through an eagle-eye survey of the twentieth-century's most important theologians, including Barth, Balthasar, Rahner, Ratzinger, De Lubac, Schleiermacher, Pzywara, Söhngen, and even Bulgakov, placing them all in dialogue and in the context of their philosophical predecessors, especially Kant, Hegel, Husserl, and Heidegger. Somehow in the midst of all this, White manages to explicate and advocate the Thomistic tradition as the best among said alternatives.What an intellectual and spiritual adventure this was. I was sent on multiple rabbit holes of foot-note chasing, and my list of concepts to understand, theologians to meet, and books to read has multiplied abundantly. Not least was my startling discovery of the Analogia Entis (analogy of being) as a key point of the Catholic-Protestant debate embodied by Barth and Przywara, the former having famously declared in the preface to his Church Dogmatics:

"I regard the Analogia Entis as the invention of Antichrist, and I believe that because of it it is impossible ever to become a Roman Catholic, all other reasons for not doing so being to my mind shortsighted and trivial." [CD I/I, 2nd edition., trans. G. W. Bromley (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1975), p. xiii.]

I have been subsequently convinced by White that the linchpin of the Catholic-Protestant debate falls elsewhere than Barth and Pzywara both make it out to be, but I at least emerge with a deeper understanding of this "giant Goliath incarnate" (to use Barth's own awesome description of Pzywara) and the structural underpinnings of his theological programme, that is an untenable rejection of natural theology with unfounded Kantian presuppositions of the death of metaphysics. As White explains,

"Neither Schleiermacher nor Barth (geniuses though they unquestionably were) adequately challenged at a sufficiently radical level the intellectually questionable Kantian consensus of their age. Like their contemporaries, they presupposed the death of metaphysics too prematurely and in too arbitrary a fashion. At the same time, they also each embraced philosophical modes of reflection emergent from nineteenth-century German philosophy in a theologically self-conscious way. But they did so without submitting these theological choices to sufficient philosophical scrutiny. A theology of revelation wed inextricably to an errant ontology or theological anthropology becomes an implausible form of theological thinking, since grace does not destroy nature but presupposes it and is meant to heal it over time. There is no surrogate for a defective nature. Theological truth cannot be expressed effectively except by making use of a balanced, realistic philosophy." (34-35, italics mine)

I've been wanting an introduction like this for a long time, and to finally find my bearings in this insanely complex and unwieldy field was like finding an oasis in the desert and drinking deeply from a fountain of living water. With a sigh of relief, I now am able to move on with greater clarity, curiosity, and confidence to a formal apprenticeship with St Thomas, and up the snowy mountains of Catholic Dogmatic Theology.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essay-based treatment of “modern” Thomism. Came across to me as more of a rundown of the state of Thomistic scholarship, with some arguments and logical examples presented as applicable depending on the essay.

This is not a primer on Thomistic Trinitarian or Christological thought, though some essays did get into the weeds. In such cases, Fr. White was kind enough to provide baseline “definitions” - though admittedly I made frequent, if not incessant, use of Google throughout. I appreciated when examples of Thomistic arguments were provided, as this was precisely what I was looking for.

Again, I was expecting this to be more an a Thomism 101, based on reviews I had read. I was not disappointed by this book, and I did enjoy it - but it was more of a “Thomist discussing Thomistic scholars and scholarship” than it was a primer on Thomism, Catholic theology, or otherwise.

[Avel Deleon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic read! I'll read a longer review through medium!