Franciscan Studies

BOOK REVIEWS 107 of choice is especially well done. By championing a viewpoint not commonly held, the author is casting down the gauntlet. Though few may be ready to do battle, all who read The Morality of Imperfections will be stimulated both to theoretical and practical reflections. The new Thomistic series has made an excellent beginning. B asil H eiser , O. F. M. Co n v Our Lady of Carey Seminary, Carey, Ohio. Thomistic Principles in a Catholic School. By Theodore Brauer and others. (St. Louis, Mo.: Herder Book Co., 1943. Pp. x+321. $2.50.) Several professors of the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul have con­ tributed to this book. They intend "to demonstrate, out of their specific academic spheres, that their teaching can be attached to the one and selfsame doctrine of St. Thomas.” Fully aware of the confusion and chaos in educa­ tion, and tired of shallow discussions on educational matters which are usually either without any result or confined to technical details, the con­ tributors have found their common basis in the teachings of St. Thomas. Hence their "purpose is to show that at least the Catholic college, by season­ ably using St. Thomas’ doctrine, should be able to prepare and utilize a common basis not only of discussions but likewise of instruction, training, and education up from the simpler to the highest subjects.” Justly, therefore, we can call this book a manifesto which commands our respect and our admiration for its courage and consequence. The contributors acknowledge that they will not discuss all the various aspects of the question in extension and detail. They only intend to draw attention to the basic place of Thomism in different branches of learning and to the proper connection between Thomism and modern teaching. This is certainly, even in its limited scope, a great task and one worthy of every effort. The results of these efforts are laid down in the following chapters: 1. "St. Thomas in the Curriculum” (by James H. Moynihan) ; 2. "St. Thomas on Study” (by R. A. Kocourek); 3. "Religion and the Research of First Principles” (by Theodore Brauer) ; 4. "Thomism and Modern Philosophy” (by Theodore Brauer); 5. "The Importance of Teleology” (by Theodore Brauer); 6. "Economic Thought in St. Thomas” (by Theodore Brauer) ; 7. "Person and Society according to St. Thomas” (by Franz Mueller); 8. "St. Thomas and Political Science” (by Charles McCoy) ; 9. "St. Thomas and the Development of Modern Science” (by John Giesen). The present reviewer limits himself to some reflections on the book as a whole and on some details. The book is animated by a spirit of exclusive Thomism. One wonders what the term "seasonable Thomism” may mean; at least it is not defined and therefore not open to discussion. One wonders, furthermore, what the basic principles of Thomism really are. Are they identical with those principles without which Catholicism or Christianity would cease to have a rational basis and would thereby be reduced to a voluntary belief and not a "rationabile obsequium” ? The contributors cer­ tainly take Thomism in the strict sense of the teaching of St. Thomas and certain of his followers — in other words, as the teaching of a school. Their 108 FRANCISCAN STUDIES Thomistic principles are not accepted in toto by all Catholics (even if we except the Franciscan school); in fact they are not accepted by all so-called Thomists either. Would it not be better to emphasize rather the "Catholic principles” which can largely be identified with the teachings of St. Thomas and his followers, and with the teachings of the other scholastics and Christian philosophers as well? The really basic principles of Christian philosophy — which can stand the test of any criticism from within and from without — make us certain of that firm and solid ground on which any Catholic education worthy of the name has to be built. As to details, we will mention only a few (though many more could be noted) which are more or less questionable. Because the contributors have to a large extent used books written on St. Thomas’ teachings, they have repeated some errors. We are at a loss, for instance, to understand the following...