Journal of the History of Philosophy

Sir Maurice Powicke famously wrote that one must live in the valley before one can appreciate the height of the mountains. Walter Principe spent much of his academic career editing and studying lesser and long-neglected masters of theology before ascending the heights represented by the thought of the Common Doctor. It is fitting, therefore, that this collection of studies to honor his memory—with contributions from colleagues and former students—reflect the full range of his interests: while five of the papers are concerned with Aquinas's thought, others explore less well-known figures, including Guerric of Saint-Quentin, Rupert of Deutz, Hildegard of Bingen, and Capreolus. [End Page 495]

This memorial collection, moreover, represents the kind of historical theology to which the honoree was dedicated. The editors note the irony embodied by the resourcement movement, in general, and Principe's work, in particular: namely, that Catholic thought recovered its vitality "not by looking outside itself, but rather by looking to its own past."

Exemplifying this approach is Joanne McWilliams's study of Augustine's first foray into Trinitarian theology, which was shaped by his polemic against the Manichees.

Abigail Ann Young's contribution sketches the visionary and prophetic theologies of Rupert of Deutz and Hildegard of Bingen, emphasizing their similarities as a corrective to received opinion, which, for the most part, underscores their differences.

Basing her study in her doctoral work under Principe's direction, Pamela Reeve explores Aquinas's thinking on what are termed "higher cognitive studies"—in other words, dreams, raptures, and finally, the beatific vision. Faithful to Thomas's conviction that the extraordinary must be grounded in the ordinary, Reeve traces the metaphysical foundations of cognition, incorporating in her study recent work on the epistemology of mystical states.

For a Festschrift to honor Jean-Pierre Torrell on his 65^th birthday (Ordo sapientiae et amoris [Fribourg, 1993]), Principe had contributed a piece entitled, "Guerric of Saint-Quentin OP on the Question: Utrum Filius Dei esset incarnatus si homo non peccasset? [Would the Son of God have been born if man had not sinned?]." It was therefore poetic symmetry that Torrell should return the favor for the book under review and offer a contribution entitled, "Christology in the Quodlibets of Guerric of Saint-Quentin: A Precursor of Thomas Aquinas?"

James Ginther, one of the editors, warns his readers of the tendency to portray medieval theology in terms of the neo-scholastic model, overlooking the centrality of the authoritative text for the theologian, the Bible. The latter, he points out, was a text that was dispersed throughout many resources: summae, Sentences commentaries, disputed questions, even the liturgy.

Drawing on his own extensive project of explicating theological issues from the vantage of natural philosophy and medicine, Philip Reynolds here explores the problem of the kind of causality exerted by the sacraments. How can a material cause (the matter of the sacrament—water, bread, oil, and so forth) produce an effect that is spiritual (grace)? It would seem, on the face of it, a violation of the principle of causality. Rejecting the view that the sacraments were merely occasional causes, Aquinas attempts to resolve the difficulty by inventing a new distinction, namely, "instrumental efficient causality"; this term entails the claim that the instrument contributes in some way to the efficient causing of grace in the soul by God. Reynolds carefully weighs Thomas's solution, comparing it both with earlier scholastic sacramentologies and with the analysis ventured by Bonaventure.

Mark Johnson looks at the structure of Aquinas's ethical teaching in the Secunda pars of the Summa theologiae. He quite properly acknowledges his debt to Leonard Boyle's magisterial book on the setting of the Summa, but contributes further context with respect to Dominican pastoral literature of the mid-thirteenth century. Johnson's documentation is formidable, but his often tortured syntax makes for...