[voorkant] Thomas Instituut te Utrecht (Tilburg University) Director Dr. H.J.M. Schoot Administration Office Thomas Instituut te Utrecht (Tilburg University) Nieuwe Gracht 65 NL-3512 LG Utrecht tel.+31-13-4663832 email: [email protected] http://www.thomasinstituut.org JAARBOEK 2016 Thomas Instituut te Utrecht Jaargang 35 Henk J.M. Schoot (ed) Editorial Board Dr. H.J.M. Schoot (Editor-in-Chief) Drs. S. Mangnus O.P. Prof. dr. W.G.B.M. Valkenberg Prof. dr. R.A. te Velde Prof. dr. J.B.M. Wissink Editorial assistent P.M. Aerssens O.P. Print Peeters Orientaliste, Herent (Belgium) ISSN 09026-163X © Thomas Instituut te Utrecht, 2016 Previous volumes of the Jaarboek Thomas Instituut te Utrecht can be purchased at the administration office if still available. For information visit: www.thomasinstituut.org. All volumes previous to 2007 are there available in open access. This Jaarboek 2016 Thomas Instituut te Utrecht can be ordered at the administration office at the price of € 15,00 (Netherlands), € 20,00 (Europe), € 25,00 (non-European countries). The amount can be transferred to bank account IBAN: NL74 ABNA 0602 142 539 (BIC: ABNANL2A) of ‘Tilburg University’, with reference to ‘TST 8370.7095.1002 Jaarboek 2016’. TABLE OF CONTENTS Henk J.M. Schoot INTRODUCTION ………………………………….......... 5 Rik van Nieuwenhove AQUINAS ON CONTEMPLATION: A NEGLECTED TOPIC ………………………………….. 9 Lambert Hendriks CAN GOD MAKE ACTING EASY? A REFLECTION ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACTING FACILITER IN RELATION TO INFUSED MORAL VIRTUES .…………. 35 Kevin Grove, C.S.C. DESIRES, COUNSELS, AND CHRIST: THE CHRISTOLOGY OF AQUINAS’ TREATMENT OF THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS ……….………….. 49 Anton ten Klooster THE BEATITUDES AS ACTS OF THE VIRTUES IN AQUINAS’ LECTURA ON MATTHEW.......................…….. 75 Michael Estler THOMAS VON AQUIN: KONSEQUENTER LEHRER DER BARMHERZIGKEIT. KONKRETE ASPEKTE EINER DIAKONISCH-MISSIONARISCHEN PASTORAL……… 93 INTRODUCTION Last year, in 2015, our Thomas Instituut celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Institute was established in 1990, succeeding the Working Group Thomas Aquinas (est. 1979), both of them founded by the late prof. dr. Ferdinand de Grijs. This yearbook exists since 1981, and so this year we present our 35th volume. The anniversary of our Institute was celebrated in two important ways. First, we worked hard on translating Aquinas’s academic sermons in Dutch. Mark-Robin Hoogland c.p., in cooperation with Harm Goris and the undersigned, presented this translation in December 2015. The Bishop of Rotterdam, mgr. dr. H. van den Hende, who is also member of the board of the Thomas Foundation, graciously received the first copy of this remarkable book: Thomas van Aquino. De Academische Preken (Almere: Parthenon, 2015, pp. 398). Secondly, we organized yet another international conference on Aquinas, our fifth since the first which was organized in 1995. Some 60 scholars from all over the world gathered together in Utrecht, 16-19 December 2015, to discuss the relationship between acquired and infused moral virtues in Aquinas: The Virtuous Life. Thomas Aquinas on the Theological Nature of Moral Virtues. We had four days of intense study, celebrated the Eucharist together and with the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese Utrecht, mgr. Th.C. Hoogenboom, enjoyed a conference dinner, and walked through downtown Utrecht under the guidance of an inspiring quide. An important number of the lectures and papers that were presented during this conference, will shortly be published under the title of the conference, by Harm Goris and the undersigned, as Volume XVII of our Publication Series with Peeters Publishers in Louvain. 6 HENK SCHOOT Not all contributions to the conference could be included in the conference volume, for various reasons. We are quite thankful that we are able, in this yearbook, to present four of these studies, that do very much merit to be published and read by a larger public. Rik van Nieuwenhove, lecturer in theology at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland, is at present working on a book on Contemplation in Aquinas. A first written fruit is presented here. Van Nieuwenhove considers the intellectual virtue of contemplation from the angle of acquired and infused virtues, nature and grace: “Aquinas on Contemplation: A Neglected Topic”. Lambert Hendriks, rector of the Major Seminary of Rolduc, Diocese of Roermond, the Netherlands, considers the characteristics of agere faciliter in relation to the infused moral virtues. He poses the question “Can God make acting easy? A Reflection on the Characteristics of Acting faciliter in relation to infused moral virtues.” Kevin Grove is at present fellow of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. Grove studies Aquinas on the evangelical counsels, proposing the relevance of Aquinas’s incarnational Christology, i.e. his treatment of the teaching of Christ’s life as well as his temptations, for their proper interpretation: “Desires, Counsels, and Christ: The Christology of Aquinas’ treatment of the Evangelical Counsels.” Anton ten Klooster, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, works at our Institute on a dissertation on Aquinas’s commentary on Matthew, especially the beatitudes. In this commentary the concept of heroic, infused virtue is especially interesting and important. Ten Klooster gives his first interpretation of this aspect of Aquinas’s commentary: “The Beatitudes as Acts of the Virtues in Aquinas’s Lectura on Matthew.” The fifth and last contribution was sent in by Michael Estler, at present parish priest in St. Georg, Germany (Diocese INTRODUCTION 7 Rottenburg/Stuttgart), who recently defended his doctoral thesis on Aquinas’s Rigans montes (Inaugural lectures, 1256). Estler considers the relevance of Aquinas’s theology of divine mercy for the present pastoral concerns regarding divorced and remarried catholics: “Thomas von Aquin: Konsequenter Lehrer der Barmharzigkeit. Konkrete Aspekte einer diakonisch- missionarischen Pastoral.” Concluding this introduction, let me express once more our gratitude for all those who keep sustaining us in the work that we do, here at the Thomas Instituut in Utrecht. This last academic year has been remarkable and memorable in many respects; we hope that our work will keep being fruitful. And please, if you want us to consider any manuscripts that you would want us to consider publishing, do not hesitate to send them to us. We will welcome them. July 26, 2016. Henk J.M. Schoot, Editor-in-Chief.