Abstract
This article examines Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation of Galatians 3:28 in his commentaries on the Pauline letters with an eye to Alisdair MacIntyre’s notion of “tradition-constituted enquiry.” An analysis of Aquinas’ multiple references to Gal 3:28 in his lectures on Paul reveal a consistent, theologically complex interpretation of this verse in terms of the regenerative grace of baptism in the rational soul, which is common to all human beings and prior to their differences. Aquinas’ reception of Paul demonstrates some convergences with MacIntyre’s account of “tradition-constituted enquiry,” suggesting further consideration of the latter as a helpful conceptual resource for reception history.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Elizabeth Cochran for her assistance with aspects of this project. Any mistakes or oversights are my own.
Works Cited
Aquinas, Saint Thomas. 2012a. Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, trans., Fabian R. Larcher, Beth Mortensen, and Daniel Keating, ed. John Mortensen and Enrique Alarcón. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.Search in Google Scholar
Aquinas, Saint Thomas. 2012b. Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, trans., Fabian R. Larcher and Matthew Lamb, ed. John Mortensen and Enrique Alarcón. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.Search in Google Scholar
Aquinas, Saint Thomas. 2012c. Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, trans., Fabian R. Larcher, ed. John Mortensen and Enrique Alarcón. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.Search in Google Scholar
Aquinas, Saint Thomas. 2012d. Commentary on the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, trans., Fabian R. Larcher, ed. John Mortensen and Enrique Alarcón. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.Search in Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas. 1998. “Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon.” In Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings, edited by Ralph McInerny, 811–821. New York: Penguin.Search in Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas. 2014. Opera Omnia. Accessed January 3, 2014. http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/iopera.html.Search in Google Scholar
Augustine. 1991. The Trinity, trans., Edmund Hill. Brooklyn, NY: New City Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chenu, M. D. Toward Understanding Saint Thomas, trans., Albert M. Landry and Dominic Hughes. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company.Search in Google Scholar
Clarke, W. Norris. 2001. The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dauphinais, Michael and Matthew Levering, eds. 2005. Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas: Theological Exegesis and Speculative Theology. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dauphinais, Michael, and Matthew Levering, eds. 2012. Reading Romans with St. Thomas Aquinas. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.10.2307/j.ctt32b22qSearch in Google Scholar
Fowl, Stephen E. 2006. “The Importance of a Multivoiced Literal Sense of Scripture: The Example of Thomas Aquinas.” In Reading Scripture with the Church: Toward a Hermeneutic for Theological Interpretation, edited by A. K. M. Adam, Stephen E. Fowl, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and Francis Watson, 35–50. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.Search in Google Scholar
Hibbs, Thomas. 1993. “MacIntyre’s Postmodern Thomism: Reflections on Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry.” The Thomist 57: 277–297.10.1353/tho.1993.0038Search in Google Scholar
Johnson, Mark F. 1992. “Another Look at the Plurality of the Literal Sense.” Medieval Philosophy and Theology 2: 117–141.10.5840/medievalpt199227Search in Google Scholar
Levering, Matthew. 2002. Christ’s Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation according to Thomas Aquinas. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.10.2307/j.ctvpj7fq2Search in Google Scholar
Levering, Matthew. 2004. Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9780470773918Search in Google Scholar
Levering, Matthew. 2008. Participatory Biblical Exegesis: A Theology of Biblical Interpretation. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.10.2307/j.ctvpj764qSearch in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alisdair. 1984 [1981]. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2nd ed. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Search in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alisdair. 1988. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Search in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alisdair. 1990. Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopedia, Genealogy, and Tradition. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Search in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alisdair. 1998. “An Interview for Cogito.” In The MacIntyre Reader, edited by Kelvin Knight, 267–275. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Search in Google Scholar
Martin, Francis. 2006. Sacred Scripture: The Disclosure of the Word. Naples: Sapientia Press.Search in Google Scholar
Peter the Chanter. 1844–1864. Verbum abbreviatum. Patrologia latina, vol. 205, 21–554. edited by J. P. Migne. (217 vols.) Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Prügl, Thomas. 2005. “Thomas Aquinas as Interpreter of Scripture.” In The Theology of Thomas Aquinas, edited by Rik van Nieuwenhove and Joseph Wawrykow, 386–415. Notre Dame: The University of Notre Dame Press.10.2307/j.ctvpj7g49.22Search in Google Scholar
Rogers, Eugene F., Jr. 1996. “How the Virtues of an Interpreter Presuppose and Perfect Hermeneutics: The Case of Thomas Aquinas.” Journal of Religion 76: 64–81.10.1086/489736Search in Google Scholar
Torrell, Jean-Pierre. 1996 [1993]. Saint Thomas Aquinas: Volume 1: The Person and His Work, trans. Robert Royal. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.Search in Google Scholar
Valkenberg, Wilhelmus G. B. M. 2000. Words of the Living God: Place and Function of Holy Scripture in the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Leuven: Peeters.Search in Google Scholar
Venard, Olivier-Thomas. 2009. Pagina sacra: Le passage de l’Écriture sainte à l’écriture théologique. Paris: Ad Solem-Cerf.Search in Google Scholar
Wawrykow, Joseph P. 2005. The SCM Press A–Z of Thomas Aquinas. London: SCM Press.Search in Google Scholar
Weinandy, Thomas G., Daniel A. Keating, and John P. Yocum, eds. 2005. Aquinas on Scripture: An Introduction to his Biblical Commentaries. London and New York: T & T Clark International.Search in Google Scholar
Weisheipl, James A. 1974. Friar Thomas D’Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Works. New York: Doubleday.Search in Google Scholar
Weisheipl, James A. 1976. “The Johannine Commentary of Friar Thomas.” Church History 45: 185–195.10.2307/3163716Search in Google Scholar
©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Galatians 3:28 in Thomas Aquinas’ Lectures on the Pauline Letters: A Study in Thomistic Reception
- How the Goodman Read His Bible
- “I Was Exhausted as a Woman”: The Slippage of Virtue and Gender in the Testament of Job
- Stravinsky and U2 Fix Psalm 40
- After Beryl Smalley: Thirty Years of Medieval Exegesis, 1984–2013
- Book Review
- IDOLS OF NATIONS: Biblical Myth at the Origins of Capitalism
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Galatians 3:28 in Thomas Aquinas’ Lectures on the Pauline Letters: A Study in Thomistic Reception
- How the Goodman Read His Bible
- “I Was Exhausted as a Woman”: The Slippage of Virtue and Gender in the Testament of Job
- Stravinsky and U2 Fix Psalm 40
- After Beryl Smalley: Thirty Years of Medieval Exegesis, 1984–2013
- Book Review
- IDOLS OF NATIONS: Biblical Myth at the Origins of Capitalism