A Poetic Christ: Thomist Reflections on Scripture, Language and Reality

by Olivier-Thomas Venard, Balázs M. Mezei (Editor), Kenneth Oakes (Translator), Francesca Aran Murphy (Editor), Francesca Aran Murphy (Translator)

Overview

Olivier-Thomas Venard's Thomas d'Aquin poète théologien trilogy, an in depth analysis of the scripture of St. Thomas Aquinas, is translated for a new audience in this streamlined anthology. Featuring selections from all three books in the trilogy, chosen in accordance with Venard's direction and discernment, it introduces not only arguments pertinent to the theme of this volume, but an invitation to explore the full breadth of Venard's work.

Concentrating on the subjects of scripture, theology and literature, language as a theological question and the word of God, Murphy and Oakes capture the scope and energy of Venard's trilogy while collating many of its key passages. Ranging from the themes of a poetic gospel and Christology to the Thomist theories of semiology and the metaphysics of the Word, this volume sets scholars on the path to a deeper understanding of Aquinas's systematic theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567684691
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/21/2019
Series:	Illuminating Modernity
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

Olivier-Thomas Venard is Deputy Director at École Biblique et Archéologique, Israel.

Francesca Aran Murphy is Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA.

Kenneth Oakes is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA.

Table of Contents

Author's Acknowledgments
Translators'Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Foreword -Cyril O'Regan, University of Notre Dame, USA
Translators' Preface
I. Scripture
1. A Poetic Gospel?
2. Towards a Poetic Christology
II. Theology and Literature
3. 'I am not a writer': Is There a Literary Vocation?
4. 'To Contemplate and to Hand On': The Literary Drama of the Theologian's Vocation
5. The Idea and Poetics of the Summa theologiae
6. Language That Wanted to Make Itself as Strong as the Word
7. In Search of the Lost Word
III. Language as a Theological Question
8. Little Thomasian Semiology
9. A Thomist Response: The Metaphysics of the Word
10. The Existence of Language as a Theological Question
IV. Word, Cross, Eucharist
11. The Cross of Jesus, the Summit of the Word of God
12. The Cross of Jesus, Source of Theological Speech
13. The Eucharist, the Exercise in Adoration - Glosses on 'Adoro Te'
V. Conclusion
14. 'The Hour Comes and Has Come...'
Appendix
Bibliography
Index of Names

Editorial Reviews

Biblical scholars and Thomists have long been aware of the towering works of Olivier-Thomas Venard; but for many English-speaking readers, the sheer density and interdisciplinary virtuosity of his thought - while richly stimulating - have made assimilation through a foreign language too daunting. This translation of key portions of his trilogy comes in the nick of time. When paired with Cyril O'Regan's brilliant foreword, we now have a gateway into the thought of one of the world's greatest interpreters of God's Word.
Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary, USA

Olivier-Thomas Venard is among the most original and most brilliant Catholic thinkers writing in French today, and is far too little known in the Anglophone world. This volume is a splendid, even scintillating distillate of his most important work and most illuminating ideas.
David Bentley Hart, University of Notre Dame, USA

Unambiguously centred on the Word of God, Venard claims that Christ is the only possible ground of human speech and significance. The result is a learned and profound Thomist meditation on the implications of incarnation, cross, and resurrection for language, literature, and biblical studies. A debt of gratitude is owed to Kenneth Oakes and Francesca Murphy for the many long hours spent on making Venard's work available to the English-speaking world.
Hans Boersma, Regent College, USA

From the Publisher