By Dr. 布莱恩T. 凯利(88)
Note: The following remarks are adapted from Dean 布莱恩T. Kelly’s report to the 托马斯·阿奎那 College Board of Governors at its February 12, 2010, meeting. 它们是人类的一部分 正在进行的一系列会谈 其中博士. Kelly explains why the College includes certain authors in its curriculum.
董事会成员 亨利时间, chairman of the Committee on Academic Affairs, recommended that I pick out some work that we read in the College’s academic program and take a few minutes to explain why we read that work or that author. 因为博士. Zeiter’s interests bend so much toward the theological, I decided to say a few words about why we read St. 约翰波纹. This seems like a fair question because we are named for and aim to be serious disciples of St. 托马斯·阿奎那. 为什么, 然后, take time — roughly a month at the end of sophomore year — to read 波纹的 when we could be reading more of our beloved patron?
简单介绍一下St. John: He was born in the late 7th century and died in the late 8th entury. He was not a revolutionary innovator but an encyclopedic compiler of traditional Catholic doctrine. He has been called the last of the Greek fathers as well as the first of the scholastics. 他最伟大的作品， 智慧之泉这是第一次尝试 神学大全, or summary of all theological wisdom. This book is perhaps as important in the East as 托马斯。’ 大全 是在西方. St. John is famous for defending the use of images and relics against the iconoclasts and for laying the theological groundwork for the doctrine of Mary’s assumption.
A short answer as to why we read St. John would be that we read him because St. 托马斯读他的书. And this immediately suggests that he is worth reading in his own right.
这是通过阅读圣. 约翰波纹 and others that a young 托马斯·阿奎那 began to make inroads toward understanding what the human mind can grasp about the Trinity, BG电子圣言的行进, 以及他后来的化身. 这些都是非常困难的话题, and sometimes it helps to wrestle with the foundations of these teachings just as St. 托马斯做. )说实话吧, 我们在学习中有一点作弊, and after struggling with 波纹的’s account of the Hypostatic Union, we do in fact read a small section of Aquinas’ treatment, where he speaks with startling clarity and penetrating insight.)
Two other reasons spring to mind as to why we find it worthwhile to read St. 约翰波纹. First, he is noted for declaring and defending Mary’s title as the “Mother of God,” the 的尊敬. This is a very rich topic and very important for the Church in our times. St. John goes so far as to say that when we call Mary “Mother of God,” we express the whole truth about who Jesus Christ is.
其次, it is important for our students to meet — and in some way savor — the richness of the East. The split between the East and the West is one of the great tragedies of Church history. 在阅读圣. 约翰波纹, our students taste this richness of Eastern thought in a way that calls out for unity, in a way that points out the fundamental unity of doctrine in the whole Church.
Indeed, Pope Leo XIII, who in many ways inspired the foundation of this College, declared St. John “Doctor of the Universal Church” in December of 1890. 更多的 recently, Pope Benedict XVI praised him extensively in his Wednesday Audience on May 6 of 2009.