Title of Proposed Project: Philosophy for Understanding the Church Councils
Abstract: Many of the official statements of the Catholic Church, especially those proclaimed
at the Ecumenical Councils, employ philosophical terminology or assume familiarity with
philosophical concepts. For instance, the Council of Trent defines the justification of the sinner
in terms of Aristotle’s four causes. Since the doctrine of justification is a central point of any
theology and a dividing point among Christian theologies, ignorance of philosophy leads to
ignorance of theology.
In this project, I will begin work on a book which aims to present the philosophy necessary for
understanding the Church Councils. In particular, I will complete the table of contents for the
book and also the first chapter. I will build on work I completed during a Faculty Partnership
with Dr. William Cavanaugh in the Spring of 2009, when we read through the Conciliar
documents with an eye toward finding the philosophical concepts presupposed by the Church.
1. Background, context, and goals for the project
BACKGROUND The Ecumenical Councils are a foundation of traditional Christian, and, in
particular, Catholic, teaching. In order to understand what the Catholic Church teaches about
very many important topics, one needs to understand what the Councils say about them. But the
Councils are replete with philosophical terminology. For instance, consider the teaching on the
justification of the sinner at the Council of Trent. Here is part of it:
The causes of this justification are: final cause, the glory of God and of Christ,
and eternal life; efficient cause, the God of mercy who, of his own free will,
washes and sanctifies, placing his seal and anointing with the promised holy Spirit
who is the guarantee of our inheritance; meritorious cause, his most beloved and
only-begotten Son, our lord Jesus Christ, who, when we were at enmity with him,
out of the great love with which he loved us, merited justification for us by his
most holy passion on the wood of the cross, and made satisfaction to God the
Father on our behalf; instrumental cause, the sacrament of baptism, which is the
sacrament of faith, without which justification comes to no one. Finally, the one
formal cause is the justness of God: not that by which he himself is just, but that
by which he makes us just … (Session 6, Chapter 7, Trent, 1545-1563: 673;
italics are from the original, underlining is added by me).
One cannot understand this quotation, and hence cannot understand the official presentation of
the teaching of the Catholic Church on this topic, without understanding the Aristotelian analysis
of causation, including formal, efficient, instrumental and final causes. So an understanding of
the theological disagreements that (partially) caused the schism of Western Christendom requires
an understanding of metaphysics and natural philosophy.
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CONTEXT
No book exists which attempts to lay out the metaphysics and natural
philosophy required to understand the Councils. This is a large gap in the literature at the
intersection of philosophy and theology. There are some works which present the philosophy
required to understand the influence of philosophy on the thought of theologians (e.g.,
Philosophy for Understanding Theology by Diogenes Allen). This book focuses on famous
philosophers, and more than half of it focuses on philosophy during or after the modern era, such
as Kant, Hegel and post-modern philosophers. As such, while it does something worthwhile, it
doesn’t do what I intend to do, which is explicate the philosophical terms required to understand
the Church Councils.
Also, some books present a systematic overview of the perennial metaphysics and natural
philosophy (e.g., Introduction to the Philosophy of Being by George Klubertanz, S.J.). These
would be useful for a reader interested in learning the philosophy required to understand the
Church Councils. However, such books were written decades ago (in the case of Klubertanz’s
superlative book, over half a century ago), and are written for those already steeped in Thomistic
terminology. Such books, then, will not be useful for the audience I intend to reach:
philosophically lay readers (e.g., seminarians, both Catholic and Protestant; interested laity, etc.).
If I have trouble parsing these old manuals (and I do!), then surely the philosophical novice will
find them unhelpful.
I have discussed this book idea with many people, including Archbishop Raymond
Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, and Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J., former Dean of
the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Both men thought
that a book of this sort would be a very useful book for seminary formation. Others I’ve
discussed the topic with, many being seminarians and priests, agreed.
GOALS
I intend to present the philosophy required to understand the theology in
the Ecumenical Councils. This research grant would be used to start that book, and, in particular,
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complete the first chapter of that book. My goals for this course release are (a) to organize,
receive feedback about, and compose a table of contents for the book in mind, and (b) to
complete the first chapter of the book.
2. Plan of work
I have completed a large part of the research for this project through the Faculty
Partnership grant I received last year, when Dr. Bill Cavanaugh and I read through the majority
of the Ecumenical Councils with an eye toward finding the parts that used or assumed
philosophical concepts. In fact, my final report for that Partnership listed no fewer that fifty-five
places where the Church used or employed philosophical terms (the report is attached to this
application).
During this project, my goal is to complete the table of contents for the book and the first
chapter. Completing the table of contents will involve organizing and regimenting the passages
I’ve pulled from the Councils into groups, then arranging those groups in the most pedagogically
efficient order. It will also include some research into how other individuals (for instance, Fr.
Klubertanz, mentioned above) arrange their presentations of introductory metaphysics.
Completing the first chapter will involve researching the topic and the drafting of the
chapter. The research will include reading parts of the Councils and their treatment by other
thinkers, past and present. The drafting will be similar the drafting of any introductory work on
a particular humanities discipline. The main difference I see will be that I will motivate the
discussions in the book with reference to and quotations from the Ecumenical Councils.
3. Project’s value
This project will be of value, both to me as a scholar, and to students. To me, it will be of
value insofar as it will require me to do additional research into metaphysics and philosophy of
religion, two of my main areas of research. The more I learn about the dogmatic teaching of the
church, the more grist I have for the philosophy of religion mill. And the more I am required to
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present metaphysics at an introductory and jargon-free level, the better I’ll understand it—and
teach it.
As I mentioned above, both Archbishop Raymond Burke and Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J
think that a book of this sort would be quite valuable. The value, in their eyes, would be in the
preparation of men for the priesthood. Here at the University of St. Thomas, my upper-level
classes are positively overrun with men in preparation for the priesthood. So the project is of
value for the Catholic Church as a whole, insofar as it would be of value in forming its priests.
And it is also of value to my students in particular, since the majority of my students (again, in
upper-level courses) are seminarians. In fact, I plan on using the work as one of the texts in my
PHIL-365, Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics, courses, since it will be designed to do
precisely what it is that I should be doing for those students: introducing them to the perennial
metaphysics of Aristotle and other philosophers, but introducing it in a way that shows the
relevance of the philosophy to their particular interests and needs. I think that this project may
perhaps enhance the work of those who work in or study theology, at least insofar as they need
suitable background knowledge of philosophy to understand their chosen field.
4. Evaluation and Dissemination of the project
I will consider this smaller portion of the larger project—that is, the portion for which
I’m applying to receive leave—a success if I complete the table of contents and a draft of the
first chapter of the work. I will consider the entire project a success when I have a publisher and
a completed manuscript.
As for dissemination, I intend to disseminate it as a book. As such, there will be some
years between the completion of the work done on this release and the dissemination of the
work. Some publishers that would be potential candidates for this book are Catholic University
of America Press, University of Notre Dame Press, St. Augustine Press, and Dumb Ox Press. I
have some confidence that Archbishop Burke would write a foreword for this book, and I think
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having a foreword by someone of his position in the Church would be a selling point to any
Catholic publishing house. The work I would do on this leave isn’t the sort of work I can send
out to a journal prior to publishing in a book. To speed up dissemination, I would happily make
the chapter available online for interested readers.
APPENDIX 1 – TIMETABLE
Because the project is at the very beginning stages, and because I am unsure about the
number of chapters the proposed book would include, I’m not confident about the amount of
time the whole project would take. The part of the project that I plan to write during this release
is easier to focus on.
In the Spring of 2011, or sooner, I will start putting together a rough outline of
metaphysical topics that I think the book should cover. I will send this rough outline to some
colleagues for advice and peer review. Since they will be looking at an outline, and not a whole
chapter, my hope is that they can get their comments back to me within a month. I will revise
the outline in light of their comments, and form it into a table of contents. Then I will start work
on the first chapter of the text (which will most likely be on substance and accident, or matter
and form).
I do not intend to focus exclusively on this project, and so while I am writing for an
introductory level and do not expect to write extremely long chapters, I don’t have aspirations to
finish more than one chapter per semester, if that. However, were I to receive this grant, the
beginning push and first chapter would be far easier to complete, and the momentum on the
project would be much easier to carry on through the summer with that much work behind me.
If I can draft two chapters during each summer and another one chapter during each following
school year, I should be able to complete drafting an eight-chapter book during the first half of
the 2013 summer.
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