It’s not so often that you burst out laughing over philosophical reflection: "Reading the Metaphysics can give the impression of reading dispatches from the Lost Patrol" - because Aristotle keeps backing up to reiterate the question of what we are seeking. At issue in Ralph McInerny's Praeambula Fidei: Thomism and the God of the Philosophers is to what extent we can follow Aquinas in his preambles of faith, viz., how far we can go in theology using natural reason alone before reverting to revelation. This in turn rests on (a) the extent to which the Metaphysics forms a coherent whole and (b) whether Aquinas preserves Aristotle’s metaphysics while building on it, or whether he takes it in a new direction entirely. Unified Metaphysics and Aquinas as Aristotelian: Leo XIII, Catejan, Garrigou-Lagrange and McInerny himself. All opposed: Etienne Gilson, Henri Lubac, Marie-Dominique Chenu. Yes, part of getting up to snuff on an academic problem is learning the subject matter, but the other part is following the gossip - who said what when and who said what back and who isn’t speaking to whom at all. Master this last part and they’ll think you’re an expert, too.
Make sure to check out Anthony Lisska's review of McInerny at the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
Make sure to check out Anthony Lisska's review of McInerny at the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.