On Being a Thomist: Cornelius Ernst's Meta-Theology

Thomism is a contested category that exhibits considerable plasticity in its application. An examination of the role played by such invocations of proper names in contemporary theological discourse indicates the importance of textual accessibility and engagement. The role played by texts is examined...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Op, Oliver James Keenan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2021
In: New blackfriars
Year: 2021, Volume: 102, Issue: 1101, Pages: 795-814
Further subjects:B Reading
B Thomism
B Fundamental Theology
B Cornelius Ernst
B textuality
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Summary:Thomism is a contested category that exhibits considerable plasticity in its application. An examination of the role played by such invocations of proper names in contemporary theological discourse indicates the importance of textual accessibility and engagement. The role played by texts is examined in terms of an often-elided distinction between ‘intelligibility’ and ‘readability’, with the former aligned with propositional contents and the latter a more expansive attentiveness to the text's performative operations. The historical remoteness of Aquinas coupled with the importation into theology of secularised reading strategies is seen to have alienated the full readability of Aquinas's texts. Acting against Cartesian modes of reading, Cornelius Ernst's re-performance of Thomistic pedagogy as ‘engaged contemplation’ is concerned to enact a horizon of meaning within which Aquinas's texts retain enduring readability. This article develops Ernst's Thomistic meta-theology into an account of Thomism as ‘meta-reading’. On this account, authentic Thomism involves the intentional cultivation of a total human culture, within which the inherently theological discipline of textual engagement exercises a quasi-liturgical function.
ISSN:1741-2005
Contains:Enthalten in: New blackfriars
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/nbfr.12686