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

Description

Olivier-Thomas Venard's Thomas d'Aquin poete theologien 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.

Olivier-Thomas Venard is Deputy Director at Ecole Biblique et Archeologique, 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.

A Poetic Christ is a demanding book, but its demands are worth the effort ... It is a book that not only commends, but also embodies, Venard's calls for theology to be thought anew as 'a reasoned history of the poetics of faith practiced by a concrete community'. * Modern Theology * 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 * 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 * 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 * Verand's remarkable study has the great merit of showing the import of this likeness in the minds of those who would speak Christ. And so it is to be hoped that it will prompt further discussion of the Divine Word's centrality in the functioning of our words. * The Thomist *