Teaching bodies : moral formation in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas / Mark D. Jordan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jordan, Mark D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274. Summa theologica.

Thomas.

Summa theologica (Thomas, Aquinas, Saint).

Ethics, Medieval.

Physical Description:

x, 214 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In Teaching Bodies, leading scholar of Christian thought Mark D. Jordan offers an original reading of the Summa of Theology of Thomas Aquinas. Reading backward, Jordan interprets the main parts of the Summa, starting from the conclusion, to reveal how Thomas teaches morals by directing attention to the way God teaches morals, namely through embodied scenes: the incarnation, the gospels, and the sacraments. It is Thomas's confidence in bodily scenes of instruction that explains the often overlooked structure of the middle part of the Summa, which begins and ends with Christian revisions of classical exhortations of the human body as a pathway to the best human life. Rather than offer a synthesis of Thomistic ethics, Jordan insists that we read Thomas as theology to discover the unification of Christian wisdom in a pattern of ongoing moral formation. Jordan supplements his close readings of the Summa with reflections on Thomas's place in the history of Christian moral teaching-and thus his relevance for teaching and writing in the present. The task of writing theology, as Thomas understands if, is to open a path through the inherited languages of classical thought so that divine pedagogy can have its effect on the reader. As such, the task of the Summa, in Mark Jordan's hands, is a crucial and powerful way to articulate Christian morals today. Book jacket.

Contents:

The Summa's origins: three fables and a candid counterproposal

Sacraments, gospel, incarnation

Incarnation as instruction

Seeing gospel stories

Sacramental bodies

Writing scenes of moral instruction

Scenes of instruction

From scenes to authorities

The Summa in (our) libraries

Moral theology on the way to its end

The good that draws the will

Stages on law's way

The gifts of the spirit

Vocations and Viae

The good of reading.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780823273782

0823273784

9780823273799

0823273792

OCLC:

956633826