Publications of Members of the Center

Books

Sacrifice and Community: Jewish Offering and Christian Eucharist. Dr. Matthew Levering, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), Illuminations Series. [Click to view cover]

This book explores the character of the Eucharist as communion in and through sacrifice.

Drawing on Jewish reflection upon the Aqedah (the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham in Genesis), as well as on other critical analyses of sacrifice in Scripture, the book shows that communion is not possible without the reconciliation attained by sacrificial self-giving love. Following the insights of St Thomas Aquinas, the author argues that all aspects of Eucharistic theology, including metaphysical doctrines such as transubstantiation, depend upon recognizing that communion cannot be separated from its sacrificial context.

The book will stimulate discussion because of its critique of the dominant paradigm for Eucharistic theology, its reclamation of St Thomas Aquinas’s theology of the Eucharist, and its response to Pope John Paul II’s Ecclesia de Eucharistia.

Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology [Click for PDF ad].
Dr. Matthew Levering, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), Challenges in Contemporary Theology Series.

Levering’s argument rests upon St. Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of theology as contemplative wisdom. Taking us through Aquinas’s theology of God as One and Three, he demonstrates that Trinitarian theology should be a spiritual exercise assisting our movement from self- to God-centeredness. Crucial to the spiritual exercise is the contemplative appropriation of biblical revelation, which, Levering argues, has to be joined to a correspondingly rich metaphysical analysis if the “God” who is revealed is to be understood in a non-idolatrous fashion. In chapters that broadly follow the structure of Aquinas’s treatise on God in his Summa Theologiae, Levering engages with a wide range of contemporary theologians, biblical exegetes, and philosophers.

Christ’s Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation According to Thomas Aquinas [Click to view cover]
Dr. Matthew Levering, University of Notre Dame Press, 2002.

The attentive reader of this book will “not only learn about what it means to be saved by Christ, but also what it is to do theology according to the mind of Aquinas.” The book “clarifies the distinctiveness and specificity of the Christian understanding of salvation with its roots in the faith of the Old Testament. Richly biblical, liturgical, and moral themes interweave as the book traces the path to the transformation of the human person in the image of the Savior.” (quotations from the book’s back cover)

Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas
Drs. Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering, University of Notre Dame Press, 2002

A general introduction, following the systematic order of the Summa Theologiae, to St. Thomas Aquinas’s theology, in eight chapters (136 pages): 1.The Triune God, 2.Creation, Providence, & Sin, 3.Happiness and Virtue, 4.Law and Grace, 5.Jesus Christ, 6.Salvation, 7.Church and Sacraments, 8.Eternal Life.

Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas: Theological Exegesis and Speculative Theology [Click to view cover]
Co-edited by Drs. Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering, Catholic University of America Press, 2005

This volume brings the fruits of the conference “Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas” to a wider public. It represents the first book-length study of St. Thomas’s most important biblical commentary.

Christ the Teacher: The Pedagogy of the Incarnation According to St. Thomas Aquinas
Dr. Michael Dauphinais

This book lies at the intersection of Christology, the doctrine of revelation, and ethics. It examines the theology of Thomas Aquinas to display how these areas of theology can and should mutually inform each other, using the motif of Christ as teacher to hold together the diverse discussions of the Summa Theologiae.

Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible [Click to view cover]
Drs. Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering, Brazos Press

Aquinas the Augustinian
Michael Dauphinais, Barry David, and Matthew Levering, editors. Under review for publication at Catholic University of America Press.

On the Priesthood: Classic and Contemporary Texts
[Click to view cover]
Dr. Matthew Levering, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003

On Christian Dying: Classic and Contemporary Texts [Click to view cover]
Dr. Matthew Levering, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004

On Marriage and the Family: Classic and Contemporary Texts [Click to view cover]
Dr. Matthew Levering, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005

On Prayer and Contemplation: Classic and Contemporary Texts [Click to view cover]
Dr. Matthew Levering, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005

Book Series

Thomas Aquinas in Translation: Commentaries on Scripture
This series, edited by Kevin White, will publish accessible and scholarly English translations of all of St. Thomas Aquinas’s biblical commentaries with the Catholic University of America Press.