Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Peaceful Life of Controversies

Walter Senner, OP

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)

After Vatican II, Thomism was often seen as a hindrance to the Church in her engagement with contemporary society. Today that assumption is being revisited. There is a renaissance in Thomistic studies, often in collaboration with other academic disciplines and in engagement with contemporary theology and philosophy. This event discussed the fate of Thomism in a post-Vatican II setting. What are its challenges and opportunities? How can the study of Aquinas’ thought contribute to the vitality of the Church’s intellectual tradition today?

This talk is part of the conference Thomism After Vatican II, which was held at the Angelicum on 27 October 2018.

Walter Senner, OP is a German Dominican theologian whose research focuses include the history of the Order, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Johannes von Sterngassen and Meister Eckhart. He was from 1998 to 2005 a member of the Pontifical Commissio Leonina to the edition of the Opera of Thomas Aquinas. In 2007 he was appointed professor at the Angelicum in Rome and was the director of the Thomistic institute there from 2008 to 2018. He is a member of the Société Internationale pour l’Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale and the Görres Society.