The Ideal Bishop: Aquinas’s Commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles PDF
Preview The Ideal Bishop: Aquinas’s Commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles
Michael Sirilla exemplifies the careful, sustained study of St. Thom- as Aquinas as an interpreter of Sacred Scripture. Sirilla has not only enriched our understanding of St. Thomas on Scripture, he has also substantially enriched our understanding of St. Thomas on the office of bishop. Sirilla’s analysis of St. Thomas’s commentaries on Timothy and Titus and their intellectual and historical circumstances illumi- nates in new ways the thought of the Angelic Doctor. —John F. Boyle, University of St. Thomas The life of St. Thomas Aquinas was one of ecclesial service. Michael G. Sirilla has performed a true work of service to the Church and has contributed a valuable text to the corpus of Thomistic literature. This book helps show how Aquinas’s religious consecration as a Domini- can priest placed him and his work—then and now—at the center of the Church. — Romanus Cessario, OP, Saint John’s Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts Michael Sirilla’s superbly researched and astutely argued work fills an important lacuna in Aquinas studies—regarding his biblical com- mentaries as well as his theology of the ecclesial hierarchy. At the same time it is a timely contribution to contemporary ecclesiology and es- pecially to the theology of the bishop. The Second Vatican Council advanced the theology of the bishop in crucial ways. But The Ideal Bishop amply demonstrates how fresh and relevant Aquinas’s view is precisely now in the wake of the last ecumenical council’s teaching on the episcopacy. No serious Aquinas scholar and no contemporary ecclesiologist can afford to ignore this important book. Tolle lege, take and read! —Reinhard Hütter, Duke University The theme of this important book could be summed up as ‘hierarchy and holiness.’ As Michael Sirilla shows in his erudite investigation of Aquinas’s commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles, Aquinas recognized the supreme need for bishops to love the truth of the gospel and to be willing to lay down their lives rather than to compromise the ability of the flock to pursue holiness. Against an overly juridical ecclesiolo- gy, which sees only the administrative tasks of maintaining order and filling the pews (often by cultural accommodation), Aquinas’s vision of the episcopacy lives up to Vatican II’s universal call to holiness—a holiness that is inevitably costly and counter-cultural for bishop and layperson alike. — Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary Michael Sirilla’s The Ideal Bishop is important for anyone wanting to see what resources of doctrine and tradition St. Thomas brings to his reading of Scripture, and how St. Thomas’s systematic theology is in turn embedded in his close reading of the word of God. It is more im- portant, however, for helping us understand the nature and structure of the Church Christ instituted. We really are all called to help one another grow in charity. Nowhere is that more true than with those who occupy the difficult but grace-filled and grace-giving office of bishop. —Fr. Guy Mansini, Saint Meinrad Seminary The Ideal Bishop Sirilla, Michael G. Published by The Catholic University of America Press Sirilla, G.. The Ideal Bishop. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017. Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/49705 Access provided by Tulane University (9 Dec 2018 04:18 GMT) The Ideal Bishop thomistic ressourcement series Volume 8 series editors Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary Thomas Joseph White, OP, Dominican House of Studies editorial board Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg Reinhard Hütter, Duke University Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University Emmanuel Perrier, OP, Dominican Studium, Toulouse Richard Schenk, OP, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Kevin White, The Catholic University of America The Ideal Bishop Aquinas’s Commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles Michael G. Sirilla Foreword by Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, OP The Catholic University of America Press Washington, D.C. Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press All Rights Reserved The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence of Paper Printed for Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984 ∞ Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-8132-2910-2 For my dear father, George Michael Sirilla May he rest in Christ’s peace
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