Aquinas,                   Alfarabi,             Avicenna,        Averroes,     &    Maimonides

Introduction

Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group

An International Working Group on

Medieval Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions

   Recent political events in the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, the United States and elsewhere around the globe have made it especially clear that the tradition of cross cultural and inter religious understanding which has been been and continues to be central to Jesuit education has a crucial role to play in teaching and learning at Marquette University and the other Jesuit universities in America. The long history of Jesuit education includes the establishment of St. Joseph University in Beirut in 1860 and the founding of Baghdad College in 1932, events which were a sign of the Jesuit commitment both to education of young people of all religions and to research for the sake of religious and cultural understanding and cooperation.  The Mélanges of  St Joseph University is an important research periodical on Arabic / Islamic philosophy.  The renowned Jesuit scholar, Rev. Maurice Bouyges, S.J., of St Joseph University, contributed many articles on Arabic philosophy and its influence. He also produced critical editions of the work of the Andalusian philosopher and religious judge, Ibn Rushd / Averroes, editions which continue to be considered exemplars of scholarship nearly seventy years after their completion. The same can be said of the editions of Ibn Sina / Avicenna and Arabic texts of Galen by Rev. Georges Anawati, O.P., of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies in Cairo, who also wrote a bibliography of Averroes, made a French translation of the Metaphysics of the Shifâ’ of Avicenna, and contributed much more on the Arabic philosophical tradition itself and its influence. These twentieth century Catholic scholars and teachers contributed greatly to inter religious understanding through sound scholarship in the study of Arabic / Islamic philosophy in its own right, in the Greek sources foundational for its development, and in its powerful and penetrating influence on the Latin West . In this way they continue to provide models for future work in medieval philosophy in the context of respect and appreciation for the sophisticated insights on philosophical and theological issues by thinkers working in the context of Islamic culture and religion (dâr al-islâm).

Rationale for the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group’s Presence at Marquette University

The Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group

In an effort to follow the models of those famous Catholic scholars by contributing to understanding and dialogue in the context of sound historical scholarship in the history of philosophy and theology, Drs. Richard C. Taylor and David B. Twetten of the Philosophy Department at Marquette University founded in 2005 a new working group under the title, “Aquinas and the Arabs*.” This Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group promotes understanding and insight into philosophical and theological issues prominent in the Medieval period in the Abrahamic Traditions in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin writings, issues which continue to inform philosophical and theological thought today in important ways. The major focus of the International Working Group is on issues in the thought of Aquinas which elucidate the depth of his engagement with the Arabic and Jewish traditions and the positive and valuable influence of those traditions on his thought and that of Christian thinkers of the high middle ages in Europe. The Project, however, is not limited to Aquinas but rather seeks to promote the understanding of philosophical thought in all three Abrahamic traditions in themselves as well as in their interactions and influences. To that end the Project encourages work in all three traditions and is particularly interested in influences, parallel developments and also unique and valuable philosophical and theological insights and contributions to the history of philosophy.

        With a strong faculty in areas of the Abrahamic Traditions and a history of  research and publications in Medieval philosophical and theological thought in its Mediaeval Philosophical Texts in Translation Series, in the Aquinas Lecture Series, and in the Marquette Studies in Philosophy and Theology by Marquette University Press, Marquette University is a very welcoming host.  Marquette provides a superb library collection of books and periodicals, a wide array of research databases, and excellent library staff and facilities for many of the fundamental needs for researchers in these areas. Its well equipped and staffed Beaumier Conference Center in Raynor Memorial Library has provided a comfortable venue for a number of meetings, conferences, seminars centered on understanding and cooperation among the Abrahamic Traditions have been organized in the last five or more years by faculty from the Departments of Philosophy, Theology and History working together in common purpose. These resources, activities and events have deeply enriched the lives of campus faculty, graduate students, undergraduates and staff.

Activities

Seminars and Conferences

    Since its founding The Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group’s members have initiated seminars, conferences and other events both on the Marquette campus and elsewhere. The Project annually sponsors four text seminars as well as other events at Marquette. For information, click HERE.

An International Project in conjunction with the Commissio Leonina

Recently new avenues of research and international cooperation have presented themselves in support of the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group. On the basis of discussions in Paris and Palermo in February, September, and November 2007, a cooperative arrangement has been crafted between the Marquette Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group and the Commissio Leonina for an international project on the thought of Thomas Aquinas and the role played  in its development by sources from the Arabic tradition.  The the Commissio Leonina  was established to edit and study the works of Thomas Aquinas in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII with a directive and financial support provided to a scholarly ‘collège’ of Dominicans who chose to honor Pope Leo by taking on the name, Commissio Leonina.  Since that time the Commissio Leonina has published some 38 volumes of scientific critical editions of the work of Thomas with a number of volumes now awaiting publication and still others in the process of being studied and prepared for editing.  See http://leonina.nerim.net/ for more details on the work of the Commissio Leonina.

At present the Commissio Leonina has no specialists in Arabic philosophy and its influence on the Latin West among its staff of experts in medieval theology and philosophy.  Correspondingly, the presently active organizing members of the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group, Drs. Richard Taylor and David Twetten, while having expertise in philosophy in Arabic, in translations from Arabic to Latin, in philosophy in the 13th century Latin West, and in the philosophical thought of St Thomas, do not have the broad and deep purview of the theology and manuscripts of the work of Thomas which is required for the fullest and most complete understanding of this theologian’s philosophical argumentation.   This mutual interest and dependence became most evident and was strengthened in February 2007 when Prof. Taylor presented a seminar in Paris at the Bibliothèque du Saulchoir at the invitation of the Commissio Leonina on the use of models from the Arabic philosophical tradition by St Thomas in his account of how the blessed in heaven will see God “face-to-face” in his earliest work, his Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.  Members of the Commissio Leonina were more than a little surprised by the thoughtful and sophisticated use of the thought of Arabic writing philosophers al-Farabi, Ibn Bajja, Avicenna, and Averroes by Thomas in his explication of ultimate human beatitude or happiness, expressed in Scripture by the notion of seeing God “face-to-face,” at In 4 Sent., d.49, q.2, a.1: Utrum intellectus humanus possit prevenire ad videndum Deum per essentiam / Whether the human intellect is able to attain to seeing God in His essence.  Expertise in Arabic philosophy enabled Prof. Taylor to explicate more fully the meaning of the doctrines recounted by St Thomas in his argumentation. However, in the course of discussion it was made clear by Commissio Leonina members that the full understanding of the account of the thought of St Thomas here must be supplemented by consideration of passages in other theological works where he discusses ultimate human beatitude as seeing the Divine essence. From that event and subsequent discussions, it was agreed that members of the Commissio Leonina and the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group would work together by sharing texts, translations, and studies, and by consultations on the work of St Thomas in relation to his Arabic sources and their meaning for his theological development.  The Commissio Leonina, in the person of its president, Père Adriano Oliva, O.P., has already provided pre-publication texts of Aquinas, while the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group is providing English translations of texts from the Commentary on the Sentences by St Thomas which will be accompanied by detailed studies of the Arabic sources he employed. (For some initial drafts of translations see http://web.mac.com/mistertea/Aquinas_%26_the_Arabs/Translations/Translations.html.)

Aquinas and the Arabs:

The Influence and Use of Philosophy from the Arabic / Islamic Tradition

in the Early Writings of Thomas Aquinas

    The first Project by a group (Drs. Houser, López-Farjeat, Taylor) from the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group will focus on the earliest writings of Aquinas, the massive four books of his Commentary on the Sententiae of Peter Lombard,  his On Being and Essence, and his On the Principles of Nature. The research on this topic will produce volumes of topically arranged studies preceded by a lengthy introduction and overview.  Examples of the topics include (i) philosophical psychology, including body, soul, and intellect; (ii) God (with multiple subdivisions); (iii) creation; (iv) metaphysics, including essence and existence; et alia. Each topic will have subdivisions dealt with in detail. For example, under the heading of God, the earliest teaching of Aquinas on the Christian doctrine that the blessed will see God “face-to-face” will be treated. This discussion at In 4 Sent., D. 49, q. 2, a. 1, is framed with an account of the Arabic accounts of the issue of ultimate human happiness consisting in an intellectual knowledge of separate substances. (For a draft translation of that text, see http://web.me.com/mistertea/Aquinas_&_the_Arabs/Translations/Translations.html).

    For each subtopic, the following are to be provided: (a) a substantial study of the relation of the thought of St Thomas on the issue in reference to his Arabic sources; (b) a translation of the relevant Latin of St Thomas together with the revised Latin text supplied by the Commissio Leonina, (c) identification of relevant sources in the Latin translations used by St Thomas, with translations as needed, (d) evaluation of the genuine teaching in the original Arabic in relation to both the translated Latin and the teaching of St Thomas; (e) concluding summary of the study; (f) cross listing to other studies in the volume.

    This work will be done in collaborative consultation with Dr. Adriano Oliva, O.P.,  and other members of the Commissio Leonina.  As this work proceeds,  it is intended that the work will be reviewed and critiqued by Project consultants and affiliates (see http://web.me.com/mistertea/Aquinas_&_the_Arabs/Members,_Affiliates,_Consultants.html) both in Internet communications and at annual research conferences in Milwaukee and Paris beginning in 2008.

    For this project, as work proceeds selected drafts of studies and translations will be made available for public comment by way of the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group website. This will allow for dissemination of selected drafts of translations and studies and their use by scholars and students prior to the completion of this Project with publication in several volumes.

Two Annual International Research Seminar Conferences:

Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (Fall),

and La Bibliothèque du Saulchoir, Paris, France (Spring)

October 11-12, 2008, Dr. Adriano Oliva, O.P., of Paris visited Marquette University to present at the Fall 2008 Aquinas and the Arabs Research Seminar Conference. This was a two-day research conference on the importance of philosophy in the theological thought of St Thomas Aquinas.

The conference featured presentations by R. E. Houser, University of St Thomas (Houston), Jörg Tellkamp, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico City), Richard Taylor, Marquette University (Milwaukee), and E. M. Macierowski, Benedictine College (Atchison, Kansas), with commentaries by Luis Xavier López Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City), Kevin White, The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), and Mark Johnson, Marquette University (Milwaukee).

For information, see http://web.me.com/mistertea/A_&_A_Conferences/2008_Research_Seminar.html.

Dr. Oliva also presented on the Commissio Leonina’s work and the theology of St Thomas on Monday October 13 before departing for Paris on Tuesday October 14.

The second Thomas d’Aquin et ses sources arabes / Aquinas and the Arabs Conference took place in Paris at the Bibliothèque du Saulchoir, March 27-28, 2009. For information, see the conference website by clicking here.   

A Unique Contribution to Interfaith Dialogue and

Marquette’s Religious Commitment to

the Catholic Philosophical and Theological Traditions

These activities on the part of the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group constitute both (i) a concrete manifestation of Marquette’s religious commitment to the Catholic philosophical and theological traditions through the assistance provided by the Project to the ongoing work of the Commissio Leonina, and also (ii) an invaluable contribution to the foundations of interfaith dialogue through its emphasis on the positive and shared intellectual heritage of the Abrahamic traditions.  Thomas Aquinas drew heavily on the Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides for his famous proofs for the existence of God. He also found in Avicenna the distinction of essence and existence which he developed into the foundation of his metaphysical thought.  Less well known is the use to which he, just as did his teacher St Albert, put Averroean concepts in his natural theology.  Furthermore, in Averroes and al-Fârâbî St Thomas found epistemological principles central to his understanding of human nature and the unity of the human person as body and soul together. These are just some of many areas of the thought of St Thomas in which that shared heritage can be shown to exist by careful study of his work and sources among thinkers of the Abrahamic Traditions.  In exploring and explicating the thought of St Thomas and the importance of philosophy from the Arabic / Islamic tradition in his thought, the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group makes a very special contribution to real and historical foundations for interfaith understanding and also to knowledge of the Catholic religious tradition.

CONTACT INFORMATION: For information on the “Aquinas and the Arabs” Project at Marquette University and its participants, contact Prof. Richard C. Taylor at Richard.Taylor@Marquette.edu.

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*The project title reference to ‘the arabs’ comes from the works of aquinas who, like other thinkers of the latin west, was unaware of ethnic differences among the arabic writing thinkers of the classical rationalist tradition in the islamic cultural milieu.  al-kindî, known as ‘the philosopher of the arabs,’ was of arab lineage. al-Fârâbî was born in turkestan and studied in Baghdad. Ibn Sînâ (Avicenna) was born to a family culturally persian in afshana, near bukhara, in present day afghanistan. ibn rushd (averroes) was born in cordoba and probably should be considered andalusian or Maghrabi. note also that maimonides is included among the philosophers of the tradition since his philosophical thought was importantly formed through study of al-Farabi, avicenna and averroes among other sources and in significant respects is a continuation of that tradition.