Thomism: An Introduction

New York: Harper & Row, 1967. First edition. Small octavo, original half gray cloth and brown paper boards, original dust jacket, uncut. Very faint tanning to blank flyleaves, owner signature to front pastedown, closed tear and crease to upper front panel, laminate lifting in lower corner, small smudge to rear panel, vertical crease to rear inner flap. A very good copy.

"THOMISM IS IN A SPECIAL WAY A SPIRITUALISM, BY BEING A RADICAL THEOCENTRICISM: EVERYTHING COMES FROM GOD, MAINTAINS ITSELF AT GOD'S PLEASURE, AND RETURNS TO GOD"

First English translation of this introduction to the speculative philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. First published in France in 1960 (by a Thomistic scholar at the Institut Catholique of Paris) this translation appeared in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council as part of Harper's Torchbook Series. Professor Grenier explains his objective in a brief Introduction: "We use 'Thomism' to refer to the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, to the exclusion of his scriptural exegesis, his theology, and his mysticism: further the limits of the book require that we concentrate upon the essential and more difficult aspects of his philosophy: the speculative part (philosophy of nature and metaphysics)." The text consists of two sections: Part One. Physics or Philosophy of Being, Part Two. Metaphysics or Philosophy of Nature, The Conclusion, "The Place and the Role of Man in the Universe," provides a Thomistic context for the Existentialism and Personalism of mid-century France. There is no index but a Bibliographical Note is appended, recommending a short list of Thomistic translations and studies in English. Translated by James F. Ross with his Translator's Note. Approbations.