The Trinity: An Introduction to Catholic Doctrine on the Triune God, by Gilles Emery OP, translated by Matthew Levering [UK | US]

Product Description:

Representing the highest quality of scholarship, Gilles Emery offers a much-anticipated introduction to Catholic doctrine on the Trinity. His extensive research combined with lucid prose provides readers a resource to better understand the foundations of Trinitarian reflection. The book is addressed to all who wish to benefit from an initiation to Trinitarian doctrine.

The path proposed by this introductory work comprises six steps. First the book indicates some liturgical and biblical ways for entering into Trinitarian faith. It then presents the revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the New Testament, by inviting the reader to reflect upon the signification of the word “God.” Next it explores the confessions of Trinitarian faith, from the New Testament itself to the Creed of Constantinople, on which it offers a commentary. By emphasizing the Christian culture inherited from the fourth-century Fathers of the Church, the book presents the fundamental principles of Trinitarian doctrine, which find their summit in the Christian notion of “person.”

On these foundations, the heart of the book is a synthetic exposition of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their divine being and mutual relations, and in their action for us. Finally, the last step takes up again the study of the creative and saving action of the Trinity: the book concludes with a doctrinal exposition of the “missions” of the Son and Holy Spirit, that is, the salvific sending of the Son and Holy Spirit that leads humankind to the contemplation of the Father.

More Kinds of Being: A Further Study of Individuation, Identity, and the Logic of Sortal Terms, by E. J. Lowe [UK | US]

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Taking into account significant developments in the metaphysical thinking of E. J. Lowe over the past 20 years, More Kinds of Being: A Further Study of Individuation, Identity, and the Logic of Sortal Terms presents a thorough reworking and expansion of the 1989 edition of Kinds of Being * Brings many of the original ideas and arguments put forth in Kinds of Being thoroughly up to date in light of new developments * Features a thorough reworking and expansion of the earlier work, rather than just a new edition * Reflects the author’s conversion to what he calls ‘the four-category ontology,’ a metaphysical system that takes its inspiration from Aristotle * Provides a unified discussion of individuation and identity that should prove to be essential reading for philosophers working in metaphysics.

Review:

“Throughout, one finds the usual clarity, thoroughness, and systematic thinking that are a mark of all of Lowe’s ever expanding and remarkable corpus. This book should be in every college and university library.” (CHOICE, July 2010)

“More Kinds of Being is densely and masterfully argued, written with great clarity, and makes a number of important original contributions to the field. It is certainly essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary analytical metaphysics. This is a metaphysical study of lasting value and significance.” (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, August 12, 2010)

Structure and Being: A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy, by Lorenz B. Puntel, translated by Alan White [UK | US]

Product Description:

A magisterial work in the grand tradition of systematic philosophy not seen in this country perhaps since Alfred North Whitehead’s Process and Reality (1929), this book by a leading German philosopher aims to resurrect systematic philosophy as an essential part of the theoretical enterprise. In Lorenz Puntel’s vision, philosophy as the universal science can be holistic without being imperialistic.

The book presents theoretical frameworks as indispensable for any and all theorizing. It argues that there can be truths only relative to sufficiently determinable theoretical frameworks, and that all such frameworks are genuinely revelatory ontologically. No problematic relativism results, however, because such frameworks can be compared and thereby ranked with respect to their theoretical adequacy.

Structure and Being contributes to the reconciliation of analytic and continental philosophy by insisting upon clarity and precision, as the former does, while aiming for comprehensiveness, as the latter often does.

Blurbs:

“Puntel’s Structure and Being is a rare work of integration and synthesis. A book conceived and executed in the grand tradition of philosophical systematization, it integrates treatments of a wide array of fundamental philosophical problems within a grand overarching design. Examining key theories and theses from both the Anglo-American analytic and the Continental European traditions, it both expounds and exemplifies a holistic vision of philosophy that can be appreciated by philosophers of both traditions alike.” –Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh

“Through sustained critical engagement with the leading philosophical positions taken in the past century on both sides of the Atlantic, Structure and Being effectively challenges current conventional wisdom by elaborating a formidable theoretical framework for a structural systematic philosophy–an ongoing, self-grounding yet nonfoundationalist attempt to determine the nature of beings as completely and comprehensively as possible.” –Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University

“Puntel’s book is rich and challenging. In an age in which the narrow specialist has taken center stage, Puntel has returned to an older tradition: that of the philosopher who attempts to understand the whole. For this he should be congratulated.” –David Roochnik, Boston University

A Place for Consciousness: Probing the Deep Structure of the Natural World, by Gregg Rosenberg [UK | US]

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What place does consciousness have in the natural world? If we reject materialism, could there be a credible alternative? In one classic example, philosophers ask whether we can ever know what is it is like for bats to sense the world using sonar. It seems obvious to many that any amount of information about a bat’s physical structure and information processing leaves us guessing about the central questions concerning the character of its experience.

A Place for Consciousness begins with reflections on the existence of this gap. Is it just a psychological shortcoming in our merely human understanding of the physical world? Is it a trivial consequence of the simple fact that we just cannot be bats? Or does it mean there really are facts about consciousness over and above the physical facts? If so, what does consciousness do? Why does it exist?

Rosenberg sorts out these problems, especially those centering on the causal role of consciousness. He introduces a new paradigm called Liberal Naturalism for thinking about what causation is, about the natural world, and about how to create a detailed model to go along with the new paradigm. Arguing that experience is part of the categorical foundations of causality, he shows that within this new paradigm there is a place for something essentially like consciousness in all its traditional mysterious respects.

A striking feature of Liberal Naturalism is that its central tenets are motivated independently of the mind-body problem, by analyzing causation itself. Because of this approach, when consciousness shows up in the picture it is not introduced in an ad hoc way, and its most puzzling features can be explained from first principles. Ultimately, Rosenberg’s final solution gives consciousness a causally important role without supposing either that it is physical or that it interacts with the physical.

Blurbs:

“A Place for Consciousness is strikingly original, clearly written, tightly argued and does an excellent job of presenting a very distinctive, fascinating and promising account of causation and consciousness… Rosenberg’s work is very refreshing; it takes a genuinely new approach without sacrificing the kind of ‘rigour’ and clear argumentation which is the backbone of analytic philosophy.” –William E. Seager, University of Toronto at Scarborough

“A Place for Consciousness adopts a unified approach to the metaphysics of consciousness and causation, on which consciousness is intimately linked to the basis of causation in the physical world. Rosenberg develops his fascinating view with ingenuity and precision. Philosophers of mind and metaphysicians will learn much from a close study of this remarkable book.” –Torin Alter, The University of Alabama

“Gregg Rosenberg systematically explores the idea that consciousness is tied to an inner aspect of processes that science normally studies only from the outside. He develops this idea in unprecedented depth and detail, laying out an original theory of the roots of consciousness in the intrinsic nature of causation. The book is full of fresh ideas in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. The result is a significant work of philosophy that makes compelling reading for anyone interested in the place of consciousness in nature.” –David J. Chalmers, University of Arizona

Reason Fulfilled by Revelation: The 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates in France, by Gregory B. Sadler [UK | US]

Product Description:

Early in the 1930s, a number of French Catholic and secular philosophers debated the question of the meaning, even the very possibility, of Christian philosophy. Positions articulated during these debates provided intellectual background to debates about nature and grace, and the interaction of philosophy and theology that informed theological debate before and during the Second Vatican Council. These questions continue to be raised in theological debate today.

This selection of previously untranslated documents from the French debates about Christian philosophy provides a long-needed complement to available English-language literature on the subject. These documents show that the debates were highly complex, involved multiple sides, and prompted development of certain participants’ positions. Four of Maurice Blondel’s contributions are included, as are selections by Gabriel Marcel, Etienne Gilson, Fernand Van Steenberghen, among others. A detailed historical introduction provides much-needed background to these intertwined debates.

The editor’s thematic outline of seventeen different participants’ positions and engagements includes but also goes beyond the selections translated in the volume. It provides a full and balanced treatment of the numerous participants, and sets the complex intellectual context for understanding the positions, issues, and main personalities of the debate. A chronological bibliography of literature comprising and commenting on the debates and their issues is also included and will serve as an invaluable aid to further scholarship.

Blurb:

“Sadler provides non-Francophone readers with a more complete understanding of the first phase of an important philosophical debate that has been ongoing for more than seventy-five years. In order to fill in the gaps, he makes available previously untranslated documents, many of which make the greatest contribution to the debate.” –Peter Redpath, professor of philosophy, St. John’s University

The Architecture of Theology: Structure, System, and Ratio, by A. N. Williams [UK | US]

Product Description:

The Architecture of Theology presents a fresh reading of Christian theology, re-interpreting discussions of theological method and considering them in light of contemporary philosophical debates. A. N. Williams re-evaluates the traditional theological warrants (scripture, tradition, and reason) and the concept of systematic theology, arguing that Christian theology is inherently systematic, reflecting the rationality and relationality of its two chief subjects, ‘God and other things as they are related to God’ (Aquinas). The roles of the theological warrants are assessed, showing how they are necessarily interdependent. Contemporary philosophical discussions of the structure of reasoning are also examined; these have conventionally contrasted foundationalist and coherentist accounts. A contemporary consensus has emerged, however, of a chastened foundationalism or hybrid foundationalism-coherentism, in light of which arguments are understood both as reasoning from foundational propositions and as gaining plausibility from the coherence of claims with one another. The Christian tradition anticipated these developments: theological arguments exhibit a dual structure, with propositions underwritten to some extent by their dependence on scripture and tradition and to some extent by their coherence with one another in integrated webs, or systems. Christian theology is therefore shown to be systematic in its fundamental structure, whether or not a given argument forms part of a ‘systematic theology’. The systematicity of Christian theology is related to its subject matter, ‘God and other things as they are related to God’. Theology’s two chief subjects (God and humanity) are characterised by rationality and relationality. These are also the qualities of Christian theology itself: it is a double mimesis, reflecting in its very structures of reasoning its subject matter. The order, harmony and coherence of those structures, however, have an aesthetic appeal which has the potential to appeal for its very beauty, rather than its truth. Williams presents a careful examination of the tradition of theological aesthetics, asking whether the beauty of systematic structures counts for or against theological truth.

Chesterton: The Nightmare Goodness of God, by Ralph C. Wood [UK | US]

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The literary giant G. K. Chesterton is often praised as the “Great Optimist”–God’s rotund jester. In this fresh and daring endeavor, Ralph Wood turns a critical eye on Chesterton’s corpus to reveal the beef-and-ale believer’s darker vision of the world and those who live in it. During an age when the words grace, love, and gospel, sound more hackneyed than genuine, Wood argues for a recovery of Chesterton’s primary contentions: First, that the incarnation of Jesus was necessary reveals a world full not of a righteous creation but of tragedy, terror, and nightmare, and second, that the problem of evil is only compounded by a Christianity that seeks progress, political control, and cultural triumph.

Wood’s sharp literary critique moves beyond formulaic or overly pious readings to show that, rather than fleeing from the ghoulish horrors of his time, Chesterton located God’s mysterious goodness within the existence of evil. Chesterton seeks to reclaim the keen theological voice of this literary authority who wrestled often with the counterclaims of paganism. In doing so, it argues that Christians may have more to learn from the unbelieving world than is often supposed.

Blurbs:

“Who better to make sense of G. K. Chesterton’s quarrel with secular humanism? Wood brilliantly helps us navigate the trail Chesterton blazed through our modern Inferno.” –Daniel McInerny, Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Honors College, Baylor University

“The finest study of Chesterton in many years. It is precisely because Wood has not turned a blind eye to Chesterton’s faults that he has succeeded so powerfully in demonstrating Chesterton’s genius and continued importance for us today.” –David Bentley Hart, author of Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies

“Ralph Wood had given us an outstanding contribution to Chesterton scholarship, revealing both the depth of the author’s intellect and the breadth of his imagination.” –Dale Ahlquist, President, American Chesterton Society

“Wood has triumphed once again. He shows how great Christian art is often paradoxically dark when conveying the light and he is a superb guide through the gloomy and yet glimmering wonderland of Chesterton’s work.” –Joseph Pearce, Associate Professor of Literature, Ave Maria University and author of Wisdom of Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton