The Catholic University of America Press is pleased to announce a new series, Early Modern Catholic Sources, edited by Ulrich L. Lehner and Trent Pomplun. This series – the only one of its kind – will provide translations of early modern Catholic texts of theological interest written between 1450 and 1800. The first volume in this series is On the Motive of the Incarnation, the first English translation of the seventeenth-century Discalced Carmelites at the University of Salmanca treatise on the motive of the Incarnation. Originally intended for students of their order, it became a major contribution to broader theological discourse. In this treatise, they defend the assertion that God intended Christ’s Incarnation essentially as a remedy for sin, such that if Adam had not sinned Christ would not have become incarnate, and that, at the same time, God intended all other works of nature and grace for the sake of Christ at their end. The Salmanticenses’ position thus combines elements of the Franciscan and Dominican traditions, stemming from the thought of Blessed John Duns Scotus and Saint Thomas Aquinas. This treatise is an exhaustive effort to show how the Scotistic emphasis on the primacy of Christ as the first willed and intended by God can be articulated within a Thomistic framework that acknowledges the contingency of the Incarnation on the need for redemption. In addition to the translation, the volume will include a brief introduction and extensive notes for theologians, historians, and students.

This book raises in a new way a formerly central but recently neglected question in systematic theology: what is the divine motive for the incarnation? Throughout Christian history theologians have agreed that God's decision to become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ was made necessary by humanity's fall from grace. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, the incarnation would not have happened. This position is known as "infralapsarian." In the 19th and 20th centuries, however, some major theological figures championed a "supralapsarian" Christology, arguing that God had always intended the incarnation, independent of "the Fall." Edwin van Driel offers the first scholarly monograph to map and analyze the full range of supralapsarian arguments. He gives a thick description of each argument and its theological consequences, and evaluates the theological gains and losses inherent in each approach. Van Driel shows that each of the three ways in which God is thought to relate to all that is not God DL in creation, in redemption, and in eschatological consummation DL can serve as the basis for a supralapsarian argument. He illustrates this thesis with detailed case studies of the Christologies of Schleiermacher, Dorner, and Barth. He concludes that the most fruitful supralapsarian strategy is rooted in the notion of eschatological consummation, taking interpersonal interaction with God to be the goal of the incarnation. He goes on to develop his own argument along these lines, concluding in an eschatological vision in which God is visually, audibly, and tangibly present in the midst of God's people.

Since the twelfth century, theologians have found a counterfactual question irresistible: “If Adam had not sinned, would the Son have become incarnate?” In the latter half of the twentieth century, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Hans Küng, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, Wolfhart Pannenburg, Jürgen Moltmann, and Robert Jenson all considered this question on the reason, or motive, for the incarnation. Nearly every case refers to the classic disagreement between those who follow Thomas Aquinas and those who follow John Duns Scotus. Though it is common to claim Thomas or Scotus as one’s authority, the theological debates among which Thomas and Scotus developed their own positions remain largely neglected. This study fills that gap. If Adam Had Not Sinned is a study of the medieval debates over the motive for the incarnation from Anselm of Canterbury to John Duns Scotus. While the volume is primarily focused on thirteenth-century debates at the University of Paris, it also supplies necessary historical background to those debates. As a result, the larger context within which Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus developed their influential responses is detailed. This larger context permits an analysis that leads to the surprising claim, against widespread assumptions, that the responses given by Thomas and Scotus are substantially reconcilable.

Drawing from the inaugural Newman-Scotus Symposium, this edited volume presents principles that converge with striking similarities in the thought patterns of Bl. John Duns Scotus and Bl. John Henry Newman. With contributions from prominent philosophers and theologians, this book argues in detail that Newman was overall sympathetic to many of the major themes characteristic of Scotus’ metaphysics, and furthermore would be cautious about simply substituting historical dimensions and new hermeneutics for a sound metaphysical approach. The more metaphysical approach of Scotus uncovers the implicit notional foundations of Newman’s thought, while the more phenomenological style of Newman assists the reader in grasping the realism and profound spirituality lying behind the more abstract presentation of Scotus. Topics range from the Franciscan-Scotistic motive of the Incarnation, the Scotistic position of sacramental theology, to intuition and certitude, scientific form and real assent, uncoupling Scotus from Kant, the will as the power to self-determine as the essential characteristic of the will, with love as its object, and its relationship to the intellect as moved by its object, the truth, and more. Features of this edited work include: A unique text that offers connections and contexts between Newman and Scotus, including a genuine unity of approach and substantially identical convictions concerning the nature of theology and how to conduct it Contributions from prominent philosophers and theologians such as John T. Ford, Timothy P. Noone, Cyril O’Regan, Peter D. Fehlner, Olivier Boulnois, Edward J. Ondrako, Bishop Geoffrey Rowell, Mary Beth Ingham, Patricia Hutchison, and Robert C. Christie, and includes the first hand account from Deacon Jack Sullivan of the miracle that led to Newman’s beatification End of chapter study questions This book is intended for upper level undergraduate and graduate students, professors, and interested persons intuiting modern sensitivity to freedom in its relationship to the will and intellect. Scotus and Newman provide an indispensable basis for grasping the profound insights of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes).

Scotus' Teachings on Christ made simple This volume by Fr. Dean, FI is an excellent introductory summary of the well known Franciscan thesis, "The Primacy of Christ." Briefly stated, it is a thesis central to the doctrine and life of the Franciscan Order in particular and that of the Holy Church in general regarding the operation of God in the economy of salvation (Economic Trinity). The thesis stipulates the centraility of Christ in this Trinitarian operation as it presupposes the hierarchized ordering in the motive of the divine will. The uniqueness of this volume is the author's attempt to explain in simple language this theological doctrine for the non-professional theologians.

Andrew Root reviews the history of relational/incarnational youth ministry in American evangelicalism and recasts the practice as one of "place-sharing"--not so much "earning the right to be heard" as honoring the human dignity of youth and locating God in their midst.

"Examines the theory of the motive behind Christ's incarnation developed by the Samanticenses (Discalced Carmelites of Salamanca) in the 17th century, showing how it perpetuates the tradition of Thomas Aquinas and refutes the more modern theories put forward by Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar"--

In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (1994) Mark Noll offered a forthrightly critical assessment of the state of evangelical thinking and scholarship. Now, nearly twenty years later, in a sequel more attuned to possibilities than to problems, Noll updates his earlier assessment and charts a positive way forward for evangelical scholarship. Noll's Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind shows how the orthodox Christology confessed in the ancient Christian creeds, far from hindering or discouraging serious scholarship, can supply the motives, guidance, and framework for learning. Christian faith, Noll argues, can richly enhance intellectual engagement in the various academic disciplines -- and he demonstrates how by applying his insights to the fields of history (his own area of expertise), science, and biblical studies in particular. In a substantial postscript Noll candidly addresses the question How fares the "evangelical mind" today? as he highlights "hopeful signs" of intellectual life in a host of evangelical institutions, individuals, and movements. -- From publisher description.