This volume examines depictions of Christ in the writings and art of the medieval Dominicans. The multidisciplinary essays provide perspectives on the life and thought of the Order of the Preachers, focusing on the role of Christ within the devotion and imagination of the Order.

Religious historians and historians of spirituality have developed and exploited the broad categories of "Christocentric and Theocentric spirituality" in order to differentiate the religious spirit of the Franciscans and the Dominicans. In addition, the philosophical interests of neo-Scholastic thinkers have curtailed attention to the role of the figure of Christ in the thought of Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and other Dominican thinkers. To redress this imbalance, editors Kent Emery, Jr. and Joseph P. Wawrykow present this collection of essays to address the long-neglected depictions of Christ in the writings and art of the medieval Dominicans. Christ among the Medieval Dominicans adopts a genuinely multidisciplinary approach to its topic, bringing together the research of experts in a wide variety of fields. The essays in this volume, written by an acclaimed group of international scholars and presented at the University of Notre Dame Conference in Medieval Studies, provide many perspectives (theology, philosophy, spirituality, institutional and social history, art history, Latin and vernacular literature, and manuscript studies) on the life and thought of the Order of Preachers. The essays focus on the role of Christ within the devotion and imagination of the Order and in effect expose the "state of the question" in studies of this important medieval institution. As a whole, the volume tests commonplace but often unexamined presuppositions of medieval historiography, especially in the history of spirituality and literary criticism. The essays are accompanied by ample visual evidence from paintings, manuscript illustrations and texts, woodcuts, and engravings, complete with generous indices of manuscripts and names.

Righteous Persecution examines the long-controversial involvement of the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans, with inquisitions into heresy in medieval Europe. From their origin in the thirteenth century, the Dominicans were devoted to a ministry of preaching, teaching, and pastoral care, to "save souls" particularly tempted by the Christian heresies popular in western Europe. Many persons then, and scholars in our own time, have asked how members of a pastoral order modeled on Christ and the apostles could engage themselves so enthusiastically in the repressive persecution that constituted heresy inquisitions: the arrest, interrogation, torture, punishment, and sometimes execution of those who deviated in belief from Roman Christianity. Drawing on an extraordinarily wide base of ecclesiastical documents, Christine Caldwell Ames recounts how Dominican inquisitors and their supporters crafted and promoted explicitly Christian meanings for their inquisitorial persecution. Inquisitors' conviction that the sin of heresy constituted the graver danger to the Christian soul and to the church at large led to the belief that bringing the individual to repentance—even through the harshest means—was indeed a pious way to carry out their pastoral task. However, the resistance and criticism that inquisition generated in medieval communities also prompted Dominicans to consider further how this new marriage of persecution and holiness was compatible with authoritative Christian texts, exemplars, and traditions. Dominican inquisitors persecuted not despite their faith but rather because of it, as they formed a medieval Christianity that permitted—or demanded—persecution. Righteous Persecution deviates from recent scholarship that has deemphasized religious belief as a motive for inquisition and illuminates a powerful instance of the way Christianity was itself vulnerable in a context of persecution, violence, and intolerance.

Light and Glory offers an engaging comparison of the teachings of seven thirteenth-century theologians -- three Franciscans and four Dominicans -- on the subject of the transfiguration of Christ.

Peter Martyr was one of the central Dominican saints of the thirteenth century, in some cases eclipsing Dominic himself. Born in Verona around 1206 to those with Cathar sympathies, he became a convert to Catholicism. As one of the first generations of Dominicans, he represents aspects of their primitive history both as a spellbinding preacher and as one of the earliest and most famous papal inquisitors. In 1252, shortly after his official appointment to the post of inquisitor for Lombardy, Peter was assassinated at the hands of a cabal of Milanese heretics. That there is no modern monograph on Peter represents a considerable lacuna in the study of medieval saints. This work therefore fills a very important gap, in both thirteenth century hagiographical studies, and studies of the interrelationship of heresy and imperial politics in the mid-thirteenth century. The first half of the book is a systematic study of the stages in the life, miracles and posthumous cult of Peter of Verona. Part One deals with many controversial issues of Peter's life, such as his role in the growth of the Dominican order and related confraternities in Lombardy and Tuscany, his status as papal inquisitor and his preaching. Part Two explores the cult of Peter Martyr. The brief time which elapsed between death and canonization makes Peter Martyr an especially interesting case in the field of cult study as for him, life led immediately to cult: a cult dominated by those who knew him personally. The second half of the book is a translation into English of the major primary sources concerning Peter. These will be of interest to students of papal canonization, the Dominican order, the Inquisition, hagiography, and local history.

What does episcopal fraternity and communio look like? This central question is explored through the erudition and experience of Archbishop Anthony Fisher, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. Unity in Christ, based upon a series of addresses given to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at their Special Assembly in 2022, delves into the themes associated with episcopal unity. By surveying the Christian tradition, beginning with the scriptures and then through various periods (Apostolic generation, patristic, scholastic, Vatican II, recent post Vatican II developments such as synodality) a coherent picture of episcopal togetherness is presented. What becomes clear is that unity among Christ's disciples and their successors is not simply an ideal but rather a constitutive element of their office. They are called to love as Christ loved, expressed above all through genuine friendship with one another. The consequences of this fraternity and communio have implications in areas such as spirituality, preaching and fraternal correction, among others. This second feature, the implications of episcopal fraternity and communio, are explored through Archbishop Fisher's twenty years of experience as a bishop of the Catholic Church. By providing concrete examples of lived episcopal fraternity and communio, Fisher offers a glimpse into both the challenges and fruits of living out Christ's call that "they might all be one" (Jn 17:21).

This book offers an introduction to the thought of Robert Holcot, a great and influential but often underappreciated medieval thinker. Holcot was a Dominican friar who flourished in the 1330's and produced a diverse body of work including scholastic treatises, biblical commentaries, and sermons. By viewing the whole of Holcot's corpus, John T. Slotemaker and Jeffrey C. Witt provide a comprehensive account of his thought. Challenging established characterizations of him as a skeptic or radical, they show Holcot to be primarily concerned with affirming and supporting the faith of the pious believer. At times, this manifests itself as a cautious attitude toward absolutist claims about the power of natural reason. At other times Holcot reaffirms, in Anselmian fashion, the importance of rational effort in the attempt to understand and live out one's faith. Over the course of this introduction the authors unpack Holcot's views on faith and heresy, the divine nature and divine foreknowledge, the sacraments, Christ, and political philosophy. They also examine Holcot's approach to several important medieval literary genres, including the development of his unique "picture method," biblical commentaries, and sermons. In so doing, Slotemaker and Witt restore Holcot to his rightful place as one of the most important thinkers of his time.

This book offers a fresh account of one of the remarkable figures in the Renaissance, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), by focusing on a neglected aspect of his work; his reading of scholasticism and its reception in the fifteenth century.

The work of Thomas Aquinas (1224-1275) has become increasingly influential in recent doctrinal theology and theological ethics, aside from his extraordinary historical significance. Thomas has been read ever since his death, today as much as ever. What is it that distinguishes his work, and can his theological judgments and proposals still be brought to bear in contemporary theological inquiry? This book presents a new study of Thomas Aquinas, focusing on the evangelical, pastoral and theocentric character of his premodern theology. Healy presents Thomas as first and foremost a theologian of the Christian life, who when he used philosophical concepts did so in order to fulfill the task of theology, which he conceived as an ecclesial discipline dedicated above all to helping Christians follow Jesus Christ. Thomas's interpretation of Scripture and his theological method, his Trinitarian ontology, his Christology and his Christological anthropology, conception of the church and sacramental theology, are all examined from this perspective. The richness and complexity yet profound simplicity of the Christian way of life Thomas reveals is shown to make a valuable contribution to the thought of contemporary readers, and the significance of Thomas's writings for contemporary theological questions and concerns is revealed.