Mother Teresa was one of those rare figures in history who enjoyed a wide and solid reputation of holiness during her lifetime. She became-for Catholics, Christians, and those of other faiths or even of none-a symbol of kindness, compassion, and tender care of the poorest people throughout the world. Known as a joyful and generous soul, Mother Teresa inspired countless persons to experience the "joy of loving," as she liked to say, through their own acts of love and compassion. It thus came as a total surprise to everyone, including the members of her own religious family, the Missionaries of Charity, that Mother Teresa experienced nearly fifty years of what she called "the darkness." When a book of her private letters, Come, be My Light, was published in 2007, it caused a sensation. It received worldwide media attention, including as the cover story of Time magazine. People struggled to understand it; many misunderstood it, some entirely! As the president of Ave Maria University, Jim Towey, tells us in the introduction, many questions abound about Mother Teresa's darkness: "What are we to make of the spiritual darkness that enshrouded Mother Teresa so tightly? Could the words and experiences of this little Albanian woman with no advanced formal education have anything to say to the challenges the twenty-first century presents?" Ave Maria University gathered theologians to begin answering these questions and others. The resulting symposium provided the contents of this book. The first such assembly of scholarly work on the topic, Mother Teresa and the Mystics offers readers the opportunity to enter much more deeply into the interior-even mystical-world of St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Knowing the Love of Christ provides a thorough introduction to the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas in accessible language. As a complement to the many short introductions to St. Thomas's philosophy, this book fills a gap in the literature on Thomas -- a comprehensive introduction to his thought written by theologians. With enthusiasm and insight, Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering make available the vast theology of Thomas Aquinas.

Focusing upon the Summa Theologiae, Dauphinais and Levering illumine the profoundly biblical foundations of Thomas's powerful vision of reality. Drawing upon their own experience, the authors guide readers into grappling with the fresh and penetrating insights of St. Thomas. Students at all stages of theological education will find this book an enriching introduction to the mysteries of the Christian faith.

In his Foreword to this Festschrift presented to Father Matthew L. Lamb on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Archbishop Charles Chaput comments, ""It is a privilege to call him my friend, and to wish on the bishops of the century ahead the good counsel of men like Father Lamb."" The fifteen contributors to this volume include Don Briel, Romanus Cessario, OP, Michael Dauphinais, Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, Paul Gondreau, Jeremy Holmes, Matthew Levering, Guy Mansini, OSB, Francis Martin, Charles Morerod, OP, Edward T. Oakes, SJ, Giovanni B. Sala, SJ, Michele M. Schumacher, Lawrence J. Welch, and Jeremy D. Wilkins. These eminent contributors, among whom are long-time friends, colleagues, and students of Father Lamb, offer fascinating scholarly treatments of a variety of themes, from ""The Idea of a University"" to ""The Coming Middle Ages.

Written by leading experts on Aquinas's theology, the essays in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas bear common witness to a central theological conviction: the tasks of biblical exegesis and speculative theology, though distinct, indwell and inform each other. As the first book-length study of the full breadth of Aquinas's Commentary on the Gospel of John, this work illuminates the way in which thinking systematically or speculatively about revelation flows from questions raised within biblical exegesis itself.
Like any medieval biblical commentator, Aquinas attempts to understand a biblical text not only in itself but also by appealing to parallel interpretive texts drawn from throughout the Bible as well as the accumulated insights of the Church Fathers. This method enables him to penetrate deeply into the thought of the Bible, recognizing that the biblical authors, speaking from within the context of Israel and the Church, raise questions that are theological and that belong to coherent speculative theological frameworks. The result is, in large part, a speculative theological commentary that is not imposed on the biblical texts but emerges from it.
The essays in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas seek to illumine the necessary conjunction of the inspired words of Scripture, exegetical commentary, and theological analysis. The volume is both a study of Aquinas's thought and an attempt to foster contemporary exegetical approaches that emphasize the need to interpret Scripture speculatively, through the historical lens of tradition.
Michael Dauphinais is Associate Academic Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology at Ave Maria University. Matthew Levering is AssociateProfessor of Theology at Ave Maria University and author of Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation According to St. Thomas Aquinas and Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology. They are coeditors of the English edition of Nova et Vetera and coauthors of Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible.

The Influence of St. Augustine's thought upon that of St. Thomas Aquinas is well known. With the exception of particular philosophical controversies, however, relatively little research has been done in this area. In summaries of medieval theology, Aquinas is often seen as a follower of Aristotle over the traditional "Augustinians" of his day. Against this emphasis on Aristotle, the influence upon Aquinas of such thinkers as Pseudo-Dionysius has been highlighted in recent research. While happily granting the influence of such figures as Aristotle and Pseudo-Dionysius, this book explores the impact of Augustine's thought on Aquinas's theology, philosophy, and biblical exegesis. The result is an enrichment of our understanding of Aquinas's contributions and a renewed awareness of his extraordinary indebtedness to his fifth-century teacher. The book is composed of eleven essays by an international group of renowned scholars from the United States, England, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy. The contributors are Gilles Emery, O.P., Harm Goris, Wayne Hankey, Mark Johnson, Matthew Lamb, Matthew Levering, Guy Mansini, O.S.B., Bruce D. Marshall, John O'Callaghan, John Rist, and Michael Sherwin, O.P.

"Knowing the Love of Christ"provides a thorough introduction to the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas in accessible language. As a complement to the many short introductions to St. Thomas's philosophy, this book fills a gap in the literature on Thomas--a comprehensive introduction to his thought written by theologians. With enthusiasm and insight, Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering make available the vast theology of Thomas Aquinas.Focusing upon the "Summa Theologiae," Dauphinais and Levering illumine the profoundly biblical foundations of Thomas's powerful vision of reality. Drawing upon their own experience, the authors guide readers into grappling with the fresh and penetrating insights of St. Thomas. Students at all stages of theological education will find this book an enriching introduction to the mysteries of the Christian faith. "Dauphinais and Levering capture the teaching of Thomas with thoroughness, lucidity, and completeness. I find this book an extraordinary accomplishment." --Romanus Cessario, O.P., St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts "The beginner often finds St. Thomas Aquinas daunting. Dauphinais and Levering have done a masterful job of presenting the major themes of Thomas' thought in a clear, concise, and yet faithful fashion. Anyone wanting to begin to study Thomas could not find a better starting point than this book. An added blessing is that the book will lead the reader to a deeper love and appreciation of the Christian Gospel. Aquinas himself would heartily approve." --Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., University of Oxford "The strength of this book is to give an overview of Aquinas' theological developments in prose that is accessible to nearly everyone. It is a remarkable piece of work." --David B. Burrell, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame "One of St. Thomas's many prodigies was his ability to speak, at once, as a biblical theologian and a dogmatic theologian. He is the exemplar in both fields. I know of no other introductory text that presents Thomas's dual genius so richly, so clearly, and in a way that is accessible to ordinary lay Catholics and undergraduates." --Scott Hahn, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Written by leading experts on Aquinas's theology, the essays in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas bear common witness to a central theological conviction: the tasks of biblical exegesis and speculative theology, though distinct, indwell and inform each other. As the first book-length study of the full breadth of Aquinas's Commentary on the Gospel of John, this work illuminates the way in which thinking systematically or speculatively about revelation flows from questions raised within biblical exegesis itself.
Like any medieval biblical commentator, Aquinas attempts to understand a biblical text not only in itself but also by appealing to parallel interpretive texts drawn from throughout the Bible as well as the accumulated insights of the Church Fathers. This method enables him to penetrate deeply into the thought of the Bible, recognizing that the biblical authors, speaking from within the context of Israel and the Church, raise questions that are theological and that belong to coherent speculative theological frameworks. The result is, in large part, a speculative theological commentary that is not imposed on the biblical texts but emerges from it.
The essays in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas seek to illumine the necessary conjunction of the inspired words of Scripture, exegetical commentary, and theological analysis. The volume is both a study of Aquinas's thought and an attempt to foster contemporary exegetical approaches that emphasize the need to interpret Scripture speculatively, through the historical lens of tradition.
Michael Dauphinais is Associate Academic Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology at Ave Maria University. Matthew Levering is AssociateProfessor of Theology at Ave Maria University and author of Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation According to St. Thomas Aquinas and Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology. They are coeditors of the English edition of Nova et Vetera and coauthors of Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible.