APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SEMINAR
On consecutive Mondays and Tuesdays in August (August 3, 4, 10, 11) Bernard McGinn and Fr. Bernhard Blankenhorn will lead a set of young scholars through questions relating to the theological anthropologies of Albertus Magnus and Meister Eckhart. Topics of special interest will include contemplation, Albert on the imago dei, and Eckhart on the ground of the soul.
Applicants should have some background in medieval philosophy and theology. More specifically, they should have a basic familiarity with Aristotelian anthropology, as well as general grasp of the Augustinian theology of the image of God and medieval theories of contemplation.
Intermediate knowledge of Latin is preferred, but not required. Applications who can read German and/or French secondary literature should be given preference.
Required Reading Before Seminar
Simon Tugwell, “Introduction,” Albert and Thomas: Select Writings (Paulist Press, 1988), 3-129.
Edmund Colledge and Bernard McGinn, “Introduction,” Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc. (Paulist Press, 1981), 5-81.
Required Reading During Seminar
Texts
Albert the Great, Commentary on Dionysius’s Mystical Theology, in Albert and Thomas, 133-98
Albert the Great, De Intellectu et intelligibili, Book II, chaps. 8-9 (Borgnet ed., IX:514-17)
Albert the Great, Selections from Summa theologica, Pars I (Cologne Edition XXXIV.1), q. 13, chapter 1 (pp. 38-41); q. 13, chapter 4 (pp. 44-48); q. 15, chapter 2, a. 2 (pp. 65-75).
Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc.
Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher (Paulist Press, 1986)
Studies
Henryk Anzulewicc, “Anthropology: The Concept of Man in Albert the Great,” in A Companion to Albert the Great, 325-46
Bernard Blankenhorn, “The Mystery of Union with God, 52-90, and 131-48
Bernard McGinn, “Chapter 4. Meister Eckhart: Mystical Teacher and Preacher,” in McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, 94-194
Rupert J. Mayer, “The Term ‘Ground of the Soul’ and ‘Sparkle of Reason’ in Eckhart and Aquinas,” Medieval Mystical Theology 22 (2013): 120-38.
Schedule
Mornings will contain two hour-long lecture/discussions of key texts.
Afternoons will have two sessions of 45-minute guided discussion.
The final day (Tuesday, August 11) will be devoted to short student presentations.
