Romance and System: The Theological Synthesis of Matthias Joseph Scheeben
Matthias Scheeben was undoubtedly one of the greatest speculative theologians of the modern era. His analytically dense and spiritually sublime reflections on the mystery of the Catholic faith offer a helpful model of the renewal of theology conducted in a scholastic mode, with special inspiration from St. Thomas Aquinas. Here, Fr. Aidan Nichols presents us with the first major study of Scheeben s whole dogmatics ever to appear in English. His analysis is historically nuanced and theologically rich, presenting the reader with a comprehensive and profound introduction to the thought of this master of theology from Cologne. --Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Dominican House of StudiesM. J. Scheeben was one of the greatest Catholic theologians of the modern period. A master of synthesis, Scheeben based his theology of the mysteries of faith on the nuptial unity of the divine and human, which the Incarnation made possible and knowable. In his treatment of this marriage of faith and reason, Scheeben integrates Scripture and Tradition by drawing extensively from eastern and western fathers, as well as the medieval scholastics. At once dogmatic and mystical, Scheeben s theology is a model of thomistic ressourcement, one that has been studied and praised by a wide array of Catholic thinkers, ranging from Reginald Garrigou Lagrange to Hans Urs von Balthasar. Not to be missed, this book serves to introduce one of the greatest Catholic thinkers of the last few centuries to a new generation of pastors, professors and students. Indeed, Scheeben s theology is brilliantly expounded here by the one contemporary Catholic theologian, Aidan Nichols, whose thought and works reflect a similarly wide range and synthetic genius. --Scott Hahn, Franciscan University of SteubenvilleMatthias Joseph Scheeben may be the Catholic Church s finest dogmatic theologian of modern times. It is, at any rate, hard to think of another who so beautifully combines broad and deep learning, speculative ambition, conceptual precision, and, perhaps above all, utter humility before the fathomless mysteries of the Christian faith. Fr. Nichols new study will help redress, one may hope, the neglect of this great Christian thinker in the English-speaking world, and encourage Catholic theologians to drink more deeply from their own wells. --Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University