Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ Project: Project Longterm Overview

While scholars of the thought of Aquinas have long acknowledged that Thomas engaged the challenges presented in translated texts of philosophy from the Arabic / Islamic tradition, no systematic and comprehensive study has been undertaken to explicate in detail the extensive and profound influence of that tradition beginning with Aquinas’s first and foundational encounters with this tradition in his first major work, his Commentary on the Sentences, and continuing through the major phases of his work until his death in 1274. Furthermore, while the Commissio Leonina at Paris (see http://leonina.nerim.net/) continues to advance in the preparation of critical editions of the works of Aquinas (under the mandate of  Pope Leo XIII in 1879), the Commissio has no one on its staff with the knowledge and experience working with Latin and Arabic texts needed to provide the detailed research and precise annotation required to document and explicate in detail the use of the Arabic / Islamic philosophical tradition by Thomas in his works. For Aquinas in particular, no systematic and comprehensive study has been undertaken drawing on Latin and Arabic sources with focus on Aquinas’s first and foundational encounters with this tradition in his early Commentary on the Sentences.

Our Project in philosophy and theology has not been undertaken in any of the major centers for the study of medieval philosophy in the world. While valuable critical editions of translated Arabic texts with insightful studies have been published and articles have been written on the importance of the Arabic / Islamic tradition to philosophy in the middle ages, no extended and intensive study of the influence of that tradition on the teachings of a major figure in philosophy and theology in the Latin West has been achieved employing Arabic sources in the manner proposed in this Project.

The Aquinas and ‘the Arabs Project is committed to setting forth a new approach to the study of medieval philosophy over the next fourteen years through a close collaboration of its members with the Commissio Leonina in the person of its president, Dr. Adriano Oliva, O.P., in the preparation of a series of ten (10) volumes of translations and commentaries in four phases corresponding to periods in the lifework of Aquinas. Each volume of translations will contain an introductory overview of the texts studied in approximately 25-30 pp. Each text translated will be preceded by a 1-2 page description of the issues treated in the text. Approximately 40-50% of each volume will be devoted to detailed source commentaries on each of the texts translated.  In these commentaries the philosophical accounts of Aquinas will be expounded in reference to both the Latin translations of Arabic texts and the Arabic originals. Each commentary will explain in detail the philosophical arguments and reasoning found in the Arabic texts and provide an analytical comparison with the Latin translation and with the philosophical reasoning of Aquinas.  The purpose here is twofold: (i) to show in precise detail for each selected text just how broadly and how deeply Aquinas drew from the Arabic / Islamic tradition for his thought, and (ii) to explicate with equal precision just how he adapted and restructured arguments and teachings to his own philosophical and theological context in the Christian tradition. In the commentaries the relevant texts from the Arabic sources will be cited and translated for readers unfamiliar with Arabic.

A series of annual conferences already underway on Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ and closely related issues concerning philosophy in the Abrahamic traditions will generate over the fourteen year period of this work an additional perhaps four (4) or more volumes of research articles and studies both on the influence of the Arabic tradition on Aquinas and the Latin West and on parallels and similarities in the independent development of philosophical and theological reasoning in the history of philosophy and theology in the Abrahamic traditions.

Pre-publication dissemination of drafts of translations and selected essays will take place via a Program Website with the use of Creative Commons rights reservations (attribution, no derivatives, non-commercial) until the publication stage has been reached. Click on the link above entitled Links to translations and essays for the growing collection of these materials. 

In sum, this Project on Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ will involve research work over a period of fourteen (14) years and will result in the production of ten (10) volumes of translations and commentaries as well as perhaps a total of four (4) or more volumes of research papers.

Potential impact of the work outlined in this proposal and benefactors

The impact of this Project on the understanding of the history of philosophy and theology will be profound, we believe, and will contribute to the rewriting of the history of philosophy and theology in the High Middle Ages. It will provide the intellectual basis for an inclusive conception of the common endeavor of Muslims, Christians and Jews to reconcile secular wisdom with religious principles and beliefs. In doing so it will show how very porous was the boundary line separating philosophical and theological ideas in the Arabic tradition from the development of philosophy and theology in the Christian north. In particular it will focus with precision on specific texts of Aquinas in which the influence of Arabic  philosophy plays a key role in the development of his thought.

The benefactors of this Project are many. Scholars of the history of ideas, philosophers, theologians, those involved in the various forms of Muslim-Christian-Jewish dialogue worldwide, and the students they teach will find in this Project grounds for the view of a common unity of purpose among the philosophers and theologians of the traditions pf Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The translations and the introductory materials will be valuable for advanced undergraduate teaching in philosophy, theology, religious studies, medieval studies, Islamic studies, and other courses. Those materials and the commentaries will provide what is needed for deeper graduate and post graduate teaching and advanced scholarship. And the collections of essays will provide a broader professional account with articles on the philosophical setting, historical context, issues of comparative philosophy and theology, and much more which will be valuable on multiple levels.

Fourteen-year time frame outline: September 1, 2010 - June 30, 2024.

Phase 1 (Aquinas at Paris 1245-1259):

· Part One, September 1, 2010 - June 30, 2016: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: The Commentary on the Sentences.

September 1, 2010 - June 30, 2014: Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’: The Commentary on the Sentences.

Two volumes of translations; one volume of selected conference papers. Participants: Professors Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University, R. E. Houser, University of St. Thomas (Houston), and Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City).

Contract signed with Cambridge University Press for: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: The Commentary on the Sentences. Selected Translations with Commentary, vol. 1 God, vol. 2 Creation

Phase 1:

· Part Two, July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2016: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: Works of the First Paris Regency. Two volumes of translations; one volume of selected conference papers.

Participants: Professors Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University, Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City) and others TBA.

Phase 2 (Aquinas at Naples and Orvieto 1259-1265): July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2019: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: The Early Middle Period in Italy. Two volumes of translations; one volume of selected conference papers.

Participants: Professors Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University, and Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City) and others TBA.

Phase 3 (Aquinas at Rome 1265-1268): July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: The Late Period at Rome. Two volumes of translations; one volume of selected conference papers.

Participants: Professors Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University, and Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City) and others TBA.

Phase 4 (Aquinas at Paris 1268-1272 and Naples 1272-1273): July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2024: Aquinas and the Arabic Philosophical Tradition: The Late Period of the Second Paris Regency. Two volumes of translations; one volume of selected conference papers.

Participants: Professors Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University, Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City) and others TBA.

(Updated 6 May 2011)