Last Friday on the Logos Blog, Faithlife’s own resident “Logos Pro” Dr. Mark Ward posted a piece in response to Pope Francis’s comments made on the “lead us not into temptation” petition in the Our Father. The Pope’s comments were made on Italian TV and caused quite a stir in the Catholic media. Dr. Ward also asked a native Italian speaker to render a translation of the Holy Father’s comments into English from the original Italian, available here in English and in the original Italian. Dr. Ward is not a Catholic and I was pleased to see my colleagues here at Faithlife take an interest in Pope Francis’s remarks. Dr. Ward’s remarks are fair and even-handed, even though he didn’t agree with the fundamental sentiments of the Holy Father’s remarks (I would also note that many a Catholic didn’t agree with the Holy Father’s comments either!).
While the Verbum team does not have our own, full time “Verbum Pro” like the Logos team does, we do have many supportive scholars of Scripture and theology. I reached out to Fr. Devin Roza, LC and Fr. Andrew Dalton, LC. Fr Devin Roza has a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and is the author of Fulfilled in Christ. Fr Andrew Dalton has a licentiate in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Both currently are theology professors at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. They graciously agreed to respond both to Dr. Ward’s post, in a spirit of fraternal dialogue, and to offer a Catholic perspective on Pope Francis’s comments.
- Fr. Roza will be commenting directly on the Holy Father’s remarks, providing some additional context, and engaging some of Dr. Ward’s comments as well.
- Fr. Dalton will focus more on the “lead us not into temptation” petition within the Our Father.
We will be posting Fr. Roza’s and Fr. Dalton’s comments next week here on the Verbum Blog. When their posts go live we will update this post with their links below.
Please let us know what you think of this post, as we’re thinking of doing more like this. We ultimately want this blog to be of value to you, so let us know what you think!
Post #1: Pope Francis and the Our Father: Why Context is Key by Fr. Devin Roza, LC.
Post #2, Part I:
Post #2, Part II:
Never-Before-Translated Aquinas Titles Coming To Verbum!
Thomas Aquinas stands as the preeminent scholastic doctor and teacher in the Catholic Church. His writings have been revered by Christians for centuries to contain profound wisdom and insight, leading Church leaders like Pope Leo XIII to state that Aquinas’s theology was a definitive exposition of Catholic doctrine.
Though St. Thomas lived just under 50 years, he composed more than 60 works. And while he is widely recognized for his scholarship, some of his works have never been translated into English.
Here’s the exciting part:
We are on track to complete the first-ever translations of some of Aquinas’ most crucial works and make them available on Verbum. This means that you can be among the very first to read, study, and glean wisdom from these fully-translated works in the English language.
First, we have Aquinas’ commentaries on the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Isaiah in addition to his commentary on the book of Matthew:
Aquinas’ Commentary on the Prophet Jeremiah: English and Latin (2 vols.)
Aquinas’ Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah: English and Latin (2 vols.)
Commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew
All of these works offer Aquinas’ critical exegesis on the Old and New Testament text, focusing on the multifaceted meaning of scripture.
Next, a collection of some of Aquinas’ most significant works, the 8 vol. Thomas Aquinas in Translation collection. Herein lies St. Thomas’ commentary on the Gospel of John and some of his commentaries on influential philosophers and theologians ranging from Aristotle to Boethius.
Finally, the most ambitious project of all, a full translation of Aquinas’ commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sentences:
Aquinas’ Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard: English and Latin (8 vols.)
Pre-order these works today and help these translations get done even faster.
As with any large and important translation project, our translators will need time and funding for this project. That means that the more interest that is shown in these translations, the faster we can get them shipped. If you’re as excited as we are about any of these projects, pre-order them today and help get the ball rolling.
This is truly a novel and exciting opportunity, both for Verbum users and for top scholars around the world. Getting more of Aquinas’ thought into the English language helps the Church at large, and you have the opportunity to be a part of this historically significant project.
Pre-order these important translations today and be among the very first to start reading St. Thomas Aquinas’ never-before-translated works in English.