Some Later Medieval Theories of the Eucharist: Thomas Aquinas, Gilles of Rome, Duns Scotus, and William Ockham

337 Pages·2010·1.94 MB·English

by  Marilyn McCord Adams

Some Later Medieval Theories
of the Eucharist:
Thomas Aquinas, Gilles of Rome,
Duns Scotus, and William Ockham
Marilyn McCord Adams
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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© Marilyn McCord Adams 2010
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First published 2010
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010930312
Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King's Lynn
ISBN 978–0–19–959105–3
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Dedication
(p.v) To Terri and Tim, Elizabeth and Rachel,
Connor, Elliott and Betsy,
with thanks for eucharistic camaraderie!
Pange lingua…
Contents
Title Pages
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Aristotelian Preliminaries
Part One Why Sacraments?
2 Sacraments: What, Why, and Wherefore
3 Sacramental Causality: “Effecting What They Figure!”
Part Two The Metaphysics and Physics of Real Presence
How Does it Get Where?
4 Explaining the Presence, Identifying the Change: Aquinas and
Giles of Rome
5 Duns Scotus on Placement Problems
6 Duns Scotus on Two Types of Transubstantiation
7 Remodelling With Ockham
Independent Accidents?
8 Accidents Without Substance: Aquinas and Giles of Rome
9 Independent Accidents: Scotus and Ockham
Morals of the Story
10 Theology Provoking Philosophy
Part Three What Sort of Union?
11 Eucharistic Eating and Drinking
12 Sacraments, Why Ceasing?
List of Numbered Propositions
Bibliography
Index
(p.vi) Acknowledgments
Book projects incur debts. Mine are first to Oxford University and to Christ
Church, the institutions between which my appointment as Regius Professor of
Divinity and residentiary canon was split. Thanks are due to them for three terms
of sabbatical (Michaelmas 2006, Michaelmas 2008, and Hilary 2009), during
which this project was conceived and completed. I am likewise grateful for the
generous hospitality of the Philosophy Programme at the Australian National
University in Canberra, where I was a visiting fellow in July–December 2006.
Their tradition of lively philosophical engagement, their remarkably well-
stocked modern library, and the terrific IT support created a wholesome
environment for fruitful work. My friend and colleague Francesco del Punta
generously supplied me with a copy of Giles of Rome's Theoremata de Corpore
Christi years ago, and more recently went above and beyond the call of the
house-sitter's duty in sending me some Scotus books that I had neglected to
bring. My third term of sabbatical leave (Hilary 2009) was underwritten by an
AHRC grant, which I could not have received but for the willing help of Dr
Alexandra Lumbers, who compensated for my lack of computer literacy by
uploading my application. I am also grateful to the readers for Oxford University
Press, whose comments provoked some improvements in the manuscript.
Thanks of another kind are due to those parishes where I have attended and/or
celebrated many eucharistic liturgies. Years of experience have allowed me to
reflect on many questions, as it were, from the inside.
M.M.A.
Feast of Corpus Christi, 2009