Thomistic Psychology in the Works of Fr. Angel de Blas, OP (original) (raw)

Don Isabelo delos Reyes (1864-1938): Forerunner of Filipino Theology

This paper is aimed to address three primary concerns: first, to make an impartial assessment on the contributions of Don Isabelo De los Reyes to Filipino theology; second, to stretch the history of Filipino theology some eight decades backward so as to enrich and diversify its tradition; and third, to give modern Filipino theology the chance of reflecting and learning from the positive and negative aspects of De los Reyes' incursion into theology and religious studies. To attain such goals, this paper contains three substantive sections, namely: 1) an intellectual biography of De los Reyes as a religious thinker; 2) an attempt at giving a more conventional organization to the contents of De los Reyes' forays into religion and theology, which would focus on the more specific areas of folk religion and comparative theology, biblical translation, ecclesiology, dogmatic theology and moral theology; and 3) a critique of De los Reyes' religious and theological thoughts.

Angel de Blas, O.P. and the Development of Experimental Psychology in the Philippines

Philippiniana Sacra

Fr. Angel de Blas, OP was a philosopher, an administrator and a pioneer in psychology in the Philippines. As a philosopher, his tenacious search for metaphysical truths and affinity to logic enabled him to engage in discourses in a wide range of topics. His tenure as Rector of Colegio de San Juan de Letran and University of Santo Tomas was marked by expansions in both physical and curricular structures. Fr. de Blas was a pioneer in Philippine psychology, established the first experimental psychology laboratory in the Philippines, published the textbook in experimental psychology in the country, and initiated to offer the first Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology degree at the University of Santo Tomas. An enlightened educator and psychologist, Fr. de Blas’ teachings and writings reflect his philosophical maturity resulting from a constant life of introspection and extensive reading of great authors. He was a restless pioneer constantly looking for new vistas without forgetting the old.

Philosophy and Psychology in the Service of the Catholic Faith: Paweł Siwek, SJ and His Legacy

Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 2020

Fr. Paweł Siwek, SJ may be considered the only Polish Jesuit philosopher of the 20 th century to have achieved worldwide recognition. This article surveys his work from a broad perspective reflecting philosophy, psychology and theology as pursued in Catholic circles in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. We review his achievements, while also offering an interpretation. We put forward the thesis that he found his own way of practising neo-Thomism in the spirit of Pope Leo XIII's Aeterni Patris. To substantiate our claims, we first briefly sketch his biography, providing a synthetic overview of the relevant contexts for his philosophical oeuvre. We then identify his four main areas of interest: namely, the history of philosophy (combined with his translation activities), systematic philosophy (especially his work on the soul-body problem and Baruch Spinoza), the scientific psychology of religion and spirituality, and Christian apologetics in the face of world religions and spiritual movements. In our conclusion, we discuss the main traits of his intellectual work, along with its impact.

Psychology and Culture of the Intellect: Ignatius of Loyola and Antonio Possevino

Blum, Paul Richard. “Psychology and Culture of the Intellect: Ignatius of Loyola and Antonio Possevino.” In Cognitive Psychology in Early Jesuit Scholasticism, edited by Daniel Heider, 12–37. Neunkirchen-Seelscheid: Editiones Scholasticae, 2016. PROOOFS ! Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) with his Spiritual Exercises developed a tool of practical psychology that aimed at engaging all powers of the human psyche for the sake of contemplation. This implies the postulate that a person can purposefully and in a controlled fashion direct the mind. The Jesuit encyclopaedist Antonio Possevino (1533–1611) developed this further into a pedagogy focused on the talents of the individual. This implies an understanding of human nature as individually open for perfection so that one is able to work for the greater glory of God in the real world.

The Psychology of Natural and Supernatural Knowledge according to St. Thomas Aquinas

Summarizing the fruits of some 50 years of research into the cognition theory of Thomas Aquinas, this publication reproduces the author's original lectorate dissertation "Experiential, conceptual and intuitive moments in the knowledge of faith", written back in 1967 but still valid in essentials. To bring the reader up to date, the dissertation is flanked by two hitherto unpublished recent papers by the author, "The phenomenology of cognition according to Thomas Aquinas" and "Philosophia and sacra doctrina: new insights into Thomas Aquinas' understanding of the relationship between science and philosophy, sacred scripture and theology". In these works, the author practices a twofold hermeneutic. First he reads the text historically against the background of medieval natural and human science and philosophy; then he translates the insights so gleaned into the framework of contemporary natural and social science, in particular neurobiological cognition theory and social psychology. POSTSCRIPT: Since this Internet publication in 2004 my thinking has made rapid strides in achieving a deeper and more accurate understanding of how Aquinas understood the human knowing process Thomas's intentions came to be misunderstood in the course of the late medieval and baroque controversies launced by the debate with Scotism, and these misunderstandinrgs tramitted through such eminent Thomists as John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas), R. Garrigou Lagrange, and L.Regis are reflected in my original dissertation, which largely relied on these sources, and are only partially corrected in the accompanying later papers. I know see that Thomas never taught that we "intuit" the nature of a material thing by an act of abstractive simple apprehension. To hold this is in effect to say that we know intellectually in much the same way as angels do, in a single un-composed intellectual concept. Instead, we only gradually build up (construct) our real definitions of natural things by a succession of judgments based on a growing fundus of experience "experimentum'" built up by systematic observat4ion of diverse individuals of a given species. I hope to correct this and ot4her errors contained in the present version in a new version of this book, t4hat i am current4ly working on.

Augustine of Hippo: Father of Christian Psychology

It is a great honor and with deep joy that I address you at this inaugural conference on Christian psychology. From my perspective as a theologian, this is a long overdue event and I am quite excited at the prospects and possibilities it holds for us at this important transitional moment in Christian theological history. What I hope to convince you of by this talk today is that talking about Christian psychology is not by any stretch of the imagination a new undertaking; it is, rather, an act of coming home, of reclaiming ourselves fully as Christians in a deeper sense than has been encouraged for quite some time. Even though this conference and the society that it hopes to foster respond to modern pressures, Christian psychology is a thoroughly theological topic and has been for more than 1,500 years.

CHAPTER I: Study of a Theologian's Work within the Psychology of Religion

CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF HANS KUNG'S REFERENCES TO PSYCHOLOGY, 1998

One cannot jump into the middle of a study without some understanding of the lay of the land. The peculiarity of studying a theologian’s work from the perspective of the psychology of religion calls all the more for a general reconnaissance of the landscape to see where such a study fits and to help determine its level of legitimacy. Thus, this chapter addresses three main issues aimed at providing a basis for studying Küng’s works within the psychology of religion: First, the extent to which the foundations of the psychology of religion allow for analyzing theology; second, what types of approaches are currently being used to study theology within the psychology of religion; and third, precisely what approach is to be applied for circumscribing and analyzing Küng’s work.