Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose from the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In its broadest sense, Thomism denotes any system that follows Aquinas in philosophy and theology; in a narrower sense, it refers to the specific set of opinions held by the "Thomistic School," principally among Dominican writers, that have been contested by other thinkers who nonetheless profess to follow Aquinas. The Second Vatican Council described Aquinas's system as the "perennial philosophy," and Pope John Paul II called Thomas "a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology."
Aquinas's philosophy is characterized by a distinctive set of metaphysical doctrines: the real distinction between essence and existence (the actus essendi), act and potency as the fundamental principles of change, the four causes, and the analogy of being. In theology, his Summa Theologiae remains one of the most influential documents in medieval theology and continues to be a central point of reference for Catholic thought. The "Five Ways" (quinque viae) are his classical a posteriori arguments for the existence of God, grounded in sensory experience.
The history of Thomism spans more than seven centuries, evolving through several distinct periods. After Aquinas's death, his ideas faced opposition from the Condemnations of 1277 but were vindicated by his canonization in 1323 and the Council of Vienne (1311–1312). The Dominican Order adopted his teaching as its own, and by the mid-14th century the Summa Theologiae had supplanted Peter Lombard's Sentences as the standard theology textbook. The School of Salamanca in the 16th century developed Thomistic thought in new directions, making foundational contributions to international law, just war theory, and economic thought.
After a period of decline in the 18th century, Thomism experienced a major revival following Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879), which mandated the restoration of scholastic philosophy in Catholic education. This Neo-Thomist revival flourished for nearly a century, producing major figures such as Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange. The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) marked a turning point, leading to Thomism's loss of its exclusive status in Catholic intellectual life. The 21st century has seen a notable resurgence of interest, with diverse schools including Ressourcement Thomism, Analytical Thomism, and renewed engagement with Aquinas's metaphysics.
2026 Developments
The year 2026 marked the culmination of the trilogy of Thomistic anniversaries—700 years since canonization, 750 years since death, and 800 years since birth—with a major international conference titled "Thomas Aquinas as Philosopher" held at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome.[^c1] The Nova et Vetera Winter 2026 issue featured a symposium for the 700th anniversary of Aquinas's canonization with contributions from Gilles Emery, Thomas Joseph White, and others.[^c5] The centenary of the death of Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier (January 23, 1926) was observed with a comprehensive retrospective of his role in the Neo-Thomist revival, his wartime resistance, and his Mariological campaigns.[^c15]
The same year saw the publication of the T&T Clark Handbook of Biblical Thomism, the first systematic presentation of Aquinas's biblical hermeneutics,[^c2] and the Cambridge University Press volume Thomism Revisited, examining the tradition's relevance to contemporary philosophy, theology, and political theory.[^c3] Matthew Levering's Reconfiguring Thomistic Christology (paperback edition 2026) reintegrated biblical typology with metaphysical Christology, and Rik Van Nieuwenhove's Providence, Evil and Salvation (November 2026) addressed providence and original sin from a Thomist perspective. Peng Yin's Persisting in the Good brought Thomistic ethics into dialogue with early Chinese thought.[^c8] Kevin E. O'Reilly, OP, argued in Thomas Aquinas's Cruciform Theology of the Natural Law that Aquinas's natural law account is thoroughly theological in inspiration, challenging the predominantly philosophical reading of the tradition.[^c26] Kevin White's Thomistic Considerations explored perennial themes through Aquinas, Aristotle, Augustine, Dante, and Eliot, while Leslie J. Kelley's A Thomistic Introduction to Modern Psychology applied Thomistic anthropology as a framework for integrating modern empirical psychological research.[^c9][^c10] Peter Furlong's Aquinas on Moral Responsibility (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026) presented the first systematic study of Aquinas's account of moral responsibility, defending an incompatibilist reading and examining the roles of ignorance, character, luck, and passions.[^c22]
The Angelicum Thomistic Institute hosted an "Artificial Intelligence: A Tool for Virtue?" conference applying Aristotelian-Thomistic virtue ethics to AI,[^c4] alongside a "Divine Action" online series engaging Aquinas's metaphysics of providence. The institute's 2026 programming also included a seminar on "The Transcendentals: Testing and Contesting a Perennial Theme" in Regensburg, a summer seminar on Asian philosophy and scholasticism, and a student seminar on "Goodness and God." The special issue "Aquinas and the Sciences" published by Religions formally defined "Science-Engaged Thomism" (SETh) as a research program in which the sciences serve as a source of theological and philosophical knowledge — a locus theologicus — demonstrating the tradition's capacity for fruitful dialogue with contemporary science.[^c6][^c23] The Veritas 2026 conference on "Study and Sanctity" assembled campus chapter leaders for three days of theology, philosophy, and fellowship at the Dominican House of Studies.[^c12]
The Dominican House of Studies launched a new PhD in Theology (Thomistic Studies) program beginning in fall 2026, offering specializations in dogmatic or moral theology with Thomistic Institute doctoral fellowships providing full tuition waivers and stipends.[^c20] An inaugural ecumenical Thomistic conference, Aquinas KC, was announced for October 2026 at Donnelly College in Kansas City, co-sponsored by the Dominican House of Studies and aimed at gathering Catholics and Protestants around Aquinas for a "fresh ecumenism" addressing societal division.[^c21] The Oxford Aquinas Summer Seminar (June 1–4, 2026), led by Thomas Joseph White, Bruce Marshall, and Daniel Gordon, focused on Aquinas's Trinitarian theology at Blackfriars Hall. A conference on "Theology After Fergus Kerr" at Blackfriars Oxford in July 2026 assessed the legacy of the Scottish Dominican theologian who died in November 2025.[^c7]
Scholarly production included significant interventions in Thomistic metaphysics and moral theology. A substantial essay delivered in Oxford examined the concept of ens morale — the distinctive metaphysical status of a moral act — defending the mature Thomist position that it consists in a real transcendental relation of conformity to right practical reason.[^c11] Philip Neri Reese, the newly appointed Director of the Angelicum Thomistic Institute, published an analysis of the Owens-Dewan dispute over the role of esse in Thomistic metaphysics. Thomas Davenport delivered a lecture on Aquinas's account of artifacts and artificial forms, proposing principles for engaging Thomistic hylomorphism with modern technology and engineering. Giovanni Ventimiglia presented a paper at the University of Lisbon arguing for an Aristotelian reading of Aquinas on being as truth over the Fregean interpretation dominant in analytic Thomism.[^c13]
Roberto Di Ceglie published two works in 2026: an article in New Blackfriars on Aquinas's account of the certainty of hope as a theological virtue that shares in the certainty of faith by participation,[^c24] and a Cambridge Element engaging medieval Christian thought with John Schellenberg's divine hiddenness argument, proposing a response centered on spiritual transformation rather than evidence assessment.[^c25] A 2026 article in Pastoral Psychology developed a Thomistic approach to the cognitive dimension of religion, arguing that the Thomistic synthesis of faith as an act of the intellect provides resources for epistemic resilience against digital misinformation and deepfakes.[^c27]
A new article proposed a "Mixed View" on whether the separated soul is a person in Aquinas's metaphysics, arguing that after death Socrates survives and remains a person but is no longer a human person, while his soul is not itself a person.[^c16] [[Daniel De Haan]] published a major methodological intervention arguing that twentieth-century Thomist schools are unprincipled sociological cohorts rather than genuine philosophical divisions, and proposed "tradition-constituted enquiry Thomism" as an alternative to defensive-constructive commentary.[^c17] [[Jordan McFadden]], writing in The Thomist, argued that Aquinas's attribution of responsibility for the effects of human acts entails a commitment to resultant moral luck.[^c18] Philip Diaz-Lewis, writing in New Blackfriars, developed a Thomistic route to affirming the goodness of physical deformity as an aid to abstraction through David Oderberg's framework of "goodness by approximation."[^c19]
Matthew Levering was recognized as the 2026 commencement speaker at the Dominican House of Studies, with over forty books and seven published volumes of his multi-volume quasi-dogmatics.[^c14] Ongoing engagement with Aquinas's thought appeared across journals including The Thomist, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, and New Blackfriars, covering topics from analytic Thomism's development, the metaphysics of esse, hylomorphism and contemporary biology, moral luck, and the Thomistic critique of neoclassical theism.