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A bibliographical note
C. M. K. MacLeod

The Rassegna di Letteratura Tomista is a necessary bibliographical tool for material concerning Thomas Aquinas. Originally published in France under the title of the Bulletin Thomiste, it has appeared for several years in Italy with this new name. One section of the review is entitled « Sources juives et arabes » and contains much information which is useful for a knowledge of the background and sources of Aquinas. There are also a certain number of references to various Jewish authors, and particularly to Maimonides, whom Thomas quotes with respect, calling him « Rabbi Moyses ». As the collecting and reviewing of books and articles obviously takes some time, the most recent number of the Rassegna, which appeared in 1973, reports on works published up to 1970.

An important aspect of the Bulletin is that it includes references to works which are not strictly related to Thomas but which help to understand his work, for example, G. B. Vajda's Introduction a la pens& juive du moyen age, which has a good section on Maimonides, or A. Cohen's The Teachings of Maimonides, New York: Ktav 1968.

Both Maimonides and Thomas strove to integrate the best of Aristotelian philosophy, which had so much to offer in its understanding of metaphysics and psychology, with the data of divine revelation. (It is a regrettable fact that those whose acquaintance with Thomas is limited to scholastic manuals do not in fact know him, because in these text-books the depth and richness of his thought, steeped in the Bible, do not appear.) Because many authors deal with questions concerning Thomas's interpretation of Aristotle, one will frequently find in one and the same article reflections on Jewish and Arabic commentators as well as on Aquinas. We could mention, among others: M. Fakhry, « The 'antinomy' of the eternity of the world in Averroes, Maimonides and Aquinas », illuseon 66 (1953), pp. 139-155; and E. Garin, « Avicenne, Averroes, Maimonide, S. Thomas, Siger de Brabant », in La filosofia medievale, Bari: Laterza 1963.

Moving on to Maimonides in particular, we find a series of articles which deal with the influence of his works, translated into Latin, on medieval European writers. Among those which are helpful we could mention: W. Kluxen, « Literargeschichtliches zum lateinischen Moses Maimonides », Recherches de Theologie Ancienne et Medievale 21 (1954), pp. 23-50; and by the same author, « Maimonides and die Hochscholastik », Philosophisches Jahrbuch 63 (1955), pp. 151-165, and « Die Geschichte des Maimonides im lateinischen Abendland als Beispiel einer Christlich-Judischen Begegnung », Judentum zm Mittelalter (ed. by P. Wilpert, Miscellanea Mediaevalia 4), Berlin: De Gruyter 1966, pp. 146-66.

Certain authors have dealt with the specific relations between Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas. Two interesting works in this category are those by K. Harasta, « Die Bedeutung Maimuns fur Thomas von Aquin », Judaica 11 (1955), pp. 65-83, and K. Schubert, « Die Bedeutung des Maimonides fur die Hochscholastik », Kairos 10 (1968), pp. 2-18.

Thomas's dependence on Maimonides for the "Tertia Via" (or the proof for the existence of God based on a consideration of contingence and necessity) is now so universally accepted that no one seems to feel the need to write about it! On the other hand, although a similar dependence has also long been recognized for his doctrine on prophecy, we still find articles dealing with this; see for instance: J. M. Casciaro, « ContribuciOn al estudio de las fuentes arabes y rabinicas en la doctrina de S. Tomas sobre la profecia », Estudzos Biblicos 18 (1959), pp. 117-48; C. Touati, « Le probleme de l'inerrance prophetique dans la philosophie juive du Moyen Age », Revue d'Histoire des Religions 174 (1968), pp. 169-87.

If theology means the effort of the human mind to understand, as far as possible, God and his works, we can still profitably study the works of the great medieval masters dealing with the essence and existence of God, the eternity of the world, creation, etc. Readers interested in pursuing these topics could find the following works useful: E. Gilson, « Maimonide et la philosophie de l'Exode », Medieval Studies 13 (1951), pp. 223-5; E. Behler, Die Ewigkeit der Welt. Pro blemsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zu den Kontroversen urn Weltanfang und Weltunendlichkeit im Mittelalter. I Die Problemstellung in der arabischen und jiidischen Philosophie des Mittelalters, Munich-Paderborn 1965; L. H. Kenzierski, « Maimonides' Interpretation of the Eighth Book of Aristotle's Physics », New Scholasticism 30 (1956), pp. 37-48; J. Stalimach, « Der Einfluss des Moses Maimonides auf das Denken Thomas von Aquins », Akten des XIV Internationalen Kongresses fur Philosophie (Wien 1968), V, Vienna: Herder 1970, pp. 491-2 (deals with the origin of the world). Another subject treated by our two authors, and which has considerable contemporary relevance, is that of law. See, for example, the article by J. Faur, « La doctrina de la ley natural en el pensamiento Judio del Medioevo », Sefarad 27 ( 1967 ), pp. 239-68 .

While we are glad to be able to acknowledge that certain Jewish sources of medieval Christian thought are now being recognized, we cannot help regretting that the Rassegna does not list more works showing the influence of the great Latin masters on the Hebrew writers of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. An immense amount of work still needs to be done here.

In closing, we would like to mention three writers who have shed particular light on the relations between the Rambam and the Angelic Doctor. Although he antedates the publication of the Bulletin, we cannot help going back to J. Guttmann who was a pioneer in this field. For our purposes, the following are his most important writings: Das Verhaltnis des Thomas von Aquino zum Judentum und zum jiidischen Literatur, Gottingen 1891; Die Scholastik des 13. Jahrhunderts in ihr Beziehungen zum .Judentum und zur jiidischen Literatur, Breslau 1902; « Der Einfluss der maimonidischen Philosophie auf das christliche Abendland », Moses ben Maimon: Sein Leben, seine Werke und sein Einfluss, hg. durch W. Bacher, etc., 2 Bde, Leipzig 1908-1914, I, pp. 135-230. An extremely useful study is that of C. Vansteenkiste, « Autori Arabi e Giudei nell'opera di San Tommaso », Angelicum 37 (1960), pp. 336-401, in which he lists all the explicit quotations by St. Thomas of these authors; this work could very usefully be enlarged by the addition of references to those passages where the source can in fact be recognized, even though not named by Thomas. (An evident example is that of the "Tertia Via", S. Theol., Ia, 2, 3 and the parallel passage in the Summa contra Gentiles.) Finally, it is a great joy to mention the book by G. Sermoneta, Un glossario filosofico ebraico-italiano del XIII secolo, Roma: Edizioni dell'Ateneo 1969. Under its rather austere title this work by the eminent professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem contains a mine of information concerning not only the vocabulary used in the schools at that time — and a fascinating study it is — but also many indications about the intellectual relations between Jews and Christians, particularly Dominicans, at Naples, during St. Thomas's lifetime. Let us hope that this search for the truth, carried on in the Middle Ages, may be fruitfully and peacefully continued in our day; only the collaboration of Jews and Christians who know their own heritage will allow us to advance along this path.