Widening Horizons

The Aquinas Institute has been selected to host one of twelve research projects as part of the Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology programme, anchored at the University of St Andrews and funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.

The two-year project, led by Dr Oliver Keenan OP and Dr Daniel De Haan, will explore the concept of truth in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and continental philosophy. Launching in January 2022 and running alongside the Institute’s normal schedule of events, ‘Truth, Aquinas, and the Theological Turn in Continental Philosophy’ will support the Institute’s ongoing programme of research and allow us to host a series of additional research-focussed events. In particular, the award will enable us to bring a range of world-renowned scholars to the University of Oxford, and to draw Thomist theologians into fruitful dialogue with continental philosophers from across the world. Widening Horizons represents a significant investment in the future of philosophical theology in the continental tradition. It is an ambitious programme of research and events, addressing important contemporary questions and engaging the methods and practices of both the continental and analytic traditions. We are delighted to have been selected and look forward to working with international colleagues in the years ahead.  More information about Widening Horizons and the other sub-projects in this initiative can be found on the Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology website.

More information about our own project will be released in Michaelmas term. The events run under this grant will be open to members of the University and friends of Blackfriars, in the normal way. These intentionally dialogical events will explore the under-realised value of the Thomist tradition’s panoramic vision of truth to continental thinkers, alongside its vulnerability to phenomenological, hermeneutical, and genealogical interrogations. By attending to philosophical movements that have been neglected by Anglophone Thomists, the project will seek not only to indicate the value of Aquinas to this conversation, but to foster creative re-readings of his work, drawing attention to the latent resources of Thomistic thought to interrogate and strengthen the theological turn within continental philosophy.