CORK, Ireland, SEPT. 11, 2012 (Zenit.org)- During the last week of August the inaugural Aquinas Institute of Ireland Summer School in Knockadoon, Co. Cork took place.
Over 40 people gathered to read together the first 13 questions of Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, in an atmosphere of prayer and communion.
Those present included lecturers from Queens University, Belfast, the International Theological Institute, Austria, and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, along with advanced students in philosophy, theology and other subjects.
One of the tutors, Dr. Gaven Kerr of Queen’s University, Belfast, described the aim of the camp simply: “to prayerfully, though no less critically, engage with the greatest text from one of Western Christianity’s greatest thinkers.”
The topics covered ranged from Aquinas’ approach to theology, as well as his understanding of God’s existence, goodness, eternity, and unity, to the question of whether and how we can know God and speak of him.
The summer school was held at Knockadoon Dominican overlooking Youghal Bay. Each day began with Morning Prayer and Mass, and during the afternoons the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for adoration.
“This atmosphere of prayer gave our study a particular character: investigating divine nature became, not something merely speculative, but eminently practical for us, insofar as our minds and hearts were directed by prayer to God as our beginning and end,” a press release from the institute said.
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Further details of the Aquinas Institute of Ireland can be found at www.aquinasinstitute.ie
